A Cal State Long Beach student and professor teamed up to design a project that tested how salt marshes responded to climate change, with the local Huntington wetlands as a model.
The experiment, CSULB student Anastasia Shippey’s master’s thesis, is designed to study how a gradual increase in temperature will affect the wildlife in wetlands.
She installed more than 60 boxes of plastic pipe around plants for the experiment, and intends to study the change in a controlled environment for a year.
The boxes are designed to expose plants and animals to an increased temperature of two degrees Celsius. By keeping the temperature at a constant rise of two degrees, professor Christine Whitcraft and Shippey saw which subjects were most affected by the change.
After the restoration of the Huntington wetlands, Shippey questioned why they revived at a faster rate.
“We had an increased amount of rain fall during that restoration time, so I was wondering if the increased precipitation had something to do with that restoration,” Shippey said.
According to Whitcraft, there is evidence to suggest that the climate is changing and models have been made to show a range of temperature change over a period of time.
“We’ve used the minimum increase of approximately two degrees Celsius and we think that animals will respond to that change,” Whitcraft said.
Shippey’s project is scheduled to end in May of 2012.
Disclaimer: The Daily 49er is not responsible for Postings made on www.daily49er.wpengine.com. Persons commenting are solely responsible for Postings made on this website. Persons commenting agree to the Terms of Use of the website. If Postings do not abide by the Rules of Conduct or Posting Regulations as listed in the Postings Policy, the Daily 49er has all rights to delete Postings as it deems necessary. The Daily 49er strongly advises individuals to not abuse their First Amendment rights, and to avoid language suggestive of hate speech. This site also encourages users to make Postings relevant to the article or other Postings.