Human impact on the Arctic Ocean.

Human impacts

Climate change

Humans have created climate change. Climate change is melting glaciers and warming oceans and land all over the world. The situation in the Arctic ocean is that the Phytoplankton bloom is being delayed and therefore when the Zooplankton come to eat the Phytoplankton, there is not enough of it and less falls to the ocean floor to feed crustaceans and other animals. Because the Phytoplankton are so essential to the marine life in the arctic, this is affecting all of the animals.

Melting ice due to climate change

Another problem is the ice melting and leaving less room for seals and polar bears to escape their predators, the Killer whales. This means that killer whales can come into the arctic ocean and hunt easier, making polar bears and seal at more of a risk of extinction than before climate change.

Hunting

Another human impact is hunting, Polar bears are being hunted, they have been put on america endangered species list and there is only a population estimate of between 22 000 and 25 000 polar bears left in the wild, 700 polar bears are killed a year. Canada is the only country that allows polar bear hunting by non-natives and non-citizens.

How are humans causing climate change?

We know that it is humans causing climate change because it is our toxins that are covering the earth. We have made our atmosphere polluted and now it is not allowing the warmth of the sun to bounce off the earth and traps it, heating our planet more than it is supposed to be heated my then sun. Some gases that effect our atmosphere in this way are, Water vapor, Carbon dioxide, Methane, Nitrous oxide and chlorofluorocarbons. More proof that the sun is not to blame is that the energy sent to earth from the sun since 1978 has been measured. The measurements say that the suns irradiance (a measure of the energy coming from the sun) has had a slight decrease in the past 30 years. 

(National Aeronautics and space administration)

Solutions

Climate change

The obvious solution for climate change is encouraging every day households to cut down on their energy usage. But some other solutions are re-forestation, and to use no carbon or low carbon fuels. Using solar cars that do not use fuel and use batteries. Solar cars are expensive and the battery cannot be charged when you get to work or when you are going on long road trips. This may make having a solar car hard. In canberra there are stations where you can charge your solar car, if we make more of these and have them at regular intervals then having a solar car would become that much easier. One other climate change solution is being put to practice in Adelaide. The solar cities are being put to work and making and effect. The whole idea is about bringing down the use of electricity. Houses in Adelaide are becoming solar and trials are being run to see how it will effect the people and the atmosphere. 

Hunting

Some ways to stop or slowdown hunting in the arctic is to introduce more laws, not just one country. If all the countries in that region made new laws to prevent a person hunting polar bears, the animal would be brought out of the threatened species list. A way to encourage the countries to make these laws is to make polar bear hunting known. Much like Joseph Kony was made known.

What will the effect on humans be?

Solar power is not as reliable as normal power so people may experience that they have a loss of power at some times when the have solar power installed at their house. A polar bears fur is used to make jumpers and help keep people warm in cold weather. People who use the bears fur for jumper will have to find new ways to keep themselves warm. Another problem is that some people may sell polar bear fur to make money to support their families. These people may need to be provided with some money before they can find a new way to support themselves. 

References:

Arctic Portal (date unavailable) Effects of sea ice reduction
Available: http://www.arcticportal.org/effects-of-arctic-sea-ice-reduction
Accessed: 21 April 2012

National Aeronautics and space administration (date unavailable) Blanket around the earth
Available: http://climate.nasa.gov/causes/
Accessed 21 April 2012

(no name or date available) Stop polar bear hunting
Available: http://www.stoppolarbearhunting.com/
Accessed 21 April 2012

Australian government solar cities (no date available) Adelaide solar city
Available: http://www.adelaidesolarcity.com.au/
Accessed: 22 April 2012

Animals and plants of the Arctic Ocean!

Animals in the Arctic ocean have to be able to withstand freezing temperatures, and they all have different ways to do this. Some of these animals are:

Diatoms 

Single-celled algae called diatoms live with in the arctic sea ice. (Gardiner, 2007)

Zooplankton 

(copepod, amphipod), Zooplankton are small crustaceans, and have exoskeletons.  (Gardiner, 2007)

Fish

The Pink fish
 (Gardiner, 2007)

 (Arctic cod, pink fish) Little is known about the pinks fish but it was found roaming the bottom of the Arctic Ocean. (Gardiner, 2007)

                                                                                                                         

Marine Mammals           

(Walruses, Polar bears, Ringed seal, Northern fur seal) These are mammals who roam the land but also swim through water to get their prey. (Gardiner, 2007)

