Fertilizer of nature: How to save high mountain ecosystems in the Americas

In the original turn of nature, scientists have found that the public bathroom of the Camel Camel Camel is habitually helping the mountain ecosystem to adapt to climate change faster than before. This discovery provides rare hope in opposing rapid melting glaciers.

The research was published in a scientific report, revealing how Vicuñas (LLAMAS’s wild relatives) accelerated the growth of the newly exposed mountain terrain through the social habits of creating a common feces pile. The feces were called toilets by scientists.

“Interestingly, how the social behavior of these animals can transfer nutrients to a new ecosystem of very nutrients and poverty,” “Research scientists at the Institute of Environmental Science and Common Science and Common Sciences of the University of Colorado University of Bardeo University at the University of Colorado Cliff Buno de Mesquita explained. The first author of research.

The research team found that from the expedition to the Andes Andes of the Peruvian, a place of up to 18,000 feet on the sea level depicts natural adaptability. In areas where glaciers have recently retreated and left barren rocks and gravels, these hotspots created by animals have gradually begun to live, otherwise this will be a landscape without life for more than a century.

The change is dramatic. Despite its 85 years of exposure, the normal degraded soil contains only 1.5 % of organic matter, but the soil in the Vicuña toilet contains 62 % of organic matter. These nutritious plaques can produce microorganisms, which can buffer extreme temperature fluctuations common in high altitude areas. Even in summer, the temperature will drop below the freezing point.

This influence far exceeds the scope of rich soil. The oasis of these lives have attracted diverse wild animals and plants, including rare species that have never been seen on this altitude, and even large predators such as Pumas. Vicusas itself restores the growth of vegetation in his toilet and creates a self -maintenance ecosystem development cycle.

However, researchers warned that although this natural process is helping to adapt certain alpine creatures, it may not be enough to keep synchronization with unprecedented climate change. “Vicuñas may be helping some alpine creatures, but we can’t think that they will be fine, because in the history of the earth, we have never seen climate change at this speed,” Bueno de Mesquita warned.

In the Andes and other areas, bets are particularly high, and melting glaciers threaten millions of water safety. Between 2000 and 2019, the global glacier loses about 267 billion tons of ice each year. The forecast shows that if the temperature continues, up to 68 % of the glaciers on the earth may disappear.

The study emphasizes how the seemingly simple animal behavior has a profound impact on the restoration of the ecosystem. VicusAS has effectively formed fertile islands in the barren terrain through its digestive system from lower nutrients and plant seeds. These plaques are warm with the temperature, and these plaques are the stepping stones that rise to higher altitude.

Although this natural process has helped to accelerate the development of the ecosystem for more than a century, researchers emphasized that it still cannot match the unprecedented speed of modern climate change. “Current people may be the most serious crisis faced by our planets and all creatures in the past 65 million years,” BUENO de Mesquita pointed out.

The study emphasizes that animals can help ecosystems to adapt to the complex methods of environmental changes, and also remind people that people need to solve the root cause of climate change itself.