Throughout many years, our Earth’s climate has changed and fluctuated many times. As of today, our climate has been increasing dramatically. This has to do with burning too many fossil fuels and creating more greenhouse gases, which make the Earth absorb more sunlight from the sun’s rays. Although this is hurting humans, no one has really thought about how it is affecting the arctic animals. It has affected polar bears and their way of life. Climate change is also affecting lemmings, and the way they use the snow to survive. The Arctic Fox has a new competitor, the Red Fox. Climate Change is affecting the biodiversity of animals and could cause a major extinction. Polar Bears have always relied on sea ice for their main activities. They use the sea ice fro hunting, traveling, and for breeding. Scientists have found that sea ice has been melting earlier in the spring. They have also found that the time it takes for ice to form again is also taking a longer time in the fall. The problem with this is that the Polar Bears spend all their winter and spring on sea ice breeding and hunting. On the sea ice, polar bears hunt seals, in fact, that is what they mainly eat. When polar Bears consume the seals,they provide the needed fats and nutrients needed for the harsh arctic environment. If the ice is melting faster, then that means that seals won’t rest on the sea ice and Polar Bears won’t be able to hunt them.(NASA) In the Arctic, there is a continuous trend that seems to be
The Earth's rise in temperature is melting ice in its colder regions. Many animals who live in the Arctic Circle, the lands surrounding
There are about 100 different species of animals there, all of which are affected by climate change, but polar bears the worst. Polar bears are the most sensitive to the rapid change in climate because most of their life is spent on sea ice. With the temperatures rising in the Beringia Upland Tundra, the sea ice they thrive on is melting at a very high rate (Powell). Without this ice, the polar bears will not be able to easily move around to mate with other polar bears. They will also not be able to successful hunts on seals because the seals will see them swimming and swim away before anything bad can happen to them. If there was not a shortage of ice, the seals would not see the polar bears on the ice and they would swim closer to the surface. Another challenge the polar bears will face is that they will be eventually forced to go on to the seashore. This would be catastrophic because there would be and increase of competition for food. This could start massive stampedes that could kill polar bear cubs due to adult polar bears trampling them. As of now, there are only 26,000 wild polar bears alive. By 2050, it is predicted that two thirds of all wild polar bears will be gone. By 2100, it is predicted that polar bears will become extinct if nothing is done about global warming and climate change (Kliskey). Another animal in the Beringia Upland Tundra that is affected by climate change in
"Polar Bears, Ringed Seals, and the Complex Consequences of Climate Change" is an article written by Mary Bates who earned her PhD studying Bat echolocation. She works for an American Association for the Advancement of Science. In this article Mary talks about how Climate change is impacting different species at different rates. Here, she focuses on sea-ice dependent animals such as Polar Bears and Ringed Seals at Arctic. She explains on how these animals are dependent upon the sea-ice for living. The Arctic is warming at a rate three times greater than the global average, and that the sea ice coverage is declining rapidly. She also talks about Hamilton's study on sea-ice dependent animals. Before the melting of sea ice the Polar bears used
There are so many consequences because of global warming and humans polluting. As a result of global warming, the polar bear habitat is getting demolished. The warmer temperatures are melting the ice in the Arctic and North Pole. Polar bears are travelling miles and miles to find ice. Polar bears live, eat, and raise their cubs on Arctic ice, which is breaking up and melting at an alarming rate. Year by year, this problem will get worse and worse. Humans and factories throw away their waste in the ocean and it goes in the water the fish and animals drink. Polar bears eat fish and they are affected by this polluted water as well. Hunters kill many animals including the polar bears and it’s decreasing their population. When polar bear population decreases, other animal populations will rise and the animal chain will change. We should not let global warming take over our species and destroy the animal chain. Polar bears are one of the many animals affected and if there are too many animals affected, the whole animal chain will fall apart. Research shows that, even if steps are taken to reduce emissions now, gases already in the atmosphere will continue to heat up the earth for another 40 to 50 years. Scientific statistics indicate they may suffer extinction by year 2100. We still have many years to make a
The climate change will affect an animal’s ecosystem in many ways. The Changes affect the richness, the range, the distribution and the biodiversity of a specific species environment. Northern Canada is home to many marine and land animals and climate change will have an effect of both sets of these animals. In northern Canada many of the animals have adapted to the cold temperatures, that being said as the temperature begins to increase certain animals will be unable to survive such changes which will eventually effect the food chain for other animals around the specific ecosystem in question. Although extinction of these animals in the north is not expected any time soon a large decrease in their population is possible (Prowse et al,
Nisa, Kallik’s mother tells them that the icy is melting quicker every year. She also says that they need be on the ice longer than they can be.This shows that the polar bears will have a harder time on the ice because that is what they depend on as a solid. If the ice is melting faster each year that means the ice will not be there long and the polar will have to stay on land.
