Northern Ecology - Essay Example

Northern Ecology INTRODUCTION Tundra is an ecology which is characterized by extremely low temperatures discouraging the growth of vegetation. There are three main types of tundra, the arctic, antarctic, and the alpine tundra. The arctic tundra is in the northern hemisphere and consists of completely frozen soil and oceans. In addition to the harsh climatic conditions, the region located in the far end of the world experiences irregular patterns of sunlight with certain seasons being compeletly dark for several months. The lack of vegetation is also due to cold winds that characterize the region. This results in a unique ecological system inhabited by exclusive organisms adapted for survival under such conditions. The climatic condition is, therefore, an integral aspect of the ecosystem that influences the distriburtion, population, and diversity of the organisms inhabiting such ecologies (Krupnik 12). The arctic tundra extends in the regions of Russia, Canada, and Iceland. Despite the harsh climatic conditions, the arctic tundra is an enabling environment for the survival of a number of plants and animals, which, therefore, create an effective ecosystem. Apart from the boreal forests, the region is inhabited with such unique animals as polar bear, arctic wolf, and fox. The animals have learnt the necessary skills to enable them survive the harsh winters and the long nights most of which last for months. The conditions are not favorable for most organisms. However, these animals among other organisms in the region have developed specific features to ensure that they survive in the climatic conditions. The fact that they have inhabited the regions for several years alludes to the development of adaptive features, which make the subsequent generations better prepared to live in the ecosystem. Just as in any other ecosystem, the animals relate and interact freely, thereby, constructing food chains and webs, which sustain the survival of all the animals. The most common herbivores in the ecosystem are arctic hare, caribous, and lemming among others. Such animals survive on the scanty vegetation in the region (Sperry 75). It includes such a vegetation as the leaves of the undergrowth of the boreal forest among any other rare plant. To survive under some of the worst climatic conditions in the region, most of the animals get into a period of reduced metabolic activities. During hibernation, the body consumes a decreased amount of energy, and the animals, therefore, does not eat since their bodies require a small amount of energy capable only of carrying out the basic metabolic processes such as breathing (Bruemmer 45). Through hibernation, therefore, the animals survive under the harsh climatic conditions and the lengthened night hours most of which consist of reduced metabolic activities. The animals make themselves sleep for months. This is an adaptive trait for most of the animals since the period is normally long and characterized by unfavorable ecological factors. No organism would, therefore, survive this period, a factor that substantiates the need for the long spell of sleep, the time within which the natural climatic factors change until they make a complete loop. They, therefore, begin to favor the increased activity in the ecosystem as the animals take the chance to hunt for food and to find mates, thereby, continuing the lineage of the species of the particular organisms. In the food chain, the herbivores provide food to an assortment of predators who employ a number of tactics to obtain food. This results in a survival of the fittest, the situation in which the predators try to obtain the scarce food while the prey also tries to evade the attack from their predators and, therefore, survive. Polar bears are among some of the most conspicuous predators in the ecosystem. They are carnivores and must kill other animals for survival. The animals are huge and are the most predominant in the ecosystem. They have a number of survival adaptations, which make their lives in the ecosystem easier. Just as the prey that has a number of adaptive mechanisms to enable them to evade their predators, the predators also have several adaptive mechanisms to ensure they obtain food in the precarious environment. The polar bear is a huge animal weighing some five hundred kilograms. On average the animal eats from ten to fifteen kilograms of meat every day in order to obtain adequate energy to keep the body operating. The amount of meat is huge, and the animal, therefore, needs to kill its prey faster and more frequently to avoid starving. To ensure an easier survival, the animal has the capacity to eat as much as fifty kilograms of meat and, therefore, to spend a number of days using that energy requiring any subsequent meal within about six days. This implies that it may kill a bigger prey, nourish itself effectively, and, therefore, survive for a number of days. Additionally, the animal is snow white. This is an integral adaptive feature, which makes it move in the tundra without the prey noticing it. The bear,therefore, surprises its prey killing instantly. The animals have powerful muscles and sharp and strong claws with which they strike and kill their prey instantaneously. Their fore limbs constitute their greatest weapon, they developed stronger muscles in the limbs and have learnt different maneuvering techniques to ensure effectiveness in killing the prey in a single slap. However, owing to the harsh weather, is a smaller prey category. The bear, therefore, diversified its eating patterns to be able to consume possibly any other organism. Additionally, the other animals have also developed more efficient survival techniques and always evade the slow bear. Because of that, the animal resorted to eating fish. The bear hunts for fish in the ice-covered Arctic Ocean. It has developed effective fishing techniques and a sharp sense of smelling. It smells any fish stuck in the ice and, therefore, digs the ice to retrieve it. At times, the bears sty by the waters and observe the fish before striking. The animals are patient enough to wait for some of the fish to swim out of the water before attacking them (Rosing 71). The World Conservation Union has established that currently there are on average twenty thousand polar bears, a factor