Yellowstone volcano: How Yellowstone national park is changing before our eyes

Yellowstone’s national park is not only undergoing natural changes, but also under pressure from global warming. The natural area has been vital for spearheading fauna and fauna growth in America, bringing back previously threatened species. Both wolves and bison are among animals once endangered in the US, and conservation at Yellowstone has facilitated both species returning. However, according to experts, these animals and the vegetation they live in are under serious threat from the results of global warming. A recent piece from the New York Times, penned by Marguerite Holloway, director of science and environmental journalism at New York’s Columbia University says the national park will look much different as the years go by. In her piece, she says changing conditions will mean people born in the next 50 years may see a much less verdant and populated Yellowstone than we see today. Ms Holloway said: “Researchers who have spent years studying, managing, and exploring its roughly 3,400 square miles say that soon the landscape may look dramatically different. “Over the next few decades of climate change, the country’s first national park will quite likely see increased fire, less forest, expanding grasslands, shallower, warmer waterways, and more invasive plants — all of which may alter how, and how many, animals move through the landscape.” “Ecosystems are always in flux, but climate change is transforming habitats so quickly that many plants and animals may not be able to adapt well or at all.” Yellowstone’s ecosystem is under threat from annual increases in temperature every year since 1948, Ms Holloway added. This discovery has lead researchers to find Winter is both shorter and less cold than it was before. Snow falling in the region is vital to the Yellowstone ecosystem, and scientists fear the gradual decline will make the area less habitable...MORE