Mammoth Helps fight Climate Change

Scientists such as George Church have found a way to do what was previously thought to be impossible, bringing back an extinct species. Church and his team have been working for the past several years on a project to bring back on the world's most iconic extinct species, the woolly mammoth. No mammoths have been brought back yet, however Church feels that such an event is right around the corner.

Although mammoth de-extinction in and of itself would be a scientific miracle and a tremendous step forward in the field of biology, scientists such as Dr. Sergey Zimov believes that such a project could have a much greater and more important application. They believe that these animals can actually be used to slow the devastating progression of climate change.

Dr. Zimbov works very closely with Church, as the head of Pleistocene Park. This reserve, in northeastern Siberia, is to be the premier location for mammoth relocation once they have been successfully cloned. It also is located in the area where mammoths lived before their extinction 10 thousand years ago, a region known as the mammoth steppe.

Currently this area is a bleak tundra dominated primarily by bushes, small shrubs, and coniferous forests. But it wasn’t always like this. The area was previously wide open grassland with large herds of grazing animals such as deer, antelope, caribou horses, bison and woolly mammoths. At the end of the Pleistocene, mammoths disappeared and the populations of other grazing animals vanished from the area soon after, leading to the environmental conversion into the more shrub based community that it is today. Zimbov believes that by reintroducing these species back to the area he can return it to its original state. The introduction of grazers would create a nutrient cycle that would let the grasses outcompete the tundra flora converting the ecosystem into one that favors grazers and grasses.

This is not a new idea. Many conservation projects have reintroduced species into environments they have disappeared from, in order to preserve that environment. This one is unique and a milestone in the history of science, as it is being attempted with an extinct species.

Zimbov has already successfully reintroduced populations of bison, musk ox, moose, horses and reindeer back into the park, however the presence of mammoths is required in order to maintain any future grassland. Mammoths are needed to fill the same role that elephants do in Africa, keeping trees from growing onto the plains and dispersing large amounts of nutrients with their dung. Without mammoths the arctic plains would constantly be converting back to their current state of bushes and trees.

Why is it so important to turn northeastern Siberia back into grassland, and why do we have to bring back an extinct animal in order to ensure that it happen?. Because doing so gives us the opportunity to take an ecosystem approach to confront climate change. Studies conducted by Dr. Zimbov show us that if this area of the world can be successfully converted back into the mammoth steppe it would help to make the earth far more resilient to the effects of climate change than it is currently.

The soil of this area is extremely carbon rich, however this carbon is kept locked in the soil by the arctic permafrost. With the global temperature rising, this permafrost is starting to melt, causing the release of carbon in the soil. Estimates show that if the soil were to continue thawing the amount of carbon released would be approximately the same as burning all of the earth's forests 2 ½ times over. The main factor contributing to this problem is actually the snow. As the global temperature rises, during the winter months the snow acts as an insulator keeping heat in the ground.

Big grazing herbivores that lived in the area during the Pleistocene era required to feed on grass year round meaning that during the winter months these animals would have to scrape away the snow in order to reach the grass beneath. This act exposes the ground to the frigid arctic air, allowing it to penetrate into the soil cooling it and preserving the permafrost. Dr. Zimov’s plan to reintroduce these animals back into the area would allow this process to continue, helping to stop the melting of the permafrost. In addition the grass of the plains created by these animals would help to insulate the permafrost against the increasingly warmer summer months. And his studies are already yielding results, with areas that have reintroduced species having a total ground temperature cooling of about 2 degrees celsius.

If the mammoth steppe could be recreated in addition to being a tremendous help to preserve the permafrost it would also have an added benefit. Research suggests that grasslands are able to recycle carbon more efficiently than other ecosystems. So adding another major grassland to the world stage would be potentially helpful in slowing the increased speed of global warming as the rainforests are continued to be cut down.

Dr. Zimov’s project shows promise that the tundra can be converted back to the mammoth steppe more than 10,000 years after its disappearance, bringing with it extreme benefits for the environment. This project is likely to continue to gain momentum with the introduction of mammoths estimated to take place within the next decade.

Zimov deeply believes that it is methods like these that will help to solve the problems we face today as a result of climate change. He says that for thousands of years man has been the enemy of nature, especially with the wild animal, and that he hopes that his project will be a first step in changing our relationship with nature and with the animals therin. Once we do this, we can recover.