Mammals in these cold areas, find it harder than other animals to live because they are warm blooded. A polar bear has many ways it keeps itself warm in the cold temperatures of the arctic. It has black skin, that allows it to extract as much heat from the sun as possible, A thick layer of blubber (fat) helps to keep them warm while swimming through cold water. A polar bear has been forced to adapt to a more aquatic life because of climate change. Polar bears a strong swimmers and have been tracked swimming for 100 km with out stopping. The hair of a polar bear is smooth and can easily shake off water and ice left on its fur when it gets out of the water. Their front paws are used as propellers as they swim through the water doggy style. The back paws are used as rudders. Many animals have had to change the way they live because of climate change. A polar bear is a great example. Because climate change is melting ice in the North Pole, Antarctica and Greenland its making it harder for mammals in these areas to live. (Gardiner, 2007)

The Arctic ocean has relatively no plant life except for the Phytoplankton and there is huge amounts of the in the Arctic. They feed of nutrients from melting rivers and the currents of the Atlantic and Pacific ocean. In summer the sun is out day and night, allowing the Phytoplankton to photosynthesise and reproduce quickly, in winter, the opposite happens and the Phytoplankton struggle to survive. Due to changed in climate the timing the Phytoplankton blooming changes. If there is less sea ice then the Phytoplankton will reproduce less meaning that there will be less to feed the food chain. The Phytoplankton are the very base of the food chain. If it disappears then the whole ecosystem will change.

References:
National Earth Science Teachers Association - Lisa Gardiner, Feb 2007, Windows to the World - Arctic Marine Life Available: http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/polar/arctic_marine_life.html
Accessed 9 April 2012

Caleb, No date could be found, Oracle think quest 
Available: http://library.thinkquest.org/3500/polarbear.htm
Accessed 9 April 2012

SeaWorld/Busch Gardens Animal Information Database, Busch Entertainment cooperation 2002. Sea world adventure parks - polar bears
Available: http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/PolarBears/pbadaptations.html
Accessed 9 April 2012


Wikipedia - last modified 11th April 2009.  Wikipedia - Arctic Ocean
Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Ocean#Animal_and_plant_life
Accessed: 9 April 2012

Arctic portal - 2011. Arctic Portal - affects of sea ice reduction
Available: http://www.arcticportal.org/effects-of-arctic-sea-ice-reduction
Accessed: 9 April 2012

How do different species of animals and plants interact?

Different species of animals interact by: warning each other when a threat may come close, the message animals send out may not be meant for other species but they will pick up on it. Animals from different species also need each other. Predators need small, less skilled animals so that they may feed themselves and/or their families that night. The smaller animals need the predators, as much as they wish that they weren't there. If there was no predators then the population of that species would rocket up and make it harder for the animals already there to live.

Different plants need each other because when one plant dies, it decomposes. The decomposing plant creates more fertile land for plants around it to feed off. So the weaker plant that may get beaten to the sun by other plant dies and fuels its enemies so that they may fight off other plants and grow.

Even animals and plants need each other! If animals weren't around then plants wouldn't get eaten and thinned down therefore wouldn't be encouraged to grow more. Humans are animals, and we encourage the growth of plants and rely on them for most of our foods. Bees for example spread pollen and help flowers grow, with out bees flowers would die. Plants create oxygen with all land dwelling animals rely on to live.

The Living things all help each other, even with out noticing it. If animals didn't exist plants wouldn't be able to survive and would loose the need to create oxygen because the world would already have too much making air thick with oxygen and making it harder for plants to breathe as well because there would be no carbon dioxide for them to breathe in.

Every living thing needs every other living thing in order to survive.

This is an example: Arctic ocean marine life.

References: Christopher Krembs, Arctic Portal,
Available: http://www.arcticportal.org/effects-of-arctic-sea-ice-reduction. Accessed April 19 2012.

where are the different biomes?

Tundra and ice: Tundra and ice is located at the top and bottom of the world. An Example of this is Antarctica. 


Tropical rainforest biomes: 




Alpine: Some places this this biome can be found in is, Canada, Nepal, Chile and Peru. 




Deserts: Deserts are found all over the world, we have one large desert made up of little ones, in the middle of Australia. They are called the Great Sandy Desert, Great Victoria, Simpson, Gibson and Tanam. There is also many in America and other countrys. 

Grasslands: Some grasslands are located in Australia, India, Argentina and Russia. 

Savannas: Some savannas are located in Australia, Madagascar and India.

Marine: Marine environments are located all over the world because of oceans. Some oceans are the Indian ocean, located off the coast of Australia and South Africa, The Atlantic Ocean, located off the coast of South Africa and Argentina. There are 7 different seas and oceans. The marine biome covers 3/4 of the world. 

Cold climate forests: Cold climate forests are located in, Russia and Canada as well as other places. 

Temperate forests: Some places tropical dry forests are located is, Madagascar, South africa, India and Mexico. 

