The Arctic + Arctic Tundra Ben Graham p. 5
Table of Contents
- Food Webs
- The History
- R-selected species
- K-selected species
- Specialist
- Generalist
- Arctic Fox
- Arctic Wolf
- Population
- Climatogram
- Geology
- Primary Succession
- Secondary Succession
- Saltwater System
- Freshwater System
- Carbon Destruction
- Arctic Ice Melting
- Polar Bear Effect
- WWF
- What can WE DO?
- Cited Work
Food Web
The History
In the Arctic and Arctic Tundra scientists have been studying the increase of polar bear deaths. Due to the polar ice caps melting, Polar bears aren't able to hunt seals, walruses, fish, etc. which are their main sources of food.
Although the increase of polar bear death is very important a deadly parasite has emerged from the melting ice. Necropsies revealed that 406 dead seals were infested with this crescent moon-shaped parasite that had destroyed their livers, but it wasn't clear what the organism was or how the seals had obtained the parasite.
R-selected Species
R-selected species: a species that produce many offspring (i.e. litters) and live for short periods of time.
The Lemming is a rodent species in the Arctic Tundra that produces a large litter of offspring and are easy prey at young ages. The adult Lemming can live up to 1-3 years.
K-selected Species
K-selected species: a species that produces one to two offspring in their lifetime and live for many many years.
The Walrus is a K-selected species because it produces one offspring or, rarely, twins. Also, Walruses live for many years (up to 40 years).
Specialist Species
Specialist Species: a species that require very specific diet or need a certain habitat to survive.
A polar bear exclusively hunts ringed seals and bearded seals. if these were not acquirable, polar bears would end up eating walrus, beluga whale and bowhead whale carcasses, birds' eggs, and (rarely) vegetation.
Polar bears are so well insulated that they have to move slowly to avoid overheating. If there habit reaches a certain temperature polar bears could overheat and die so to survive they need to be in specific temperatures.
Generalist Species
Generalist Species: a species able to live in a wide variety of environments and can use a wide variety of different resources.
The Arctic hare can live in a wide variety of ecosystems. After the spring moult, the fur of southern populations is replaced with a shorter grey-brown fur. More northern populations also moult into shorter fur, but keep the white color year-round.
Arctic Fox
Interspecific Competition
They compete with other foxes for a mate
Parasitism
- Hunts and eats lemming, benefiting the fox but not the lemming.
- Is eaten by polar bears and other large organisms (victim of parasitism).
Commensalism
- Follows polar bear and feeds on the remains of its kills but polar bear receives no benefit.
- Follows caribou because caribou loosen the soil which makes the hunting process easier for the arctic fox.
Arctic Wolf
Predation
Arctic wolves hunt and feed on caribou; benefiting them while not benefiting the caribou.
Mutualism
After the pack is full the carcass left behind can be food for Arctic foxes; this is benefiting both species.
Resource Partitioning
Wolf packs have separate territories which makes food for the packs divided; benefiting both packs by not fighting for resources.
Population
Human population
The human population is said to be 4 million but do to harsh weather conditions it may be decreasing year by year. Only a few settlements live in the Arctic Tundra. Most of the people who live there are nomadic indigenous people, such as the Inuit, and those doing studies in conservation (nature and its resources), science (Earth, biology, and ecology being the tops), mining, and oil and other explorations, etc.
Animal population
- The tundra contains over 100 species of birds
- 45+ species of mammals
- 1,700 plant species
- 7 species
- Over 2000 species of insects
- Over 20 species of fish
Climatogram
On the vertical (y) axis on the right it shows us the temperature in Celsius ranging from -30 to 20. The left y axis is the amount of Rainfall (mm). The horizontal (x) axis is showing us the months year round.
As we can see the higher the temperature goes the more rain we get. The more rain we get, the more fresh water, the more freshwater means low salinity levels in the sea.
Geology
In the center of the Arctic is a large basin covered by the Arctic Ocean. The basin is nearly surrounded by the ancient continental shields of North America, Europe, and Asia, with the geologically more recent lowland plains, low plateaus, and mountain chains between them. Surface features vary from low coastal plains (swampy in summer, especially at the mouths of such rivers as the Mackenzie, Lena, Yenisei, and Ob) to high ice plateaus and glaciated mountains. Tundras, extensive flat and poorly drained lowlands, dominate the regions. The most notable highlands are the Brooks Range of Alaska, the Innuitians of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, the Urals, and mountains of E Russia. Greenland, the world's largest island, is a high plateau covered by a vast ice sheet except in the coastal regions; smaller ice caps are found on other Arctic islands.
