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1E2_2013 Group 8 - Polar Region

Page history last edited by 2013class1e2group8 10 years, 11 months ago

 

 

    group members      

 

        lee jac,group leader/wiki writer      

        mikhail-al-fayed,reasearcher 

     jia sheng, reasearcher  

        benjamin lee, reasearcher/wiki writer

          

 

 

Overview      

There are two regions in the polar region, the Arctic and  Antarctic.  One of the ways to distinguish the two different regions is that Polar bears live in the arctic, not the Antarctic, and penguins live in the Antarctic, but do not live in the Arctic.         
                           

The polar regions, covering almost 20 percent of our planet, play a very big role in the physical, chemical and biological operation of the whole Earth system and contains major biological and mineral resource .Massive areas of thick ice cover the Arctic(North Pole) and the Antarctic(South Pole) and they are the coldest habitats in the world. Since the temperature hardly goes above freezing in either area, the land and the sea of the north and south pole are frozen most of the year.  

 

At both the North pole and the South pole, in summer the sun does not set and in the winter, it does not rise. Survival in these habitats is very difficult. The plants and animals developed amazing and unique methods for surviving and living in the cold and frigid temperatures of the north and south pole.

 

Polar Regions and the Global Climate System:                              

Polar regions are an very important influence on the global climate system. Climate system will be the greatest in polar regions.

The temperature, salinity and circulation of the ocean is influenced strongly by polar dynamics.

Organisms and ecosystems exhibit unique adaptations to extreme the harsh environment of the arctic

The Arctic Region       

The arctic ecosystem has a unique complex food web that is made up by its distinctive plankton, animal species, and  environmental factors. Carbon  cycles through the web from atmosphere to seawater back. Carbon dioxide is taken up phytoplankton and algae from seawater and and transforms into the organic carbons of their tissue. Then it flows through successive levels of eating animals that convert their prey's carbon into their own tissues or into  sinking fecal pellets. Carbon dioxide escapes back along the way to the atmosphere through the organisms respiration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A MAP OF THE NORTH POLE( arctic) 

                                                                                                                              

The Chain and Web of Life in the Arctic                                              

Despite the harsh ,cold, frigid conditions, the Arctic Ocean is teeming with wildlife.  the Great Polar bears roam the Arctic ice and swim the Arctic seas. Supporting these top predators is a  ecosystem that includes plankton, fish, birds, seals, walruses and whales. At the center of the food web , supporting all this wildlife is phytoplankton and algae that produce organic materials using energy from the sun by making food ( photosynthesise) by using chrorophyll.

Tertiary Consumers of the Arctic food web   

 


Polar Bear
 (Ursus maritimus)

 

The polar bear  is a bear native largely within the arctic circle,

     

 Arctic fox( Vulpes lagopus)

Also known as the white fox or arctic fox, it is native to arctic regions of the northen hemesphere   

 

Glacous Gull (Larus hyperboreus)              

A large gull that breeds at arctic regions of the northen

hemesphere and the atlantic coasts of Europe

 

 

 Secondary consumers of the Arctic food web   

            

                                                                                                                                                     

little Auk (Alle alle),

A small auk, the only member of the genus Alle, breeds on the islands in the high arctic

 

                                                                                                                    

 

 Eider duck  (Somateria mollissima) A large sea duck (50 -75 cm) that is distributed over northen coast of Europe and

South America
Producers of the Arctic food web   

 

 

    

Phytoplankton

 Phytoplankton are the autotrophic, mixotrophic and heterotrophic component of the plankton community.  

 

arctic algae

 

A very large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms.

 

The Arctic Food Web

 

 

 

                         

Decomposers of the Arctic

Decomposers of the Arctic region consists of bacterial, the main decomposers, mosses, lichen, fungi, liverworts and earthworms. Things take a long time to decompose as there are only  short window temperatures warm enough to allow activities

These are some decomposers in the arctic food web

 

  

liverworts and lichen

 

Liverworts are typically small, usually from 2–20 mm wide with individual plants less than 10 cm long, and are therefore often overlooked.

 

lichens are composite organisms consisting of a fungus  and a photosynthetic partner.

 

 

The Antarctic Region

The antarctic seas are extremely productive because of the phytoplankton that is growing abundantly and very fast during the long extended daylight of summer and feeds gigantic and huge populations of krill. Krill are shrimp-like crustaceans, and are the most important animals in this huge ecosystem, as they are food for the top predators, the whales. Animals that are soft and transparent called salps also feed with the krill on phytoplankton in summer and forms big populations that may replace the entire krill population which is bad for the whales as they will have to search harder for other food as their diet consist of krill and almost nothing else for some species of whales which may include fish squid and zooplankton . Winters have very little light, so the phytoplankton will not grow ,the temperature is cold and humid, the whales will migrate, but a complex food web links a great variety of ocean animals other than the whales. 

 

 

 

This is the map of the south pole( Antartica)

 

The Chain and Web of Life the Antarctic

The antarctic sea is full of life from the tiny and small microscopic algae to the slightly bigger shrimplike crustaceans, the krill that are important to large predators that depend on them. the antarctic ocean is one of the most abundant oceans on earth, and its different cycles of production is tied to the change of different seasons. The thick areas of ice is important to the antarctic ecosystem as microscopic, single-celled algae are trapped inside the ice as it forms and  grows on the underside of the ice . Young krill live under the ice all winter and the algae provides the only food for them.  In Spring, the sea ice will melt, releasing all the algae that have been trapped for a long period into the water. The thing that will happen next is a bloom or population explosion of phytoplankton in the water.  Animals like krill consume this huge food supply and multiply to suprisingly amazing levels. The krill which are rich in protein and fat, are food for large animals at the top of the food chain, including whales.


