In the last decade, natural processes have been occurring on our planet that contribute to an increase in the average daily temperature on Earth.
Scientists around the world call this phenomenon global warming. Climatologists, hydrologists, ecologists, zoologists and many other specialists in the field of natural sciences study these processes. And most often, research is carried out jointly, since the results of global warming affect the behavior of flora, fauna, ecology and even human life. How this happens and what humanity can expect from climate change, we decided to find out from SFU experts: geologist, climatologist, zoologist and soil scientist.
Geologist on the influence of anthropogenic factors on Earth’s climate change
Professor, Doctor of Geography, Head of the Department of Physical Geography, Ecology and Nature Conservation at the Institute of Earth Sciences of the Southern Federal University Yuri Fedorov spoke about the human impact on climate change.
“Thanks to advances in technology, the development of civilization has taken an exponential path, and benefits have been achieved without which the life of modern man is not possible. At the same time, a huge amount of substances of technogenic origin has entered the environment, which significantly worsens the quality of life of people. This, along with population growth, has led to a deterioration in the environmental situation on planet Earth, which has repeatedly manifested itself in climate change. Therefore, it is necessary to create and improve modern methods of environmental monitoring,” Yuri Fedorov emphasized.
According to the expert, recently issues related to human impact on nature have been discussed, since with each century this impact becomes more and more noticeable. Some scientists believe that 70% of the impact is anthropogenic and only 30% natural, others give different figures or take the exact opposite position. However, everyone agrees that the Earth’s climate is changing.
“At first glance, it seems incredible that the thinnest film of protein bodies inhabiting our planet can somehow influence such a global characteristic as the Earth’s climate. Previously, it was mainly algae and plants that influenced the earth’s climate, but now it’s the turn of animals, or rather the most active of them – Homo sapiens,” the expert added.
Climate change, as Yuri Aleksandrovich explained, is associated not only with the influence of the anthropogenic factor. This is the additive addition of unidirectional processes. Now we are, if we imagine climate change as a harmonic of temperature fluctuations, at the peak of this harmonic fluctuation.
“Unfortunately, a person is unlikely to be able, no matter what methods he uses, to take into account all the natural and man-made processes affecting climate change that may arise in the Anthropocene era. But, despite this, we must strive to understand them,” said Yuri Fedorov.
Climatologist on the impact of climate change on natural disasters
A young climate scientist, graduate student at the Institute of Earth Sciences, Viktor Sukhorukov, spoke about the global processes that are occurring on Earth today due to warming.
“Scientists believe that climate change on Earth has caused tropical cyclones in the Pacific Ocean, unusually high summer temperatures in Europe, China, South Korea and Argentina, as well as wildfires in California. Climate change served as a catalyst for drought in Africa and the Middle East, snow storms in Nepal and torrential downpours that caused floods in Canada and New Zealand,” explained Viktor Sukhorukov.
According to him, climate change is already having an impact on natural and human systems, including causing changes in the quantity and quality of water, and for many terrestrial, freshwater and marine species, causing shifts in geographic ranges, seasonal activity, migration patterns, abundance species and in interaction with other species.
According to the young scientist, humanity can not only observe the processes of climate change, but also somehow influence this process.
“The main goal is to reduce the use of fossil fuels, such as oil, carbon and gas, and replace them with renewable and clean energy sources, while increasing energy efficiency,” noted the SFU graduate student.
As Viktor Sukhorukov said, several energy sources are safe for the atmosphere in terms of emissions: hydropower, nuclear power plants and new renewable sources – the sun, wind, tides. Hydropower has observable physical limits (there are not many rivers on Earth), wind and tides can only be used locally, so the main sources of energy of the future are the Sun and the atom. Alternative renewable energy sources now account for 2% of global consumption, and nuclear power already provides 16% of the world’s electricity (in developed countries – more than 70%, in north-west Russia – 40%).
