As glaciers melt, life quickly moves in to newly available space on bare rock and sediment. New Zealand, Australian and international authors studied 46 glaciers across five continents including, Aotearoa’s Franz Josef/ Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere, and found common patterns in how the environment changed after ice loss. Soil fertility and microorganisms increase fast thanks to warmer temperatures – then as time passes, the soil becomes more acidic, and increasing plant growth helps animals become established. These relationships between temperature, time, soils, and lifeforms are important to understanding how ecosystems will change and exotic species will spread as climate change sees more of the world’s glaciers retreat.
