The Arctic Tern The Arctic tern is a seabird that belongs to the tern family, Sternidae. The species spends the northern summers in the colder regions of Eurasia and North America. It migrates to the southern hemisphere during the northern winter. The Arctic tern breeds between May and July in the Arctic and subarctic regions of Asia, North America and Europe, as far south as Massachusetts. The Arctic tern has the K reproductive strategy because it only lays two eggs a year, each with a high probability of survival into adulthood. The population size generally stays the same and equal throughout the age demographics, a common characteristic of K reproductive strategists. The community of the Arctic tern contains a wide range of species, as …show more content…
It’s all about survival. When the Arctic tern enters the southern hemisphere, summer starts over and temperatures stay mild and within the tern’s range of tolerance. Most Arctic terns spend the first month of their migration in the north Atlantic ocean eating and collecting energy for the long trip ahead. Some migrations have been over 44,000 miles long round trip, with the birds rarely stopping for rest and food. The specific reason these animals migrate so far is widely unknown, although it is assumed for survival or breeding purposes. Some scientists suggest “that it's because of the rich [polar] feeding grounds that they travel so far.” If the migrations performed by this organism were to stop, the population would decrease rapidly because the temperatures in either one of their habitats will drop so low that they will be outside the Arctic tern’s limits of tolerance and the birds would freeze to death. Arctic terns also provide a great source of pest control when they eat insects and worms during their migrations. This would then be lost if the Arctic tern stopped migrating. The Arctic tern has an annual mortality rate of 18%, according to a study in the Farne Islands. Over 50% of the species will live past their 30th birthday, with an average lifespan of 20 years, an anomaly for birds, who normally live between 2 and 5
The muskox can survive in the tundra due to its large coat of rough hair on its body. It lives in the tundra to find what it needs to stay sustained such as roots, mosses and lichens.Next the Arctic Hare survives in the tundra because it has shortened ears and limbs, a wad small nose, fat that makes up 20% of its body, and a thick coat of fur. It live in the Tundra because that is its place of origin.Third the Polar Bear survives in the tundra because it has a big fur coat over a thick warm coat of fat. It stays in the arctic or tundra due to those locations have the food source they need to survive.Fourth the Arctic fox survives in the Tundra because the furry soles, short ears and short muzzle which are good for chilly climates. They stay
Sea minks are now extinct but were once ranged from Casco Bay, Maine in the south to as far north as New Brunswick, Canada. Their main habitats are coastal regions. Sea minks are usually confused with the American mink, but the sea mink is bigger. Sea minks are on average 914mm but the American mink is 580-700mm, so there is a good difference in size. Also the male sea minks are larger in size compared to the females. Their fur is a reddish dark brown, and it is not known if their fur changes during the summer and winter.
The Tundra soils are made at high latitudes. It is normally very cold in the Tundra. Tundra soils are usually frozen. It is normally classified as Gelisols.
Reindeer mosses and lingonberries are the producers of the tundra’s food chain (Naik, 2013) . The primary consumers, arctic hare and reindeer, can’t get their energy directly from the sun so they depend on the producers to obtain the energy they need. The arctic fox is the secondary consumer because they prey on arctic hares but also eat berries. The snowy owl, polar bear, and arctic wolf are the tundra’s tertiary consumers. Snowy owls eats the arctic hare and and arctic fox. Arctic wolves eats the arctic hare, arctic fox, and reindeer. Arctic wolves have been known to prey on snowy owls because unlike regular owls they build their nests on the ground. This brings a disadvantage to the snowy owl since it is now more accessible to prey. The last tertiary consumer in this biome is the polar biome. The polar bear consumes the arctic fox, arctic hare, and sometimes the reindeer. Because nothing are predators to the arctic wolf or polar, they die a natural death. When these organisms die they decompose and become nutrients to the producers of this biome. This allows the entire process to be started over again and is important to maintain the ecological balance of the
The purpose of this paper is to explore available research on the overpopulation of the Snow Goose on the North American continent. The snow goose has been rising in population since the middle of the century and has been escalating so much it is destroying their natural habitat. Wildlife managers have just recently begun to implement strategies to combat this problem. Mainly through the use of hunters the managers are trying to curb the population growth.
There are only three types of swans and one is known as a Tundra Swan. They travel in groups found in the Arctic regions in the parts of the world. They are commonly known as whistling swans and their relative size is larger than a goose, but smaller than a Mute Swan. They are estimated at 89,620 tundra swans throughout the regions.
