ee.1.4 Changing distribution of extreme environments over time

News article

‘Like walking through time’: as glaciers retreat, new worlds are being created in their wake

As Swiss glaciers melt at an ever-faster rate, new species move in and flourish, but entire ecosystems and an alpine culture can be lost

The Guardian · 13 September 2025

Key terms

• Ablation
  • The process by which a glacier loses mass or ice.

• Accumulation
  • The process by which snow and ice accumulate and build up in a glacier or ice sheet over time.

• Desertification
  • Land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities. This degradation includes the temporary or permanent decline in the quality of soil, vegetation, water resources or wildlife, for example. It also includes the deterioration of the economic productivity of the land – such as the ability to farm the land for commercial or subsistence purposes.

• Nutrient cycling
  • The movement, transformation, and recycling of essential chemical elements and compounds (nutrients) within an ecosystem.

• Primary production
  • The process where green plants called primary producers, make organic compounds like carbohydrates from things like carbon dioxide and water. They do this using sunlight energy in a process called photosynthesis.

• Soil conservation
  • The practice of implementing strategies and techniques to protect and manage soil resources in order to prevent soil erosion, degradation, and loss.

• Species diversity
  • A measure of the variety of species (both plants and animals) present in a particular ecosystem.