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Arctic spiders may provide clues on global warming

on september 2 2004 9

There are various parameters to measure the impact of global warming at the Arctic – one of these is the reclusive spider living there, besides the better-known predators such as polar bears, according to a researcher.

Though the effects of changes are found to be more obvious in the bigger animals, global warming has its impacts on the whole environment. Thus, any disruptions to the tiny Arctic spiders could eventually ripple through the food chain as they, on one hand, feed on insects, which are in turn eaten by birds, Michael Nickel of Stuttgart University in Germany explained.

Nickel, to study the Arctic spiders during a U.N.-sponsored International Polar Year in 2007-08 — a 60-nation project that would probe the Polar Regions on the front lines of climate change – said,

The effects of changes are more obvious in the bigger animals…

There is even a lot of knowledge and projects about plants but insects and spiders are a little neglected.

Little studied and living much of their lives under snow.


Photo Credit:
REUTERS/Andy Clark

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