For Picture Book Month this year, SB&F is sharing this list of wonderful picture books that use the conventions of storytelling to engage children with science.

 

Penguins, leopard seals, giant squids, 50-foot algae, sea spiders, coral, multicolored sea stars -- a world of extraordinary wildlife lives in the bitter cold of Antarctica, a place virtually uninhabitable for humans. But as global temperatures rise, this fragile ecosystem is under attack. The Adelie penguin has been nearly wiped out, king crabs which used to populate the deep seafloor are moving into shallower waters, desrupting the life there.

In AAAS member Jim McClintock's new book Lost Antarctica: Adventures in a Disappearing Land, the the University of Alabama-Birmingham marine biologist takes readers with him on an extraordinary field trip to the bottom of the world. He documents how climate change and ocean acidification are impacting the marine mammals and other sea creatures that inhabit the polar waters.

Listen as McClintock reads sections from his new book.

View photos from McClintock's trips to Antarctica.

• Amazon: Lost Antarctica: Adventures in a Disappearing Land

The new study shows how climate change might impact the Antarctic food chain in ways beyond the direct effect of rising temperatures.