2024-08-07 10:26:44
(ANSA) – AOSTA, 07 AUG – Research conducted in the Gran Paradiso National Park, in collaboration with the Department of Agricultural, Forestry and Food Sciences of the University of Turin, is highlighting “the significant impact of climate change on Alpine ecosystems, with an unprecedented acceleration in the process of plant colonization in the areas left free by the retreat of the glaciers”.
The study, published in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, a scientific journal of Oxford University Press, involved “two proglacial chronosequences, located in the Cogne Valley and the Rhêmes Valley, that is, areas free from glaciers at different times that cover a period between five and 165 years from deglacialization”. After five years, the researchers re-examined the permanent vegetation study areas and found that “species richness and vegetation cover increased up to 21 and 45 times faster, respectively, than the forecast models”.
A speed that “can alter the stability of ecosystems and biodiversity, potentially to the detriment of the most characteristic alpine species of high altitudes threatened by more competitive species from lower altitudes that until a few years ago were not able to resist in such selective environments”.
When glaciers retreat, they leave behind exposed and unstable terrain. Plants that colonize these spaces “help stabilize the terrain and prevent erosion. If plants establish quickly, they can help reduce the risk of debris flows and floods, such as the one that recently occurred in the Cogne Valley. On the contrary, if the colonization process is slow or does not occur, the debris remains vulnerable and these risks increase”. (ANSA).
2024-08-07 10:26:44