White-tailed ptarmigan White-tailed ptarmigan The white-tailed ptarmigan ("Lagopus leucura"), also known as the snow quail, is the smallest bird in the grouse family. It is a permanent resident of high altitudes on or above the tree line and is native to Alaska and the mountainous parts of Canada and the western United States. It has also been introduced into the Sierra Nevada in California, the Wallowa Mountains in Oregon and the Uinta Mountains in Utah. Its plumage is cryptic and varies at different times of the year. In the summer it is speckled in gray, brown and white whereas in winter it
Climate change in the Arctic pathway suggests that methane from seabed permafrost will progress rather slowly, instead of abrupt changes. However, Arctic cyclones, fueled by global warming and further accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere could contribute to more release from this methane cache, which is really important for the Arctic. An update to the mechanisms of this permafrost degradation, implying the possibility of being close to an acceleration of methane release was published in 2017. Changes in vegetation are associated with the increases in landscape scale methane emissions. The growing season has lengthened in the far northern latitudes, bringing major changes to plant