Glacier-Fed River Systems Threatened by Climate Change

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120316112646.htm

ScienceDaily (Mar. 16, 2012) — Glacial meltwater increases biodiversity in mountainous freshwater ecosystems. As glaciers vanish due to global warming, so will those species dependent upon the icy runoff. This is the conclusion of a study authored by researchers from, among other institutions, the University of Copenhagen.

The article "Glacial river biodiversity" with the alarming new findings can be found in the journal Nature Climate Change.

"The knowledge is new and startling. Glacial runoff is cold, nutrient-poor and physically unstable, and therefore, typically species-poor. Traditionally, we have not attached great significance to these ecosystems within the context of local or regional biodiversity," states Associate Professor Dean Jacobsen of the Freshwater Biology Section at the University of Copenhagen's Department of Biology. Jacobsen is one of the study's authors.

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