The Alaskan tundra is being transformed by boas, which are speeding up climate change in the northern part of the country.
From space, the changes are visible.
The plants are growing along the rivers and streams as the temperature warms.
As the furry rodents move into these waterways, they make themselves at home by chewing and carrying wood to build dams and make lush ponds.
The line of water that used to cut across the tundra has turned into a train of ponds.
Ken Tape told Insider that there are not a lot of animals that leave footprints from space.
They are called humans. Humans can't do what the beavers are doing in this state.
The invasion of rodents in the North American tundra is a mixed bag. The climate crisis is worsened by the role played by the beaver ponds.
Tape and his colleagues looked at aerial photos from the early 1950s and found no evidence of beavers. In 1980 imagery, the first signs of a mammal. Satellite images from the 2000s and 2010s show a doubling of the ponds.
Satellites show more than 11,000 ponds across the tundra.
All of western Alaska has a lot of beaver ponds.
That's in line with what the Indigenous people have seen. In towns like Kotzebue, where there were no beavers 20 years ago, they're now everywhere.
In May, the researchers published their findings. The research was presented at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in December, just as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued its annual warning of how quickly theArctic is succumbing to climate change
Satellite imagery was used by Tape to look for changes in vegetation.
He was floored when he saw the changes that were made to the landscape.
He said it was like hitting the ecosystems with a hammer.
The speed and severity of the footprints on the landscape is similar to a fire.
Satellite images show where any animal population is. What number of them are there?
The most exciting question is how the beavers are affecting everything around them.
There's a lot to study from fish and vegetation to water flow and water quality.
The still, deep water of the beatiful ponds holds more heat than the rushing rivers that used to cut through them.
Tapes believes the pond areas will start to look like a forest. New species of fish will be attracted to the water.
If you like the way it used to be, then it's not a good place to live. "Beavers are one of your champion if you embrace the new Arctic."
One thing that is unlikeable is the fact that layers of soil stay frozen all year long. About one quarter of the northern hemisphere is covered by frost.
The greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane are released as the temperature rises.
The climate crisis is worsened by the thawing of the surrounding permafrost because of the impact of the beaver ponds. It's not clear how much is involved.
The tundra will likely become home to more and more beavers in the future.
The northernmost strip of Alaska is almost completely free of the animals. It might not stay that way for a while. There are a lot of beavers on the other side of the mountain.
The only thing they have to do is swim down the river.
They're going to forever change that place if they find the habitat there, in other words, if it's warm enough, if the shrubs are tall enough, if there's enough unfrozen water in winter.
The original article was published by Business Insider.
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