There are a lot of environmental changes occurring as the planet warms: melting ice caps, rising sea levels, heat waves, you name it. But perhaps the most terrifying of all is that climate change is boosting swarms of giant arctic mosquitoes.
The warmer temperatures are causing the mosquitoes to emerge earlier and grow larger, researchers at Dartmouth found. This could hurt the caribou population the insects feed on by forcing the animals to spend more time avoiding the insects and less time raising their young or storing nutrients for the winter.
“Arctic mosquitoes’ reproductive success depends on the females finding a blood meal, which is expected to increase because warming more closely synchronizes their life cycle with caribou calving,” the Dartmouth press release explains. “The calving season benefits mosquitoes by giving them a larger, less mobile herd to feed on, including vulnerable calves.”
Average temperatures in the Arctic have increased at twice the global rate in the past 100 years, and this study predicts that if temperatures in the region rise 2 degrees Celsius, the mosquitoes’ probability of survival will increase by more than 50%.
More Must-Reads From TIME
- The 100 Most Influential People of 2024
- The Revolution of Yulia Navalnaya
- 6 Compliments That Land Every Time
- What's the Deal With the Bitcoin Halving?
- If You're Dating Right Now , You're Brave: Column
- The AI That Could Heal a Divided Internet
- Fallout Is a Brilliant Model for the Future of Video Game Adaptations
- Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time
Write to Tessa Berenson at tessa.Rogers@time.com