Biologist: Tundra change is 'alarming'

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- The rate at which the tundra in Alaska is changing in relation to the altering climate is "alarming," a biologist studying such areas says.

Utah State University fish biologist Chris Luecke said while evidence taken from the Alaskan tundra rule out a possible ice age in the near future, such samples do indicate a warming trend that threatens the wildlife, McClatchy Newspapers said Sunday.

"I'm really glad it's getting warm and not cold. An ice age would be really bad," Luecke said.

"But the rate of change is alarming," he added. "Species can't adapt or keep up in an evolutionary sense because everything is happening so fast."

Institute of Arctic Biology official Syndonia Bret-Harte echoed those concerns, saying the current increase in temperature in such arctic regions easily surpasses scientific predictions.

"The changes are all happening faster than the models had predicted," the Toolik Field Station overseer said.

McClatchy reported that some related models of the climate change suggest that within 60 years, there will on longer be any summer ice in the Arctic Ocean due to such rising temperatures.