Primary Succession
As Earth began to warm, glaciers began to melt and the land was lifeless and rocky. Pioneer plants like lichen took a large amount of time to grow on these rocks. In time, rocks broken down by the lichens mixed with decay lichens, formed the first soil. Wind also blew dust, which gathered in small cracks in rocks so that moss and small plants could grow. As more moss and soil forms, grass begins to grow in the area.
Secondary Succession
After Hurricanes and fires, soil remained and succession was possible. This is faster than primary succession because the soil is already present. In the tundra, this occurs after a fire or a mudslide.
Saltwater System
Do to large amounts of sea ice melting it is causing the sea level to rise and new currents to form. Sea ice has an enormous influence on currents. Them melting is causing the currents to change and move unwanted heat and cold into random ecosystems around the globe.
Ice Caps Moving
The ice caps shrinking and shrinking every year. Strong winds are moving some small ice formations towards the Atlantic Ocean where they melt and decrease the salinity of the water making it less dense.
Freshwater Systems
Due to sea ice caps melting, weather patterns have been changing and it's beginning to rain more. More rain equals more fresh water, more fresh water equals lower salinity levels in the ocean. Even though low salinity levels have bad outcomes, rain gives more organisms fresh water to survive.
Carbon Destruction
(Background image below)
The Earth has many cycles that contribute to the living and no living organisms who inhabit it. The Carbon cycle is one of them. The Carbon cycle is the cycle of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) from the non-living environment to the living environment and then back to the non-living environment. When the Carbon cycle is disrupted it can cause drastic effects on the environment. Human being burn coal, oil, and dump trash into the environment cause more carbon emissions into the atmosphere.
Arctic Ice Melting
- The primary role that sea ice plays in global climate its ability to efficiently reflect the Sun's radiation, this property is called albedo, the measure of the reflecting power of a surface.
- Sea ice begins to form when water temperature dips just below freezing, at around -1.8°C (or 28.8°F).
- The Arctic sea ice is now declining at a rate of 13.4 percent per decade.
- Temperature in the Arctic has increased at twice the rate as the rest of the globe, and the region is expected to increase an additional 8°C (14°F) in the 21st century
Polar Bear Effect
Polar bear population has been declining due to Arctic sea ice melting. Sea ice is the home of polar bears' major food source, ice seals, so when the sea ice disappears, so does the bears' main way of getting meals. Rising global temperatures are forcing bears to spend more time on land and to go longer between meals. If no food is found some resort to cannibalism.
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
The WWF is a non-governmental organization that is trying to save the Arctic and the organisms that live and thrive in it's ecosystems. They have been active in the Arctic for decades. Back in 1973. the WWF helped convince the five governments of the region to sign a treaty to protect polar bears. Controls were so successful that 10 years later the number of bears in Norway had doubled. At the same time they are protecting unique habitats and wildlife. More than 350,000 sq km of the Arctic is now protected from threats such as mining and oil drilling.
Today, climate change is the biggest threat facing the Arctic and its wildlife. As the Earth heats up and the ice disappears, scientists project that 2/3 if polar bears could be wiped out by 2050. They are researching how climate change is affecting Arctic ecosystems, and how they can help them adapt and survive. They’re also supporting research on climate change and work with communities living in the Arctic, to help people see the reality of climate change and its local and global effects.
What Can WE DO??
- Reducing your carbon emissions and dependence on fossil fuels can help save the Arctic.
- Discover practical ways you can make a difference, from joining our campaigns to shopping greener at the supermarket and making your home energy efficient.
- Tell your government you want them to back green energy – to fight climate change and stop the rush to exploit Arctic energy resources.
- What you can due to make your community greener
- Follow polar bears in the wild with the WWF-Canon Polar Bear Tracker
Cited Work
- http://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/starving-polar-bear-photo-dont-blame-just-climate-change-n428491
- http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/02/melting-arctic-ice-releases-deadly-seal-parasite
- http://thefuntundra.weebly.com/statistics.html
- https://www.learner.org/courses/envsci/unit/text.php?unit=9&secNum=2
- http://a-z-animals.com/animals/lemming/
- http://vetmed.illinois.edu/wildlifeencounters/grade9_12/lesson2/adapt_info/specialist.html
- https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=polar+bear+diet
- http://thefuntundra.weebly.com/succession.html
- http://www.arkive.org/arctic-hare/lepus-arcticus/
- http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/blogs/7-reasons-why-arctic-sea-ice-matters
- http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/world/arctic-the-geology.html
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