Kole Minton
General Biology
11/15/17
Ecosystem Paper The south pole is the southernmost point on earth and is located on Antarctica. Because Antarctica is centered on the South Pole it receives very little sunlight, and is the coldest climate on Earth. Most of the life in Antarctica is marine life, such as krill, seals, whales, and penguins. The land is so barren and unforgiving that almost nothing can indefinitely live there. Most of the humans that come to the South Pole are scientists studying the area or tourists. Unlike the North Pole which is basically a frozen ocean, Antarctica is classified as a desert and has giant ice mountains. All of the animals that inhabit Antarctica depend on the ocean, and each other for food and shelter.
The habitat of the South Pole is far too harsh for most organisms to survive. Only in some of the milder areas are some plant life present such as lichen and moss. Penguins are mostly found in the southern hemisphere of the earth, mostly in
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A keystone species is a species which other species largely depend on. It plays a crucial role in how the ecosystem functions and whether or not the ecosystem will change or cease to exist. In the whole of the Southern Ocean ecosystem, especially in Antarctica, krill is the keystone species. Krill is one of the main food sources of most of the life in Antarctica including penguins, seals, squids, whales, fish, and other species of birds. Krill can live up to six years and is possibly the most abundant species on Earth. Krill’s main source of food is phytoplankton which floats near the surface of the water. Over the past few years krill numbers have decreased and penguins are already foraging for other sources of food. Krill is the main food source of most marine life and terrestrial life in the Southern hemisphere and would affect the ecosystem drastically if
It lives its whole life above the northern tree line in the Arctic tundra, roaming across North America and Greenland but not extending into mainland Europe or Asia.
Introduction Sea otters (Enhydra lutris) are marine mammals capable of spending their entire lives in water. Being carnivorous in nature, they feed on sea urchins, crabs, fishes, mussels and clams. They are referred to as keystone species due to their profound impact on marine ecology. The interaction between sea otters, sea urchins and kelp forests has been studied as a model for the impact of predator-prey interactions on community ecology. Sea otters are keystone predators, whose presence has a far-reaching influence on the marine food web by affecting the populations of sea urchins, which indirectly affects the populations of kelp forests & other marine organisms.
...arth has always varied from time to time, since the time the earth was formed and it is one of the most unpredictable processes. Though it is a natural process, anthropogenic contributions are also accounted upon heavily these days. According to studies, although the earth is supposed to be experiencing a cooling phase at this time, it is evident from the polar ice caps melting that the earth is warming. The polar ecosystem is hence going through a phase of dynamism more due to external disturbances such as rising temperature and ocean thermal expansion. Therefore the need of the hour is to be aware about the changes in the ecosystem that is occurring and to come together to either prevent or adapt to the changing conditions. Only then can a ecosystem function in a healthy manner with its species diversity and good interaction among themselves and their environment.
The main evolutionary advantage of giving up aerial flight is the improved swimming ability; in particular being able to swim quickly helps in catching fish and being able to dive to great depths (studies show that some modern penguins can dive up to 300meters) which greatly increases the range of food which is available to hunt. Another major influence in the evolution of penguins is likely to have been the availability of vast amounts of food in the ocean. The beak up of the Proto-continent, Gondwanaland, was completed around 200,000,000 years ago and left the Antarctic continent completely surrounded by an ocean. The resulting cold currents established in the southern ocean (once the polar ice cap had formed) made them rich in nutrients and then led to the huge amounts of fish and crustaceans in the area.
The Arctic Tundra is the biome where the Polar bear, Ursus maritimus, or the sea bear live. The climate over there is in the Arctic and is Earth's coldest, where it is treeless and covered with piles of snow and ice for the whole year until summer when it brings wildflowers. On the top of the mountain it is colder, windy, and rainfall is scant.
Even the Antarctic area has a couple of its own arctic regions. The climate of the tundra is characterized by harsh winters. The average temperature in the tundra area is about –27 degrees. But what is even worse is the long night. At night the lowest temperature recorded was –67.36 degrees.
The Arctic Tundra The Tundra is located in the northern regions of North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. as well as a few regions of Antarctica. The Tundra is the second largest vegetation. zone in Canada. It can be divided into three different sections: the High Arctic Tundra, the Low Arctic Tundra and the Alpine Tundra.
