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398 - Retreating glaciers are a threat to biodiversity
March 2012
Thawing is taking place the world over as a result of global warming, and the diversity of mountain ecosystems is thus under threat. IRD researchers and their partners( 1), writing in the journal Nature Climate Change , have just revealed that the retreating glaciers may lead to the extinction of between 10 to 40% of aquatic fauna depending on the region - tropical, temperate or arctic. Ecologists have been studying the biodiversity of streams created by meltwater in the the páramos, a typical landscape feature in the Andes) situated at an altitude of between 3,500 and 5,000m. The species that make these streams their home, mostly insects, are endemic to these extreme environments and subjected to a combination of ice and intense sunlight, aggressive winds, etc. The disappearance of such exceptional fauna would lead to a loss in the conservation of such ecosystems, which are unique in the world. However invertebrates also have a role to play as bio-indicators, particularly regarding the quality of the water that supplies downstream towns and cities such as Quito, the capital of Ecuador.
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