The Tundra Ecosystem
e.g. Northern Canada
Location and Distribution of the Tundra Biome
Arviat
Tundra - climate
Tundra Food Web
NATURAL CHANGES
Natural climate change after the Ice Age
The land has risen as the weight of the ice has been removed
The result is these raised beaches which are rocky …
Without soil and therefore still barren w/o plants
NATURAL CHANGES
Eskers are the
bedload of streams
that ran in the glacier’s
ice and were dumped
upside down when the
glacier melted after
the Ice Age
Well-drained areas are highly
valued for burrows. Wolves
commonly have their pups in
burrows on eskers. Usually
badly drained areas are
permafrost.
NATURAL CHANGES
Gradual warming may
allow trees to colonise. If
8/10 grow those in the
centre may survive the
harsh winters and become
established
Excellent source:
http://www.specialplaces.ca/spc/5Tundra.html
Human Changes – Global Warming
Barren ground
grizzlies have long
been on the tundra
but now they are
also out on the sea
ice and may win the
competition as polar
bears lose out to
global warming.
Human Changes – Global Warming
Consequences for
Local People
Permafrost melting
Human Changes –
Global Warming
Arctic Thaw releases
Greenhouses gases
As the Earth warms
greenhouses gases are
released from the
frozen soil
Consequences for Local People
“The caribou have changed their migration
pattern and no longer go by Maguse Lake. As a
result, only half the hunters he brought to Arviat
this year shot a caribou. “
Consequences for Local People
CONSEQUENCES FOR PEOPLE
OUTSIDE THE TUNDRA
CONSEQUENCES FOR PEOPLE
OUTSIDE THE TUNDRA
CONSEQUENCES FOR OTHER
ENVIRONMENTS
What do
we know
about
Methane?
CONSEQUENCES FOR OTHER ENVIRONMENTS
Release of stored carbon
CONSEQUENCES FOR OTHER ENVIRONMENTS
Caribou
migration
routes –
what if the
spring
thaw
comes
early?
“The caribou have changed their migration pattern and no longer go by Maguse Lake.
As a result, only half the hunters he brought to Arviat this year shot a caribou. “
HOW MIGHT ECOSYSTEMS BE BOTH EXPOITED AND
CONSERVED IN A SUSTAINABLE WAY?
Ecotourism?
HOW MIGHT ECOSYSTEMS BE BOTH EXPOITED AND
CONSERVED IN A SUSTAINABLE WAY?
Conservation
hunting, most
commonly for
polar bear (but
also for musk-ox,
grizzly bear and
caribou) provides
many Inuit
communities with
meaningful
employment and
a significant
source of new
income.
“ … and showcases Nunavut’s proud traditions of seal
hunting and sustainable use of seal to the world.”
Nunavut Arctic College fur design and production graduates