Photo: Land animals will also suffer when ice melts, says new study

In a research paper, called “Ecological Consequences of Sea-Ice Decline,” published August 2 in the journal Science. Eric Post, a researcher from Penn State University, and his colleagues look at what could occur when land-dwelling animals like caribou in the Arctic also find their land-dwelling food sources disrupted due to melting ice and temperature changes which affect plants inland. Other possible impacts the research looks at include population mixing or even the isolation of species like Arctic foxes as well as the introduction of new diseases.Post suggests a decrease in sea ice in Arctic Canada likely will increase contact between eastern and western Arctic species and promote a mixing of germs that previously were isolated. (PHOTO BY JEFF KERBY, PENN STATE)