The Tundra Ecosystem e.g. Northern Canada. Arviat Location and Distribution of the Tundra Biome

The Tundra Ecosystem

e.g. Northern Canada

Arviat

Location and Distribution of the Tundra Biome

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

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

NATURAL CHANGES

Well-drained areas are highly valued for burrows. Wolves commonly have their pups in burrows on eskers. Usually badly drained areas are permafrost.

Gradual warming may allow trees to colonise. If 8/10 grow those in the centre may survive the harsh winters and become established

NATURAL CHANGES

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

“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. “

Caribou migration routes – what if the spring thaw comes early?

HOW MIGHT ECOSYSTEMS BE BOTH EXPOITED AND CONSERVED IN A SUSTAINABLE WAY?

Ecotourism?

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.

HOW MIGHT ECOSYSTEMS BE BOTH EXPOITED AND CONSERVED IN A SUSTAINABLE WAY?

“ … 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