These penguins lived after the Castastrophic event “Cretaceuous” that demolished the dinosaurs and many other species. Based on the DNA analyses and avaiable evidence of modern birds, we think the modern bird- lineages, including penguins, some how managed to survive through the Cretaceuous. Also it’s not shocking these fossils were found in New Zeland. The South Pacific and Southern oceans were free of predatory mammals, had abundant food, and had space for Penguins to breed. But the Southern Pacific is not the only area where Penguins inhabit. Many of modern penguins “Aptrenodytes” are located in the Antarctic. Recenelty it was discovered that there was a over looked feature on the surface of the fossil penguins flipper bone. These grooves were easily missed because the look was similar to tendons and muscles in the same area. It was discovered that these grooves were blood vessels that make up a counter current heat exchanger called “humeral arterial plexus” which allows penguins to limit the heat loss through the flippers. Also it helped Penguins maintain their core body temperature in cold water allowing them to survive long journeys in the cold waters. Although Penguins have luckily been able develop these traits to survive the dramatic shifts in climate, the world population can not mistake their success as resilience towards global warming.
For example the canopies of kelp provide shelter for many organisms . Because the kelp is able to float, it creates a canopy. This canopy has warm temperatures and slow water currents, providing a home to defenseless young. This is important because the kelp is able to protect many organisms from predators and rough storms (6). Kelp is also the base of the food chain. Since kelp is the base of the food chain many organisms eat kelp and other animals eat them.This is important because without the kelp all the primary consumers would starve having no other food source (5). Finally each part of kelp is home to a different species. Because each part of kelp is home to a different species, many species breed in them. This is important because if the kelp where gone there would be no place for the organisms to breed downsizing their population (4). Overall kelp is providing food and shelter to many
Mills, Scott L., Daniel F. Doak, and Michael E. Soule. "The Keystone-species Concept in Ecology and Conservation." BioScience 43.4 (1993): 219-25. Apr. 1993. Web. 30 Oct. 2011.
Simply saying penguins are endangered is not suffice. There are many kinds of penguins, each having its own status of vulnerability and danger. Just like all other living things, penguins have a Scientific Classification. Theirs is as follows. The class they are in is the Aves. This class includes all birds. The Order they are in is called the Sphenisciformes, followed by the only Family under it, the Spheniscide. Both of these include all penguins, living and extinct. Moving down, the only point with variation is that of the species. Most scientists agree that there are seventeen species of penguins, with a select few recognizing eighteen instead. (del Hoyo, 1992). See Chart A
Arctic tundra is located in the northern hemisphere, encircling the North Pole and extending south to the Coniferous forests of the Taiga. The arctic is known for its cold, desert-like conditions. The growing season ranges from 50 to 60 days. The average winter temperature is -34° C (-30° F), but the average summer temperature is 3-12° C (37-54° F), which enables this biome to sustain life. Rainfall may vary in different regions of the arctic. Yearly precipitation, including mel...
...atmosphere pressure shows that wind of the polar jet and the water from the Antarctic circumpolar current creates an impenetrable barrier which puts it away from rest of the world with its exceptionally coldness. Antarctica in summer is around in one and half times as America but in winter it grows as big as whole Africa. This vast increase of ice has a massive impact on life on this planet.
Polar bears prefer to live in extremely cold artic climates. They live only in the Northern Hemisphere, on the arctic ice cap, and they spend most of their time on coastal areas. Polar bears are widely spread in Canada, extending from the northern arctic islands south to the Hudson Bay area. They are also found in Greenland, on islands off the shore of Norway, on the northern coast of the former Soviet Union, and on the northern and northwestern coasts of Alaska in the United States.
The hemisphere tilted towards the sun has longer days and shorter nights while the hemisphere tilted away from the sun has shorter days and longer nights. The equator gets no seasonal changes because sunlight hits it at a constant angle. Geographical regions around the equator receive about 12 hours of sunlight every day. Earth’s tilt is said to have been created when an object the size of the moon collided with earth and skewed its rotation. This one sequence of an event made life on earth possible. The poles remain frozen because they are never, at a particular moment, facing the sun in any way. Another factor of climate is high elevation. Areas with extreme height or elevation, in general, are always cold. It doesn’t matter where on earth this region is, so long as it is greatly elevated, it will always be cold. The reason for elevated regions being so cold is that low pressures at higher altitudes cause temperatures to drop drastically compared to sea level. Plant life and most wildlife don’t appear in very high elevations. All types of plants stop growing at an approximate height of 10,000ft (Snyder 2008). This is because the conditions just can’t support plant’s needs to thrive.These are some of the major factors that affect climate around the