Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 08/27/2013 - 03:46

Mr. Taterka, Hello! Reading about your trip and research has been reay interesting. One thing I was wondering about is the immediate affects of thermokarst failures, not just on the microbes but on the environment itself. For example, does a thermokarst change the way wildlife interact with the environment? Blake Chernin

Anonymous

Blake -
Good question. Thermokarst failures would certainly impact any plants and animals unlucky enough to be there when it happens, but over the long term probably not a big direct impact. One thing that can happen is that the thermokarst feature can contribute a lot of sediment into lakes and rivers, which could impact the aquatic ecosystem. But after a few years things would return to normal.
- Mr. T