FAIRBANKS, Alaska — The stench is overwhelming, a rancid sweetness that stings the eyes and lungs, clinging to hair and clothes like a vile perfume. This is the smell of global warming research at work, inside a sealed room at the University of Alaska's Museum of the North in Fairbanks, the largest U.S. repository for high-latitude species. Beneath the lids of large coolers, thousands of tiny beetles are devouring the desiccated flesh of carcasses destined for the museum's vast specimens collection.
It's a process used by museums for decades because of the dermestid beetle's unmatched ability to strip bones without damaging even the smallest, most delicate specimens. But today that skill is increasingly crucial in gauging the long-term implications of climate change, particularly in the Arctic where effects of warming appear first and with greater intensity. These drab little bugs are common household pests that eat through furs, clothing and cereal, shedding their telltale exoskeletons in drawers and cupboards. But in science, dermestids unveil the most minute changes in a species, as illustrated by a study comparing hundreds of martens -- a type of weasel -- from the Alaska museum's collection.
Israeli scientist Yoram Yom-Tov measured about 400 marten specimens obtained by the museum over the past 50 years. Excluding such factors as gender and high latitude-norms, Yom-Tov found the small carnivore had grown over the years by a few percentage points. That's enough to suggest something significant about global warming, he said.
The most plausible explanation is that winters in Alaska are shorter and warmer, said Yom-Tov, a professor of zoology at Tel Aviv University. Plants are more available to such prey as voles, so martens have more food. Yom-Tov recently submitted his conclusions for publication and said he would like to study more Alaska species.
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