“The advantage of nuclear energy is that it is a large-scale energy sector, these are power plants for large industrial agglomerations, large cities. The trump card of solar energy is the almost universal availability and dynamic development of technology,” added the young scientist.
Zoologist about climate change, species extinction and transformation of the animal world.
Candidate of Biological Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Zoology of the Academy of Biology and Biotechnology named after. D.I. Ivanovsky Southern Federal University Alexey Tikhonov spoke about the influence of climatic conditions on the behavior of animals, their disappearance and other consequences of global warming, and also explained whether a person can change the situation.
According to the scientist, changes in animal behavior due to global warming is a very broad topic. With global warming, living conditions change, therefore animals begin to adapt, and migration routes may change. Some bird species may stop migrating and begin a nomadic lifestyle, and the long winter will disappear.
“For example, we still have rooks in the winter. Previously, they flew away for the winter, but now they simply migrate: the rooks that nested in Krasnodar migrate to Sochi. This happens, firstly, due to the fact that it has become warmer, and secondly, additional sources of food have appeared in the form of landfills and garbage, which suits them very much. This is therefore an example of a change in behavior,” says the zoologist.
The expert also touched upon the topic of the extinction of some species due to climate change processes on Earth.
“It’s not entirely correct to compare with dinosaurs, since this is an example of a very complex Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event. There was a radical restructuring of ecosystems and there was simply no place for dinosaurs in the new ecosystems,” says the expert.
Of course, the zoologist adds, it is now difficult to talk about global warming, since this topic is also very politicized. Some experts are skeptical about statements about global warming. We see that temperatures are rising and the area of Antarctic glaciers is decreasing, but this may be a temporary phenomenon.
“From the history of mankind, we can remember Greenland, the island was much warmer, and now there are glaciers there. In the Middle Ages, grapes were grown and wine was made in central Britain. There is such a thing as the European climate optimum, when about a thousand years ago it was much warmer than it is now. The fact that this optimum concerned not only Europe due to the peculiarities of the Gulf Stream is easily verified. In the Far East lived Ainu tribes who ate bivalve sea mollusks that lived in the Sakhalin region. Now the northernmost representatives of this group of mollusks live a thousand kilometers south, as it was warmer and they rose higher. That is, we see that on one such small piece of the planet it was much warmer and colder. And if you look at the graph of the temperature regime of our planet over the last tens of millennia, it resembles a cardiogram: back and forth, back and forth,” notes Alexey Tikhonov.
There is a point of view, explains Alexey Vladimirovich, that the rise in temperature is a jump before subsidence and the formation of a micro-ice age. Since there has been no mass extinction of species during these millennia, this will not happen due to changes in temperature. But it is very difficult to make predictions, since previously people did not interfere with the ecosystem as they do now.
In addition, the expert commented on events related to the abnormal behavior of some species of wildlife that occurred this summer, namely the appearance of poisonous spiders, jellyfish, ladybugs and locusts in the south of Russia.
“The appearance of poisonous spiders in the south of Russia is an absolutely normal phenomenon. The only dangerous spider that lives here is the karakurt. To understand, it should be noted that all spiders are poisonous; they all have poisonous glands. The venom of most spiders is not dangerous to humans and most spiders do not have the opportunity to inject this poison into our skin, since it is very viscous, and it is extremely difficult to bite through the skin. Karakurt was first discovered in the 2000s, in a new history of fauna studies. Then the number of karakurts increased, and they became a background species. At one time, there was a depression in the number of these spiders, which is associated with cyclical and biological processes, and not with global warming,” explained the SFU scientist.
The zoologist assures that karakurts are absolutely not aggressive and never attack a person first. If you do not touch the spider in its web, then there is no danger. The danger occurs only in the fall, when the females begin to crawl away to hide the cocoons, then they can crawl into a person’s home, hide in shoes, in building materials and other secluded places. This is where the danger of involuntary contact between a person and a karakurt arises. And if a person is bitten by a spider, it is necessary to go to the hospital. As for jellyfish in the Sea of Azov, the reason for their appearance is the shallowing and decrease in the flow of the Don River and the increase in salinity of the Azov Sea.
