Name:___________________ Date:________________________
How climate change affects aquatic ecosystem?
Use Page 204 to fill out this chart, which describes how climate change affects aquatic (water) ecosystems.
Effects of climate change
Melting Sea Ice
Why does this happen
Ice sheets in the north and south poles are melting due to
increased temperatures.
Organisms that are affected
New Food Chains
As sea ice melt, species at the bottom of the aquatic
food chain disappear. Species which eat krill move
outside their normal feeding areas to find new food
source, and create new food chains or die.
Krill feed on plankton, and plankton lives
under sea ice.
Warmer Oceans
As temperature increases, the temperature of the oceans
increases. As the oceans become warmer causes bleaching of
coral reefs.
Algae live in coral reefs and give
them food though photosynthesis.
As oceans warm up, coral reefs expel
algae, which means they no longer
have food and then die themselves.
Rising Sea Level
As global temperature increases, the temperature of
the oceans also increases. As ocean gets warmer,
the molecules in the ocean acquire more energy and
move faster creating more spaces between them
causing the sea level to rise.
Organisms that live around the coast are
forced to fine a new place to live.
More Violent Storms
As oceans get warmer, they warm up the air above them,
making it less stable and could develop tropical storms that can
build into hurricanes.
Everything. Storms can cause
lots of destruction.
Polar bears and the Inuit which
are hunting for food off the ice.
Name:___________________ Date:________________________
How climate change affects terrestrial ecosystem?
Use Page 206 to fill out this chart, which describes how climate change affects terrestrial (land) ecosystems.
Effects of climate change
Changing Organisms
Why does this happen
Melting Land Ice
As temperatures increase, land ice is melting at a very fast
speed especially in Northern Canada.
In Canada's North, glacial ice and
permafrost (permanently frozen
layer of soil) melts tilting trees and
loosing the soil damaging the
foundation of homes.
New Deserts
Increasing temperatures and decreasing rainfall
causes drought which could lead to desertification.
Southern Alberta is experiencing less rain.
Less rainfall means fewer crops, less water
reservoirs which could lead to less food.
More Flooding
Some areas could experience heavy rainfall that leads to
flooding, while other areas may flood due to severe storms
such as hurricanes. Other areas flood due to sea levels rising.
Organisms that live below sea level
must find new homes and flee.
Effects on Human Health
Increase temperature leads to extreme weather
such as heat waves, flood, hurricanes and severe
storms. Those events lead to wetter and warmer
climate which is favourable for disease and pests
which carry them.
Extreme weather events cause
homelessness, injury and illness. Ex: West
Nile; mosquito-borne illness.
As climate changes, species either adapt or die off
because they cannot withstand the change
Organisms that are affected
Due to warmer temperatures, less migratory
birds make their trips south therefore do
not survive the winter.