As the weather in northern climates continues to change it becomes more important to the effects of the change on local species. The ability of theses northern species to adapted affects their survival s. Arctic foxes are one of the main predators of the terrestrial arctic ecosystem. Foxes main prey consists of small rodents, birds and their eggs in the summer and spring. Arctic foxes travel large distances searching for prey, averaging 29 km a day. (http://www.osti.gov/scitech/biblio/5927638). Many studies have been done on how food and resource abundance affects the foraging patterns, but not many studies have been done on how weather patterns and changing climate may be affecting the arctic foxes. One concern is that annual spring and summer …show more content…
Fox’s foraging technique is to only eat between 2-6 % of eggs they find immediately after discovering the nest and cache the rest of them for later consumption. (Samelius and Alisauskas, 2000). My project aims to look at whether variations in summer weather temperatures affects the foraging success of Arctic foxes. Since increasing temperatures should theoretically cause foxes to allocate less energy to keeping warm it is expected that there will be an increase in foraging time with an increase in temperature. This will result in more depredation events occurring in higher temperatures. In addition increasing temperature should cause an increase in food finding as noticed by increase in food …show more content…
If the results show temperature does affect the forging habit of arctic foxes this could have detrimental impacts on the balance of the Artic ecosystem. The changing temperature could have implications the longer term stability of the Arctic fox population. If rising temperatures cause an increase in the fox’s ability to find bountiful food supplies, it could cause a population burst resulting in overpopulation of the foxes. A very common example of this is of White tailed deer in North America. Deer became overabundant due to a surplus of food from agriculture, causing a large population growth resulting in over population. This overpopulation has caused damages to the ecosystem due to it increasing for more food resources. This over grazing resulted in a dramatic disappearance much of the local vegetation species as well as an increase in the mortality of the deer due to starvation from the resultant habitat loss. (https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&lr=&id=gJE6JTNHd_UC&oi=fnd&pg=PA119&dq=overpopulation+due+to+prey+abundance&ots=4gP3mEDG1z&sig=21tjsofihVROZ_Txk3C8FoGHm2c#v=onepage&q=overpopulation%20due%20to%20prey%20abundance&f=false) . This resource instability may occur in Artic foxes due to overpopulation threatening the prey species of the Arctic Foxes. Arctic breeding shorebirds could be at risk due to the over population of Arctic Foxes. With more Arctic foxes there
Isle Royal is located fifty-six miles north of Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula. It is the largest wilderness area in Michigan (USNPS, 2014). The island is surrounded by Lake Superior, which creates a cooler temperature. This results in arctic plant species growth on the island. There are only eighteen mammal species present on the island because most mammals cannot make the trip across the frozen great lake (USNPS, 2014). The need for an ice bridge is not the only environmental factor that is stopping the migration of animals; there is also the severe cold, and also wind and fog (Vucetich, 2012). Some species such as caribou and coyote have found the island to be too intense and have gone extinct (Vucetich, 2012). Due to the harsh weather and isolation of the island, humans have never regularly lived on the island (Vucetich, 2012). Some of species that are present such as the red squirrel are becoming their own subspecies due to its separation from the mainland (USNPS, 2014). The isolation of Isle Royal is what makes it a great place to conduct research, it has very low human interaction and the species that are on the island will have been and continue to be isolated from the mainland.
Gray Wolf Optimization Gray wolf optimization is presented in the following subsections based on the work in [13]. 1) Inspiration: Grey wolves are considered as apex predators, meaning that they are at the top of the food chain. Grey wolves mostly prefer to live in a pack. The group size is 512 on average. They have a very strict social dominant hierarchy.
The Arctic region is home to a variety of valuable animals and plants, including polar bear, seal, and so on. The ecosystem of the Arctic region is fragile because these animals are evolved to live in extreme conditions. With the climate change, many animals are endangered. Ice is the habitat of polar animals because they have to rely on sea ices for resting, food, and reproduction. With the climate change and the decrease of sea ice, the number of polar animals is decreasing and their health is threatened. For example, the average weight of female polar bears in 1980 was about 650 pounds, but the number reduced to about 500 pounds in 2004 (Djoghlaf 15). The earlier breakup and later condensation of sea ice shortens the hunting season of polar bears. Polar bears mainly feed on seals that indwell icy land. The melting ice reduces the number of seals and food intake of polar bears. In addition, polar bears are used to living in ice caves. The rising temperature causes the collapse of ice caves, which can kill baby bears. The climate change is negatively affecting the biodiversity in the region and will definitely harm the ecosystem
Out of an Ice Age emerged one of our most majestic creatures in the world, the polar bear. From its brown bear ancestry, the predator evolved to be a master of a harsh and unwelcoming ice kingdom. Intelligent, adaptable and fierce, the polar bear learned how to survive in a place that offers few comforts to any creature. But now that very environment is in flux. And so is the polar bear’s fate (Nature).
