One of the most publicized effects of global warming is the way it has caused glaciers to shrink. While this is undoubtedly a worrying trend, recent research has uncovered interesting information on what happen to land after to glaciers retreat – information that could provide clues on the formation of life on other planets like Mars.
Scientists studying the effects of the retreating glaciers in the Peruvian Andes found that within a year of the soil becoming ice free, three species of microbes had already colonized the soil. They had either been dropped from tiny pockets of dirt that had been trapped in the melting ice or had been blown in by the wind. Within three years, the number of microbes had grown to twenty, which grew by absorbing carbon and nitrogen from the atmosphere.
This rapid growth in the amount of bacteria and their numbers had the effect of stabilizing the soil and prevent erosion. The microbes have a filament like structure that works like a web to weave together soil particles into a stable mass. Some of the microbes also excreted a glue like sugar that further aided the bonding of the soil particles.
Another finding of importance was that the rate at which the microbes absorbed nitrogen gas from the atmosphere and converted it to soil enriching compounds like nitrates and ammonia increased nearly a hundred times in the first five years. Since the conditions in the higher reaches of the Andes where the retreating glaciers have exposed land that has been devoid of vegetation for centuries is thought to be similar in many respects to the conditions on Mars, this discovery will help to understand conditions on that planet.
Besides helping to understand conditions on other planets, these discoveries may help in understanding how the cold regions of the Earth evolved and functioned and how the biosphere will be affected by and climatic changes in the future.
Research in the Andes is being carried out as fast as possible. The rapid changes mean that new development may overtake the researchers and the present microbe strains may be overtaken and disappear before their study has been completed.
