The Repercussions of Global Warming

Read the attached research paper, and make an abstract no longer than 200 words. This must be a scientific abstract, and must use academically correct wording.

Global Temperature, Arctic Sea Ice Extent and Plankton Abundance Trends 1.1 Introduction There is growing literature on the impact of Arctic warming on its cold-adapted species. Arctic species are adapted to extreme weather conditions such as shorter growing seasons for mammals, long winter endurance with extremely low temperatures below −40 °C and deep snow (Darwin, 1859). Thus, the changing climate (tendency to global warming) has brought new challenges for arctic species as warming temperatures have altered air velocity and the extent and duration of sea ice, modified ocean currents and the timing and intensity of precipitation (Post et al., 2009). Yet, the impact of increasing temperatures and declining sea ice on the abundance of land and water species is still poorly comprehended since research efforts are hindered by high latitude inaccessibility and complex logistics (Post et al., 2013; Urban et al., 2016). Recent studies have demonstrated that frequent Arctic weather events affect some cold-adapted plants and animals. Berger et al. (2018) linked the skeletal growth in juvenile muskoxen, entrapment of Arctic whales and otters with rapid freezing and gestational rain on snow, and the sea winter tsunami. Other mechanisms can include high precipitation and melting ice in warmer winter temperatures that limit herbivores (Musk oxen, lemmings and pikas) and polar bears from accessing food resources (Brode-Roger, 2021; Ihl & Klein, 2001; Tyler et al., 2010). Zooplanktons could also be affected by rising arctic temperatures. Snowpack tends to insulate ground vegetation (Van Wijk et al., 2003; Bokhorst et al., 2010) and thus, melting Arctic ice-caps could negatively affect plant productivity and resource availability for zooplanktons. Yet, the increased mobility among zooplanktons due to increased sea cover could imply that rising temperatures could play an advantage to artic “swimmers.” Using annual Norther Hemisphere data, the current study seeks to establish if the increasing Arctic temperature is causing a reduction in the yearly sea ice maximums and if this is also correlated with a trend in Arctic Zooplankton populations. The study hypothesizes that: increasing temperature reduces the Arctic ice extent, increasing arctic zooplankton. 1.2 Data The data was compiled from different databases. Zooplankton density data was downloaded from Arctic Long Term Ecological Research (ARC LTER) (2020). The data entailed densities of 7 organisms: Daphnia middendorffiana (Daphnia midd), Daphnia longeremis (Daphnia long), Holopedium gibberum (Holopedium), Bosmina longerostris (Bosmina), Cyclops scutifer (Cyclops), Diaptomus pribilofensis (Diaptomus), Heterocope septentrionalis (Heterocope) in number per litre from a vertical tow. The raw data was with irregular time-frequency; hence annual averages were obtained. The densities data spanned between 2008 and 2017. Thus, as a convenience sample based on Zooplankton density data availability, the aggregate data for ten years (2008 to 2017) was used in the analysis. Maximum Arctic sea ice extent in a million square kilometres was downloaded from Statista (Jaganmohan, 2022). The year-to-year land and ocean surface temperature anomalies for the northern hemisphere (in Degrees Celsius [0C]) were downloaded from the National Centers for Environmental Information [NCEI] database (2020a). Temperature anomaly measures the departure from the reference base period, as in this case with reference to the 1910 to 2010 average. A positive anomaly indicates that the observed temperature was warmer (higher) than the reference value. In contrast, a negative anomaly indicates that the observed temperature was cooler (lower) than the reference value (NCEI, 2020b). 2 Analysis Trend analysis, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), correlation and regression analysis were used to test the study hypothesis. Data visualization was largely done using Excel. Descriptive statistics, ANOVA, correlation and regression analysis, were conducted using SPSS. 2.1 Trend analysis Cyclops, followed by Diaptomus, recorded the highest abundance consistently across the ten years (2008 – 2017) (Figure 1). There seems to be an increasing trend of Arctic zooplankton densities before 2013 and a decreasing trend after that.