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Here are just a few examples of Earthwatch Expeditions focusing on climate change and ecosystem protection that welcome your participation.
Climate Change at the Edge of the Arctic
Churchill, Manitoba, Canada-Global warming is here. The U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts increases in global temperature averages of as much as 5ºC over the next 50 years, but it could be much more. The world's peatlands run in a strip several hundred kilometers wide around the globe; these contain as much as 30 percent of all terrestrial carbon, locked in permafrost. If current warming melts the permafrost, the peat could release its carbon in the form of methane -- a far more dangerous greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide - and thereby increase the atmosphere's heat-holding capacity by a factor of seven. Conversely, increased carbon dioxide could stimulate plant growth, ultimately cooling the climate. What happens to the peat here could have enormous consequences for every living thing on Earth. The change is happening now.
To find out which way the carbon flow is going, Dr. Peter Scott and Earthwatch teams have spent the past two summers setting up six research plots (three tundra and three treeline forest sites). By measuring how much carbon the peat system holds now, these researchers can monitor changes as they occur.
Find out more about the trip details and sign up now for the next expedition! www.earthwatch.org/expeditions/scott.html
Bahamian Reef Study
San Salvador Island, Bahamas-The world's coral reefs are in crisis. Scientists predict that if current trends in climate change and other environmental stressors continue, coral reefs could be all but eliminated from most areas in the next 100 years. One of the biggest problems is coral bleaching. Bleaching occurs when the algae living in symbiosis with coral, are tossed out during environmental stress, leaving the coral colorless and without nutrition. If prolonged, bleaching kills coral, with drastic impacts on marine biodiversity, fisheries, tourism, and shore protection. Then there are coral diseases. In the Caribbean, reports of disease are up more than 200 percent in the past 5 years, and new diseases appear faster than they can be characterized.
You can help marine biologists Thomas McGrath and Dr. Garriet Smith in the tenth year of their search for clues to the causes of these coral afflictions.
Learn More: www.earthwatch.org/expeditions/mcgrath.html
Costa Rica's Tropical Rainforest
Guanacaste Conservation Area, northwestern Costa Rica-Once tropical dry forests blanketed half of Central America; just 2 percent of these vibrant forests remains today. Working in the largest remaining tract during the most prolific and lush season, you can help Dr. Eric Olson in his fifth season efforts to solve a mystery of dry-forest dynamics.
Learn More: www.earthwatch.org/expeditions/olson.html
Polar Bears of Manitoba
Churchill, Manitoba, Canada-Churchill is known as the polar bear capital of the world for good reason. Each summer, when the ice on Hudson Bay melts, more than 1,200 bears come into this region and wait until the ice re-forms in November or December so that they can go offshore seal hunting again.
Bears do battle seriously, in the spring out on the sea ice, but that is when they are fighting over mates. What, then, is the autumn fighting about? Are they testing each other to save time during the real spring fighting? Are they establishing a social hierarchy? Or are they just keeping in shape? These are the questions that Drs. Jane Waterman and James Roth are hoping to answer with your help.
Learn More: www.earthwatch.org/expeditions/waterman.html
Ecuador Forest Birds
Loma Alta Ecological Reserve, western Ecuador-Although Ecuador represents only 1.6 percent of the landmass of South America, it harbors more than half the continent's bird species in some of the world's most threatened ecosystems. While studying remnant patches of rare cloud-forest habitat, Dr. Dusty Becker was surprised to discover a host of rare bird species in the community-owned Loma Alta Ecological Reserve, which she and Earthwatch volunteers helped establish in 1996. If Becker continues to find rare species in the Loma Alta reserve, conservationists, decision makers, and the local community will have far greater incentive to protect the last forests here. The community will have the potential for launching bird ecotourism in the reserve, creating jobs, and providing an economic basis for conserving the forest. Becker's efforts have always been closely involved with the Loma Alta community, and her results go not only to officials but also to the local people so they can work together to create a sustainable forest management plan.
Learn More: www.earthwatch.org/expeditions/becker.html
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