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Polar Research Progress at the University of Science and Technology of China |
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2005-08-14 |
| Polar Research Progress at the University of Science and Technology of China |
Sun Liguang et al
School of Earth and Space Science, USTC
A polar research group led by Prof. Sun Liguang at the USTC carried out a systematic analysis on the concentration of "bio-elements" in a lake-sediment core dating back approximately 3,000 radiocarbon years collected in Antarctica. They found that changes in sediment geochemistry reflect fluctuations in penguin numbers and suggested that variations in climate had an impact on penguin populations. The penguin archaeology results were published in "Nature" [407,6806,2000], which hailed that, "This is a novel biogeochemical approach," and "It is likely to become an area of some activity in the near future". Moreover, they reported that lead concentration in penguin droppings had significantly increased during the last 50 years, as compared to low and stable lead levels prior to the Industrial Revolution. "This clearly indicates that global environmental pollution has influenced the Antarctic ecological system. Heavy metal (Pb) may find its way into the food web, bioaccumulate, and be passed along the chain to penguins," said Prof. Sun. The finding was published by an International Journal "Environmental Geology" [40,10, 2001] and highlighted as the cover story. So far the reprints have been intensively required by interdisciplinary scientific researchers. To "excite the interests of researchers and teachers in physical and life sciences, and enable experts in one discipline to keep up with developments in others," said Prof. Harsh Pershad, editor of a highly regarded international quarterly review journal "Science Progress" at the University of California at Berkeley, Prof. Sun was invited to make an "authoritative introduction to this forefront of research" [ 84, 1, 2001].
Prof. Sun in Antarctica | |
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