The polar bear, the largest land carnivore in North America, one of the largest animals in the world and a favorite at zoos worldwide, has, over the years, adapted to its harsh Arctic environment. The appropriately named ‘ursus maritimum’ or sea bear usually lives between 15 and 18 years in the wild and spends most of its life on ice. It is the most recent of the eight bear species. The first polar bear was a brown bear subspecies, with brown bear dimensions and brown bear teeth. The polar bear evolution was rapid due to the small population and extreme pressure to survive. Even today, the polar bear continues to evolve to better adapt to the harsh realities of Arctic life.
Covering 1.5 million square kilometers, or about one-seventh of Canada, the Northern Arctic Ecozone extends over most of the Arctic Islands and includes the northeastern portion of the Northwest Territories
It contains an expanse of tundra with many marshes and lagoons with rivers situated between foothills of the Brooks Range and the wide, icy waters of the Beaufort Sea. Environmentalists said that this area “is the most biologically productive part of the Arctic Refuge for wildlife and is the center if wildlife activity.” The importance of these resources is not measurable. The Arctic is home to such animals as caribou, polar bears, grizzly bears, musk oxen, whales, wolves and snow geese. This area is full of wildflowers and contains water of excellent, unpolluted quality and quantity. The Arctic Ocean costal plain is an area critical to the survival of many birds and mammals (‘Alaska Wild’).
This is why the inuit have needed to understand the natural patterns of the arctic wildlife
The Arctic Lowlands are found between the Canadian Shield and Innuation regions. It is rocky with rounded hills. Also the surface is frozen all year. There is atleast a day in a year that the whole day is darkness. some of the natural resources you can find is coal,lead,ainc,soapstone, and natural
The ANWR or Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a refuge specially designed for wilderness purposes. This refuge is located in the northeast corner of Alaska, and is home to a rich diversity of over 250 species of wildlife. For a better description, this refuge has been named spiritual, recreational, historical, and cultural. However, not all would agree that the arctic refuge is a rather safe place.
The Fratercula arctica live in Northern Atlantic. In that place it is cold. The Fratercula arctica has four different species. All four are found in the cold weather. Since they live up there they have to find food. They hunt small fish. What they do is cool. The fly up to speeds to 55 miles per hour. The Fratercula arctica flap their wings 300-400 flaps in a minute. Then they swoop down and open the beak and get a lot of small fish. The stuff about 64 small fish. Since the Fratercula arctica is a bird the skin is of course feathers, so they can fly. The good thing about the Fratercula arctica is that they conservation status is good. That means the that they are not going extinct. The conservation status of a species is an indicator of the
Environmental changes due to our climate warming is causing terrible effects on the Marten population in the northern reaches of Wisconsin. What climate change is doing to the habit in which the Marten is living in is changing the amount of snowfall the regions in which the Martens are living in are acquiring. Looking at figure 3 you can see that the total snowfall in the two regions where Martens were reintroduced showed significantly less snowfall accumulation in present day compared to the 1980’s. This is extremely important to note because this change in snowfall can deteriorate the critical zone called the subnivium. The subnivium is the seasonal microenvironment underneath the snow (Pauli et al., 2013). This is a small zone where plants and small mammals thrive during the winter. It should be stated that the subnivium insulates the ground creating a pocket of warmth that allows these organisms to survive the harsh Wisconsin winters. The way a subnivium is formed is based on snow duration, density and depth (Pauli et al., 2013). But this is where climate change comes into play. It is causing snowfall to decrease, the time snow is present is decreased and the density of the snow is lower (Pauli et al., 2013). Having these three factor decline is getting rid of the refuge of the subnivium and killing organisms that thrive there. One such organism is the American Marten. These mammals are small enough to crawl down tree trunks where the snow is melted to gain access to the subnivium. This is where the Marten hunts mice and other small mammals to its heart's content. But with the loss of the subnivium Martens can’t hunt in their little paradise. They will have to find other places to hunt and find prey to satisfy their caloric needs. This is where the Fisher has the advantage, since they are too large to access the subnivium. The Fisher
As important as it is, Arctic coastal sea ice plays a vital role in dynamics of the coastline, covers stretches of open water which serve as important biological habitats, and serves as a platform for a broad range of activities by residents and industries (Druckenmiller et al., 2009). Sea ice is also important because it is used as a platform for harvesting seals and whales in spring, transport of personnel and supplies to camps, and as a network of trails (Druckenmiller et al., 2009). Dangerous effects of climate change include “ice breakouts” which are when large chunks of ice that whalers are using as working areas break off of the main ice blocks and take whaling camps out to sea (Druckenmiller et al.,