Animal spirits are a product of irrational behavior and are a major driving force in the economy. Intuitive then is the notion that animal spirits are also heavily involved in the process of economic boom and bust cycles. This much is straightforward and in reality seems to be the case. Animal spirits, which were initially defined by John Maynard Keynes, characterizes a variety of exogenous variables that could not be accounted for in the mainstream rational economic theories of the time. This definition was later reclassified by Akerlof and Shiller in their title book and provided some of the mechanics behind seemingly irrational behaviors. Akerlof and Shiller described and highlighted five specific features of animal spirits that affect the
Everyone has a family member, friend, or beloved pet so sick you were not sure if they would live or die, and you find out about a new surgery procedure or medicine available to save them. Have you ever wondered where these new surgery procedures or medicines come from? When you think about all the major medical advancements over the last few decades and beyond, it has depended on animal research. As research moves into the future, we need to understand how the body works and how diseases progress. We need to find ways to treat, cure, or prevent disease and disability. The use of animal research is providing us with new technologies and medicines, which are benefiting both humans and animals in treating and extending lives.
Studies show that wolves play a significant role in maintaining healthy ecosystems, and could even help stave off some of the effects of climate change. They help keep large animal herd populations in check, which can benefit numerous other plan...
Global warming has become a more prominent issue every decade since the mid 1900s. The increased temperatures are leading to substantial ice loss. This loss in ice is causing severe destruction to polar bear habitats and homes and is leading to their extinction. It also is affecting their food supply. Global warming is making it harder for polar bears to repopulate and is causing a decrease in the overall size of each bear. The chemicals associated with global warming are getting into the food chain and eventually into the polar bears themselves. Global warming is causing the extinction of polar bears in the arctic because it’s destroying their homes, decreasing their food supply, is affecting chemicals in the air and in their food, decreasing the average size of the bears, and contributes to a decrease in reproduction.
One huge impact of global warming is the change in animals’ habitats. When the earth’s temperature is increasing, it creates the change of weather conditions in a certain area, which causes some kinds of animals in this area to live with many difficulties, or sometimes those kinds of animals are forced to move to new region when they cannot handle the difficulties. The arctic fox is an example for this situation. According to the article “How Does Global Warming Affect Wildlife,” arctic foxes prefer to live in the cooler environment while their habitat is getting warmer and warmer due to global warming, so arctic foxes have to leave their own home to seek a more suitable area (National W...
"The Consequences of Global WarmingOn Wildlife." Consequences of Global Warming. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2014. .
Every play written uses dramatic elements. The main dramatic elements are plot, character, theme, and language. Lillian Hellman, who wrote the Little Foxes, incorporates these elements beautifully in her play. The play is set during the spring of 1900 and takes place in the Deep South part of the United States of America. Just as every other play, the Little Foxes has included the dramatic elements in her play, particularly the plot, character, and language that all incorporate an underlying theme of greed.
For years studies and observations have been made on the relationship between body size and physical orientation of an animal. In 1847 Carl Bergmann was one of the first to do observations with this phenomenon (Dictionary of Theories 2002). Bergmann noticed that warm-blooded animals living at climates high in latitude are bigger in size than those living in climates of lower latitudes (Dictionary of Theories 2002). Research has shown there is a correlation of surface area to volume in animals that are located in different parts of the globe. Animals living in a cooler climate have a larger volume, but decreased surface area to retain as much body heat as possible. The inverse is true for animals living in warmer regions; these animals have a smaller volume and larger surface area to allow the body to cool efficiently (McNab 1971). Bergmann’s rule has brought valuable insight into the study of character traits and how we identify where animals originated. One example that I came across is with the Andean passerine bird, a study was done in 1991 by G. R. Graves. He noticed the size of ...
Whales are some of the ocean’s most fascinating amphibious beings. They possess highly acquired communication skills and are believed to have an intelligence level equal to, and in some species, surpass that of the human brain. The biological, anthropological, and marine educational communities have studied the whale in a way that sheds light onto the studies of evolution as well. Yet, there are industries that subject these animals to captivity, hindering the natural development of these animals. Of all the communities contributing to the protection and study of the whale, there is one tipping the scale towards exploiting it for profit: The entertainment industry.
Stray animals are dangerous reason being is children or elderly people can be bit while walking or playing around at parks. I live in Mercedes and at one point when I was walking from stars to the high school, and stray dog for no reason started growing at me and my instinct was to run until I got the a building. This can happen to anyone, they can be attacked trying to touch a stray or just simply walking by, or even worse a child can catch a disease. Also owners with their pets are also getting attacked by stray animals because they strays tend to be over protective of their territory, or they just want to fight with the pet of the owner.
Whales are notable for being mammals which are fully adapted to oceanic life. These are three groups of Whales in their phylogenetic tree; Archaeocetes, Mysticeti and Odontoceti. The first group are known from their fossils and are seen to be a transitionary form as they retained a number of features associated with land mammals e.g. hind limbs with feet and limbs. The two other groups diverged around the start of the Oligocene; when the ice caps started to grow in the poles of the earth. It has been suggested that this may be due to the rise of seasonal planktonic production which could have led to specialisation (Houben, 2013); this ties in nicely with other summarisations which link the diversions of Whales in this time period. Mysticeti and Odontoceti differ on two counts; Mysticeti possess baleen making them filter feeders of plankton, in comparison Odontoceti possess a single set of teeth and have the ability to echolocate.