The ecosystems in the high alpions of the mountains Andes return to life thanks to the Vicuñas bathroom habits, a close relative of Llamas.
Researchers at the University of Colorado, Boulder, have found that the plants have begun to appear in the otherwise barren landscape of the Peruvian Andes in areas where Vikuni left huge piles of PUP, which scientists called piles of municipal fertilizer.
In its study published in scientific reports, the team revealed that animal waste can help plants regenerate much more than 100 years faster than normal, showing how ecosystems adapt to the changing climate. The Andes glaciers melt at an alarming speed due to increasing global temperatures, leaving new soils exhausted by water and nutrients.
But thanks to the tall alpine characters, the empty terrain can be transformed into a green paradise, enhanced by life much earlier than scientists thought.
“It is interesting to see how the social behavior of these animals can transfer nutrients to a new ecosystem, which is very poor in nutrients,” said Cliff Bueno de Meskita, a document ratio and a researcher at Cu Boulder, Cu Boulder said today.
In addition to the life of plants, scientists also discover a surprising variety of microorganisms in soil samples that contain a vlicity, along with important nutrients such as phosphorus, nitrogen and carbon.
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“It is really difficult to live, but this organic matter made it so that temperatures and moisture levels do not hesitate. The toilets created a different microclimate from the surrounding area,” says Stephen Schmidt, senior author of the newspaper and professor of biology at Cu Bilder.
The team said that plants germinated from nutrients in animal fertilizer have attracted various animals, including rare species that have never been noticed at such a high altitude and huge carnivores like cougars.
It will probably take centuries to allow the landscape to completely switch to lawns, giving mammals with high elevations such as camellides-influential alpacies and vikua and spectacular brings more time to adapt to the rapidly shifting climate.
Meanwhile, glaciers around the world are withdrawing at a record rate, but this is especially noticeable in the Andes. According to Yale Environment 360, Andean Glaciers have lost 3 feet of ice a year since 2000. Reuters reports that Venezuela has lost all his glaciers in 2023, becoming the first country in the modern times that does it.
Glacier melting not only affects animals and ecosystems, but also the communities that depend on them for water supply and agriculture. The peasants in Pakistan are taking desperate measures to protect fresh water, creating a “baby glacier” by bringing ice higher into the mountains so that it does not melt.
Long -term strategies, such as rainwater collection, groundwater management and even the creation of artificial glaciers, are likely to be needed to deal with water shortages.
As for the Andes glaciers, scientists say more research is needed to understand how big of the impact there will be a vicky on the recovery landscape.
“I think there will be a lot of value in continuing the observation of these patches and see how they can expand, how they can connect and how you pass from a patch or multiple patches to the whole meadow,” Bueno de Meskita told Mongabay. “These problems and these ecosystems are really important for both biodiversity and people, so it’s worth learning.”
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