Sample Handout

Name:  _______________________________ Unit 3 – Project 1: Part 2

Date:  ________________________________

         

Polar Ice Cap Biome

Where are they found?

What is the climate of the polar ice cap?

What factors determine its climate?

Arctic Food Web

Discussion Question and Answer

Polar ice cap – An increase in the greenhouse effect has worked to raise average temperatures worldwide. How might an increase in average temperature affect producers and consumers at the polar ice caps? Be specific whenever possible.

Ocean temperatures are increasing all around the world by an average 0.1 degrees Celsius as a result of global warming. This change may seem insignificant, but it has ramifications that are felt by producers and consumers alike. For example, producers such as phytoplankton are sensitive to changes in water temperature (and as a result, dissolved oxygen content). In the Bering Sea (located between Alaska and Russia), phytoplankton populations have been hurt by increases in water temperature. Consequently, the organisms that feed upon them, such as copepods and humpback whales have suffered. A decrease in food supply continues up the food chain, affecting other secondary and third-level consumers, such as seals, fish, polar bears and orcas.

Rising temperatures have also produced other problems for consumers living near the polar ice caps. The ice that makes up the polar caps has been melting at an increasing rate with less replenishment as a result of the higher temperatures. This means the habitats and hunting areas of predators such as polar bears and seals are being reduced in size. If hunting continues to become more and more difficult then it is expected that the populations of these animals will continue to drop, possibly to extinction.

Notes

Bibliography

Climate change: the effects on ocean animals. New England Aquarium Home. Retrieved October 22, 2011, from http://www.neaq.org/conservation_and_research/climate_change/      effects_on_ocean_animals.php

Polar Icecaps Biome. (2011). Untamed Science. Retrieved October 22, 2011, from http://www.untamedscience.com/biology/world-biomes/polar-icecaps-biome

Nixon, D. Ecology: Trophic levels. Retrieved October 22, 2011, from www.msu.edu/~nixonjos/teaching/bio/ecology/ecology15.html.

Sea Temperature Rise -- National Geographic. (n.d.). The Ocean -- National Geographic. Retrieved October 22, 2011, from http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/critical-issues-sea-temperature-rise/