that makes the animal an endangered species. The animals faces survival threat from a number of factors , the key one among which is a climatic change. Because of global warming, the arctic ice is melting at a higher rate. The global warming is an after effect of the release of an excessive carbon monoxide into the atmosphere. The gas is highly unstable and, therefore, reactive. The persistent use of fossil fuels results in the release of the gas that reacts with the ozone layer progressively depleting it. The ozone layer, on the other hand, is a sheet of oxygen molecules, which covers the earth from the harmful ultra violet rays. The depletion of the layer exposes the Earth to the rays, thereby, resulting in a number of after effects one of which is the increase of the global temperature commonly referred to as the global warming. Different ecosystems possess different features resulting in unique organism settling and interaction patterns. One of such ecosystema is the arctic region also known as the polar region. It is located in the northern parts of the Earth and extends to the parts of Canada, Russia, and Iceland among other regions. The region experiences harsh climatic conditions characterized with the coldest winters in the world. The region consists of vast ice covered oceans. The extreme cold is not conducive for the development of any undergrowth resulting in a vast plateau without any vegetation, entirely covered with ice, and extremely cold wind. As harsh as the climate is in the region, it still has a variety of living organisms including both animals and plants all of which have adapted to the harsh climatic conditions. The ecosystem in the region consists of boreal forests, which are large tracks of pine trees growing in the spots left by the melting ice previously. An ecosystem, therefore, comprises several components, the key one is the interaction between the organisms. The most basic interaction is the construction of food chains and food webs. Different organisms in an ecosystem eat each other creating a web of interdepended organisms all of which are important for the survival of the next category of organisms. Vegetation is normally at the foot of the food chain and rises in number with the subsequent rise of the animal category through different classes of organisms in the ecosystems. Herbivores are animals that feed on vegetation. Owing to the expansive presence of vegetation in most ecosystems, such animals always constitute the majority. Above them, a series of carnivores exist in a diminishing number to construct a form of a food pyramid. In addition to the food chain and web interaction, the organisms also interact extensively in the reproduction process. Organisms recreate themselves sustaining the longevity of their species through an intense animal interaction during mating. The males fight in competition for the limited number of females, as a result, only the strongest males mate with the females, thereby, passing strong and enduring genes to their successive generation. Mating is an essential process responsible for the adaptation of the organisms to a particular ecosystem. Through time, the environment changes requiring effective adaptation of the organisms. This implies that the successive generations should have appropriately prepared organisms to continue the species. The laws of the jungle dictate that only the fittest organisms survive till the maturity period under the prevailing factors of an ecosystem. Such organisms exhibit admirable characteristics that favor their survival through the changing ecosystem. At maturity, such organisms mate and produce offspring. Such offspring possesses better adaptive features than their parents do. With time, the resultant organisms differ from their ancestors, which leads to the creation of a new organism, an explanation that validates the theory of evolution. Additionally, weaker organisms die prematurely and do not always survive to maturity. Such organisms, therefore, do not pass down their weaker genes to their offspring implying that they die, thereby ,killing their genes. This explanation validates the theory of extinction, which is responsible for the absence of some of the most iconic organisms in the universe today. Because of the increased global temperature, the ice continues to melt destroying the habitat occupied by the bears. When the ice melts, the level of ocean water increases making it more difficult for the animals to fish. Additionally, the melting ice reduces the size of the habitable area for the bears resulting in more conflict between the animals and humans. In most conflicts, humans kill the bears, thereby, reducing their number. Humans also kill the animals to use them as scientific specimen. The organism is an iconic animal in the arctic ecosystem. It presents a number of consistent characteristics that reflect the changes in the environment. Scientists, therefore, study the animals in order to determine these traits and changes. For studies alone, on average humans kill five hundred bears annually (Matthews 55). Another potential threat for the arctic ecosystem comes from the exploration for oil and other natural gasses. The arctic region has some of the largest oil wells prompting the drilling of such essential resources. The increased human activity in the region results in a bigger conflict, oil mining destroys the habitat endangering the animals, which eventually have a smaller geographic territory for living. A number of organizations, therefore, strive to conserve the animals by keeping them safe in zoos and other animal sanctuaries. Additionally, several campaigns to save the ecosystem by reducing human activity are also common. Works Cited Bruemmer, Fred. World of the Polar Bear. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Key Porter Books, 1989. Print. Krupnik, Igor, Michael A. Lang, and Scott E. Miller, eds. Smithsonian at the Poles: Contributions to International Polar Year Science. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, 2009. Print. Matthews, Downs. Polar Bear. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 1993. Print. Rosing, Norbert. The World of the Polar Bear. Willowdale, ON: Firefly Books Ltd, 1996. Print. Sperry, Armstrong. All About the Arctic and Antarctic. London: Random House, 1957. Print. Read More