Scientists say that the melting of Arctic ice and ice caps are harmful to essential life of arctic animals like polar bears because they live on Arctic ice and ice caps (Rinkesh). Research has proven both of these theories wrong. The Arctic ice and ice caps have increased and are still increasing. Since 2012, the Arctic ice and ice caps have increased in volume by fifty percent (Foley). There are over twenty thousand polar bears in the world and over sixty percent of these polar bears live in Canada (Matishov). The population of polar bears is increasing and staying at a stable rate, depending on their location (Global Warming and Polar Bears). Since, both of these theories have been proven wrong, we do not believe that “global warming” is affecting the Arctic ice or Arctic
The latest survey conducted by the US Forest Service shows that as many as 97% of the animals of the Arctic could be affected as a result of the observed warming. The climate change may occur faster in the Arctic region. Scientists have developed computer models to predict changes in the environment and their impact on the 162 species of birds and 39 species of mammals in the Arctic.
There are not many creatures in the world that have the ability to not only survive thirty-two degrees below zero temperatures, but live in this climate as well. Among penguins and seals, polar bears are apart of the group of creatures that live everyday life in these freezing conditions. However, polar bears were not always able to do this. According to the Public Broadcast Service (PBS) website, polar bears evolved from brown bears through microevolution. Microevolution, by definition, is “small-scale evolution that occurs from one generation to the next” (Larsen p. A15). Due to the discovery of fossils, it is believed that brown bears evolved into polar bears between 70,000 to 100,000 years ago. This evolution can be seen by the change of fur color from brown to white to blend in while hunting for food and by the growth of a thicker, warmer coat to protect against the cold temperatures (PBS). This all occurred because of an event called the “ice age”. However, in the year 2316, an event called “global warming” will cause a much different evolution. Global warming is a phrase used to describe the ongoing, subtle rise in temperature of the earth and it’s oceans. Because of the small efforts being made to slow down global warming, nearly all of the ice caps in the ocean will most likely be melted by the year 2316. With polar bears only being able to survive by living on polar
polar ice caps are melting, resulting in habitat loss for animals such as polar bears.
The polar bear lives up in the Arctic region where global warming and climate change are melting the ice caps that the bears thrive on. They use the ice as a platform from hunting and rest. The random pocket holes in the ice, where the seals pop up at, is where the polar bear catches its prey. With this reduction of ice, “the abundance of seals, and increases the amount of energy and time needed for hunting, leaving less energy for reproduction” (Endangered Species and Habitats).
"We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words” (Anna Sewell). There is undeniable evidence that animals are being affected by climate change. Even though the effects are difficult to measure, there are many different ways animals are being affected. With the loss of predator and prey species it affects the life cycles in the food chain. The earth’s climate change causes habitats such as snow, ice, or forest areas to alter, resulting in loss of habitat and food accessibility as well as causing extinction.
How are polar bears dealing with climate change? Let me tell you. Polar Bears food is diminishing, fast. According to National Geographic, the population of polar bears has dropped 40 percent from 2001-2010. Here are strategies that polar bears have adapted too.
The arctic top predator, the polar bear is being greatly affected by global warming. The polar bear uses ice as its resting place and also as its hunting ground, by capturing sea lions when they come up through holes in the ice. As a result of the melting of the arctic because of global warming, these predators have being forced to search for areas with more stable ice that can support their lifestyle. Others have being forced to swim for long distances and even drown in the ocean in search of a new habitat. A 2007 report from the U.S. Geological Service estimated that “as a result of sea-ice decline, today’s population of about 22,000 polar bears would decrease by two-thirds by the year 2050”. The rapid decrease in the number of polar bears will force these animals into extinction. Climate change doesn’t only have an adverse effect on polar bears but also on sea turtles. Part of the life cycle of these marine creatures take place on land as well as in the ocean. Female turtles come on land to nest and lay their eggs, and later return back to the ocean. The increase in water levels as a result of melting icebergs has forced these marine mammals to swim long distances to go on shore and lay their eggs. Increase in marine temperatures may have an adverse effect on the incubation period of these marine mammals. It may lead to most eggs are not being fertilized, or a bias in the
Polar bears are the most known animals for the impacts of climate change on species. Global warming has been most prominent in the Arctic, and this trend is expected to continue. Their dependence on sea ice makes them highly vulnerable to a changing climate. Polar bears greatly rely on the sea ice environment for traveling, hunting, mating, resting, and in some areas, maternal dens (WWF). Specifically, they depend heavily on sea ice-dependent prey such as seals. Additionally, their long generation time and low reproductive rate may limit their ability to adapt to changes in the environment. Every time people breathe or burn something, oxygen in the air is converted to carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide is used by plants to breathe and is converted back to oxygen, creating a cycle. If there is an increase in oxygen burning, for example, burning a lot of coal or oil to generate electricity or run cars, and cut down trees, the amount of carbon dioxide in the air is increased. This makes the air thicker and warms up the earth. The amount of warming is only a few degrees but it is enough to disturb the fragile balance of nature, which in turn will melt the polar ice, raise sea levels, cause violent hurricanes and endanger species such as polar bears. The polar bears are just one example of endangered animals because of the high demand of human need for energy which is acquired by burning fossil fuels.