Tertiary Consumers of the Antarctic Food Web

 

 

 

 

 

 

Killer whale 

 

 The killer whale (Orcinus orca), also referred to as the orca whale or orca, and less commonly as the blackfish,

 

 

 

Humpback whale

 

 

 The humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) is a species of baleen whale. One of the larger rorqual species, adults range in length from 12–16 metres  

 


Great skua

 

The Great Skua (Stercorarius skua) is a large seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae. In Britain, it is sometimes known by the name Bonxie, a Shetland name

 

 

Secondary Consumers of the Antarctic Food Web

 

 

 

Razorbills (Alca torda)

 

The Razorbill (Alca torda) is a colonial seabird that only comes to land in order to breed. This agile bird chooses one partner for life

 

Leopapd seal (Hydrurga leptonyx)

Also referred

 to as the sea leopard, is the second largest species of seal in the Antarctic (after the southern elephant seal).

 Producers of Antarctic food web

 

 

Phytoplankton

 

 

 

 

The Antarctic Food Web

 

Decomposers of Antarctic region

Decomposers in an Antarctic consist of bacteria, fungi and worms.

 

These are some decomposers of the Antarctic region

 

 

 

 

springtail   (Collembola)

  

 Springtails form the largest of the three lineages of modern hexapods that are no longer considered insects

 

 

One Life Depending on Another - An example from the Arctic Region

Every species in the world is dependent on each other for survival, 

and because all of us are a part of the food chain. One of

the most well-known yet hostileregion of the world is the polar region.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       The polar region is the coldest part in the world and is actually barely conducive for

life forms to survive. Despite the fact that the Polar region is not really a condusive enviroment

, it still has many plants and animals living there.

The animals living there have adapted themselves to the harsh and frigid conditions.There are

many various and differnt polar plants and animals that have adapted to the enviroment and so there are

many symbiotic relationships  where two organisms are involved.  

In nature this can be parasitism or mutualism.

 

Mutualism
Mutualism is a relation where two different organisms benefit from each other.  

One of the most well-known polar plants is lichens.

Lichen is a  organism that is usually made up of a fungus and a green algae.  

 The algae is makes food( photosynthesise) in nature and so, reduces

carbon dioxide into sugars that provides the fungus with food as well.

Parasitism

Parasitism is a relation between two different organisms where one organism

benefits whereas the other one gets hurt or recieves nothing in return. One of the

tundra facts is that parasitism is seen in the polar region.

Parasitism is usually seen in cases of liver tapeworm cysts. The liver

tapeworm cysts likes to stay and grow in the body of various animals.

These tapeworms will  then feed on the food that is eaten by these animals,

which leads to malnutrition in the animals body, that is in the animal which the tapeworm is living in.

 

 

THE PHYSICAL FACTORS OF THE POLAR REGION

 

Light

 

The polar region receives very little sunlight because of the very low amount of radiation.

The polar region either receives darkness for one entire day because of the earth's tilt, or sunlight for a short period of time.

 

Temperature

 

The temperature in july is about from 10 degrees to about minus 10 degrees 

In january it ranges about from forty degrees to about 0 degrees 

in december and november ( winter ) the temperature can drop below 0 degrees 

 

water

The water in the antarctic consists of two types, salt and fresh water.

Most of the fresh water is frozen within the massive areas os ice and 

the salt water is the only water that is not frozen but dangerous to drink

 

Salinity and Minerals

 

Most of the water that are unfrozen are saltwater

The tundra of the polar region contains almost one third of the world's soil bound carbon

.

Air quality

 

The quality of air in the polar region is more than enough to sustain life. But because

of global warming, the ice is melting and the wildlife of the polar region are losing

thier habitats.

 

PH of the enviroment

 

the ph level is about<5.4 for the polar region

 

 

 

 

 

References:

 

inchinapinch.com/hab_pgs/polar/polar.htm

 

polardiscover.whoi.edu/arctic/ecosystem.html


http:/thejuxtaposition.blog.com/2012/03/22/hig_price of a canadian polar bear pelts 

         
http:/www.earthrangers.com/wildwire/omg/_animals/the trendy arctic fox

 

http/ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/glacous_gull_laurus_hyperboreus/pair_top_cliff

 

http/commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/file:little_auk_(js)_24.jpg

 

http/commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/file:Bristo.zoo.common.eider.arp.jpg

 

http/wikipedia.org/wiki/phytoplankton

 

http/www.pondsolutions.com/bluegreen_ algae_info/

 

http/coultureweddings.co.uk/ok-food-in-the-arctic

 

http/geology.com/world/arctic-ocean-map.shtml

 

  http/gjln1249.wordpress.com/animals/mammals/killerwhales

 

 

Group 8

Polar Regions

Done by

Lee Jac (Leader and Writer)

Mikhail Al -Fayed (Researcher)

Jia Sheng (Researcher)

Benjamin (Researcher and wiki writer)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Useful Links

Plagarism is a strongly discouraged.

 

Include the links of all websites you obtained information from to complete your ecology wiki. 

For example:

Wild World @ nationalgeographic.com ( http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/terrestrial.html ) 

 


 

 

 

 

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