Environmental Woes of Tierra del Fuego -- Ozone Depletion

Matt Robson assembles a filter over a plot of peat in the Laguna Negra bog. Mylar filters block the summer's higher level of ultraviolet radiation, removing the effects of the ozone hole, allowing the team to compare growth and decay rates between filtered and unfiltered plots.

Robson and colleagues are concerned the higher ultraviolet levels may be slowing the growth of sphagnum moss in regional bogs, which filter water and provide nutrients to the rest of the environment. His "teenage" bog, some 20,000 years old, has shown early signs of slowing moss growth. "Peat bogs absorb carbon from the atmosphere," he notes, "which is a good thin in terms of global warming gases."

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Filename: 04aBogWalk.jpg
Copyright: © Kevin Moloney, 2000
Image Size: 4605x3045 / 5.8MB; atmosphere CFC emission forest Freon hydrocarbon plant research science tree weather air condition ecosystem environment food chain ozone ozone depletion ozone hole Tierra del Fuego
Contained in galleries: 7. Ozone Depletion

Matt Robson assembles a filter over a plot of peat in the Laguna Negra bog. Mylar filters block the summer's higher level of ultraviolet radiation, removing the effects of the ozone hole, allowing the team to compare growth and decay rates between filtered and unfiltered plots.<br />
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Robson and colleagues are concerned the higher ultraviolet levels may be slowing the growth of sphagnum moss in regional bogs, which filter water and provide nutrients to the rest of the environment. His "teenage" bog, some 20,000 years old, has shown early signs of slowing moss growth. "Peat bogs absorb carbon from the atmosphere," he notes, "which is a good thin in terms of global warming gases."