References: 

Michael G 2001 Rainforest Climate, Savanna Climate
Available: http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/rainforest.htm
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/savanna.htm
Accessed: 2 April 2012


Brian S Lees (Date unavailable) Desert Locations
Available: http://www.powayusd.com/teachers/blees/desert_locations.htm
Accessed 2 april 2012


(Name and date unavailable) Where in the world are grasslands?
Available: http://www.bcgrasslands.org/whereintheworldaregrasslands.htm
accessed 2 april 2012


(No name or date available) World map - Political
Available: http://geology.com/world/world-map.shtml
Accessed 2 April 2012


(no name or date available) Cold Climate Forest
Available: http://library.thinkquest.org/11353/ccforest.htm
Accessed 2 April 2012
http://costarica201102.wordpress.com/trip-to-costa-rica-feb-2011/site-2-ensenada-nwr-and-gulf-of-nicoya/


(no name or date available) Tundra Climate
Available: http://www4.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/geog101/textbook/climate_systems/tundra_1.html
Accessed 19 April 2012


(No name available) 10 April 2012 (Himalayas), 18 April 2012 (Andes, Rocky)
Himalayas, Andes, Rocky Mountains
Available: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himalayas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountains
Accessed: 19 April 2012

Climates

Tropical rainforest: In an average year a tropical rainforest would get about 50 to 260 inches of rain. The temperatures in a tropical rain forest rarely get lower than 20º c or rise above 34º c. The latitude of the rain forest biome is around the equator for 23.5º N to 23.5º S.

Alpine: The average temperature in summer for the alpine region is -12ºc to 15ºc. The average rainfall for the year is 30 cm. The alpine biome doesn't run on latitude because of its wide range, instead we go on hight and Alpine regions are usually 10 000 feet or more.

Deserts: All months in the Desert biomes have an average temperature of 18º c. The latitude range for deserts is 15º to 28º. Approximately 25 ml of rain a year will fall onto the desert biome.

Grasslands: The average rain fall for Grasslands is 10 to 30 inches. The latitude for grasslands is 55º N to  30º S. In the winter, temperatures can get as low as -40º F and in summer it can get to a temperature of 21º c.

Savanna: In a savanna's winter it is really dry, most of a savanna's rain comes in the summer season. The average rainfall in the summer season is 15 to 25 inches. The savanna temperature range is about 20ºc - 30ºc. The latitude for the savanna biome to 10º to 20º S.

Marine: The Marine biome is exceptionally hard to classify because it is all over the world, because of oceans. The Ocean gets warmer as you move toward the equator and cold as you get closer to the tundra areas, however, the marine affects the lands climate a lot. The currents and wind effect the coastal areas. The Wind and currents usually match each other.

Cold climate forest: A cold climate forests temperature range is from -54º c to 21º c. The average precipitation for winter is 20 to 40 inches and for summer 10 to 20. The latitude for cold climate forests is 50º - 60º N.

Temperate forest: The temperature for the temperate forest varies between -30º c and 30º c. Average rain fall is about 75 to 150 cm and is distributed evenly through the year. The forests can be found between 25º - 50º latitude.

Tundra: Tundra climates are practically summer-less, no monthly average for temperatures rises about 10ºc and 9 months are below freezing. rain fall is usually no more than 250 mm in a year mostly falling over summer. The latitudinal range is from 75º N to 60º N.

References

Michael G, 2001, Blue Planet Biomes - Tundra climate, Rain forest climate, Savanna Climate.
Available:
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/rnfrst_climate_page.htm
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/tundra_climate_page.htm
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/savanna_climate_page.htm
Accessed: 3 April 2012

Oracle Think Quest - Desert affects of climate.
Think Quest team 26634 (date unavailable)
Available:
http://library.thinkquest.org/26634/desert/climate.htm
Accessed: 3 April 2012

Marietta College teachers/students, Marietta College Department of Biology and Environmental Science's - Grassland biome(s)
Available: http://www.marietta.edu/~biol/biomes/grass.htm
Accessed: 3 April 2012

University or Colorado, (date unavailable) Arctic Climatology and Meteorology - Marine Climate
Available: http://nsidc.org/arcticmet/glossary/marine_climate.html
Accessed: 3 April 2012

Gabe Hatter, Joe Howanic, and Eric Hustrulid (Date unavailable) Tundra
Available: http://ths.sps.lane.edu/biomes/tundra4/tundra4c.html
Accessed: 3 April 2012


Sam A, 2000 Tundra climate
Available: http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/tundra_climate.htm
Accessed: 19 April 2012


(no name or date was available) 
Available: http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/alpine.htm
Accessed: 19 April


Alex P, 2000 Savanna climate
Available: http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/savanna_climate_page.htm
Accessed 20 April 2012


Harold P, 2001. Taigan Climate
Available: http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/taiga_climate_page.htm
Accessed 21 April 2012

Biomes

Alpine (mountains high elevation)
Marine
Deserts
Grasslands
Savanna
Cold climate forest
Temperate  forest
Tundra
Tropical Rainforest



these are all the biomes