In addition, the locust population has increased in recent years, since there is almost no centralized control now, and it is quite difficult to combat them. That’s why swarms of locusts appear.
There are cyclical phenomena such as outbreaks of ladybugs and mosquitoes associated with weather patterns and temperature conditions. It follows from this that the fauna is very plastic, it adapts to changes.
Last but not least, the topic of discussion was the impact of humans on the ecosystem and the protection of nature.
“There are different ways to preserve species ersity: protection with the help of the Red Books and the territorial form of protection (creation of nature reserves, wildlife sanctuaries). A person can do a lot, but it is necessary to distinguish between real concern for the environment and “show off,” shares Alexey Tikhonov , “but often people or organizations speculate on this topic, environmental self-awareness takes on strange and sometimes ugly forms. Now it seems that almost none of those making loud statements believe themselves.”
The expert believes that real action and dedication are needed to resolve such issues.
Soil scientist on the influence of climate on the soils of Southern Russia
SFU expert in the field of land management, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor, Department of Soil Science and Land Resources Assessment, Academy of Biology and Biotechnology named after. D.I. Ivanovsky Southern Federal University Olga Bezuglova explained how climate change affects the soils of our region, and also named the reason for the desertification of the territories of the Rostov region and the occurrence of dust storms in the region.
We all remember that last year at the end of summer and beginning of autumn there were strong dust storms in the Rostov region. According to the expert, their reason is not at all in global warming, as is commonly believed, but in a combination of three factors that converged at one point in time: very dry August and September (virtually no rain), plowed and prepared for sowing after harvesting the fields and strong wind. This combination of conditions has happened before in the Don region, when there was no talk of global warming (for example, in 1968 and 1969). These natural phenomena may repeat in the future.
A soil scientist believes that climate change on Earth can accelerate the process of desertification in the south of the country.
“As our research has shown, over the past 50 years the climate has changed quite noticeably in the Rostov region. In particular, there is such an indicator as the aridity index (dry climate, lack of moisture), there are different methods for determining it, but they all showed that the degree of aridity in the Rostov region has increased. If this trend continues, the threat of desertification will correspondingly increase. The situation is not the same in all districts of the region. The most alarming situation is in the southeastern regions of the region, and a retrospective analysis of climate change has shown that there is a tendency for aridization to advance from east to west,” explains Olga Bezuglova .
In addition to warming, the loss of forest belts has a great influence on the desertification of the region’s territories. The reason is a combination of harsher climatic conditions with the fact that most of the forest belts in the south consist of short-lived species that have entered their critical age. And this, in turn, will lead to an increase in the frequency and severity of dust storms and soil degradation.
“If we don’t start investing public money in restoring forest belts now, then in a very short period of years we will see their mass death,” says the expert.
According to Olga Bezuglova, a person can significantly influence this process. To do this, it is necessary to take a number of measures. First, restore forest belts. Secondly, carry out anti-erosion treatment of slopes, where the fertile soil layer is now being largely washed away. Thirdly, it is necessary to move away from plowing with soil rotation and replace it with chisel tillage (this is the process of loosening the soil without directly turning it over). Also, you need to use organic fertilizers, but in the realities of the present time this is quite difficult, which means it is necessary to look for other ways (green fertilizers, composts from organic waste prepared using innovative technologies).
Summing up, Olga Bezuglova told what “surprises” we should expect from nature in the coming decades.
“As a soil scientist, I can assume that following climate aridization there will be a decrease in the humus content in the soil. We are currently observing a stabilization of this indicator. In the region as a whole, over the past 20 years, the indicator of “humus content” in the upper arable horizon has practically frozen at one level, characteristic of each type of soil (in the absence of erosion processes). But a further increase in aridity can lead to a disruption of this balance,” concluded Olga Stepanovna.
Text by Yana Panferova