Posted on 10/16/2011 11:06:30 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
From the mighty polar bear to the tiny house sparrow, many of Earth's species appear to be shrinking in size, a new study reports. And the authors think it's probably due to global warming, a little like wool sweaters that shrink when washed in hot water.
But other experts say that conclusion goes too far, blaming global warming for what may be natural changes.
...
The shrinking victims, according to the study, include cotton, corn, strawberries, bay scallops, shrimp, crayfish, carp, Atlantic salmon, herring, frogs, toads, iguanas, hooded robins, red-billed gulls, California squirrels, lynx and wood rats.
Two years ago, Scottish researchers made news with the shrinking sheep study. Several studies have shown that polar bears, which rely on sea ice during the summer, also are not as big. And this latest study said the house sparrow's weight has dropped by one-seventh from 1950 to 1990. A bird called the graceful warbler showed a 26 percent weight drop during the same time period.
"There is a trend in a number of organisms across the board from plants to big vertebrates getting smaller," said study co-author Jennifer Sheridan, a biology researcher at the University of Alabama. "The theory is as things get warmer they don't need to grow as large."
Most of these animals are cold-blooded so the warmer the weather, the faster their metabolism is and the more calories they burn, Sheridan said. There's a biological law, called Bergmann's rule, that says that as it gets colder, animals get bigger. This is the unwritten flip side of it, she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Well, science reveals over the last ten years that "things" are not "getting warmer" after all, so there goes that theory.
I wonder how these idiots explain the new species that are being discovered...ALL THE TIME?
What’s an AGW whore to do? Just like Obama, all they can do is scream even louder now that they know people see this entire movement as complete B.S.
But let's pretend that it hasn't.
That way we can call it a "crisis" and not let it go to waste.
Darn that Darwin! ; )
The same “Survival of the fittest” Darwin ? Oh NO!
Great point!
Aren't these the same Libs that always try and shove Darwin and Natural Selection down are throats? I mean, after-all, using this theory that they love so much; shouldn't they expect to see species come and go?
These people are AGW Whores.
are = our
Wow...
I’ll bet a little bird told them. I’ve got a bird for them.
Of course, God sending curses is completely out of the equation.
They are wrong!
My doctor let me know that my shrinking is solely due to the cushions in my vertebrae wearing out.
Hey! Don’t you know that dinosaurs weren’t really ‘giants’...
The earth just shrank from the heat!!!
Should I point out that the warmest times in our planet's history was also when animals grew the largest?
Nah!
The proper response when your opponent is hanging themselves is, "Nice rope. Care for a chair?"
Shrinkage again!
Perhaps *they* should reconsider their fixation on obesity, too.
A cooling climate could suggest the need to store up all that fat, since *they* are also fixated on destroying affordable energy, such as to heat homes (and detested businesses as well), which makes the need for extra calories all that more pressing.
I was in the pool!
Cold water causes shrinkage...
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