Every elementary school year we would learn about global warming in science class. But we did not really think about it or really care because we were not old enough to understand what a serious thing global warming is. How would we be impacted or even more serious in our lifetime, how would animals be impacted? Have you ever thought about that?
So many animals are dying in the poles, but I wondered why this would be happening. The poles have warmed up only one degree Celsius in the past fifty years. But that is equal to 33.8 degrees Fahrenheit. Facts tell us that water animals from the tropical areas are moving into the poles because the poles are warming up, so many animals are now in danger because the circle of food is getting messed up. Predators are now circling the poles in search of new food to feed on.
I found an article about crabs that got me interested in this topic. Crabs are one of the animals moving into the poles and if you think about that, that is a long way to travel for a little guy. Dr. Thalje, based at NOCS, said “They cannot flush magnesium out of their blood. So when they are already moving slowly because of the cold, the magnesium acts as a narcotic causing them to pass out and die.” This is a problem because they aren’t only endangering new prey but also themselves. If they continue to move into Arctic and Antarctic they might die out.
One of the world’s top sea predators, the killer whale, is also moving into the poles. They will start moving in larger numbers for longer amounts of time if the poles ice melts or warms up more. Lots of killer whales are moving in and if this keeps happening, the wild life management officials may have to try to block some of the whales out. They would want to do this before they wipe out their prey in the poles. Reports have shown that 60 years ago there were hardly any killer whales in the scene.
So what is causing these animals to move into the poles besides the poles warming up? And this lead me to think, what makes an animal “fit” enough to live in the Arctic and Antarctic conditions? Well many animals have a layer of insulating fat thick enough to protect them from the cold. Others may have a special chemical in their blood (antifreeze proteins) to keep them safe from the cold. Each animal in the poles has adapted over generations to the cold so each animal can stand it. The new animals coming in don’t have that because they are adapted to the tropical areas.
So what will happen when the ice in the poles keep melting? What animals will survive? Will some Arctic and Antarctic animals adapt to the warmer weather, how? What animals will be close to extinction because of the new predators?
http://www.spiritofmaat.com/announce/ann_dryice.htm
When the ice in the poles becomes a bare minimum, many animals will either become extinct or have to adapt or find a new home. Many scientists think that by the end of the next century many animals will be extinct and many icebergs will be almost half ways melted. This global warming problem will mostly affect the penguins and polar bears. Penguin’s main habitat contains cold water and ice. Without the ice penguins would have nowhere to rest and relax. Polar Bears on the other hand need ice and snow to survive along with the cold water. If Global Warming ends up being true this will lead to many problems for polar animals and at the worst possible end could lead to extinction.
Global warming has been a problem for a long time. There have been a lot of animals dieing because of global warming. It is hard for the animals to get food so thats why they are going to the poles, and because of it being warmer than other places. The sun warms up the earth and only 30 percent of the suns warmth reaches the earth is refelcted back into space. So not a lot of the animals are getting heat. So thats why they are going to the poles cause they get more sun. The larger animals are gonna have a harder time to adapt tothe climate then smaller animals. Global warming is gonna be a issuse for a while.
http://www.edf.org/climate/human-activity-causes-warming
I researched this topic a little more and found this whales moving further north is also a great threat to the Inuit Natives. They are being threatened because they depend on fishing for food to survive, but now the whales are eating all of the fish. Heres the link to the article.
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/982/killer-whales-moving-further-north
A lot of animals are fully adaptable, in other words, they can move from the melting climates inward and when they melt all the way into warmer land or even the water. Those who can’t will have problems in surviving because without the ability to adapt to climate changes then by natural selection they will go extinct, liked we talked about in class. For example, in the link I provided they have an example of what will happen if an animal that lives in the ice, krill, die. Scientists are worried that penguins from the South Pole will go extinct due to loss of their food source from global warming.
http://elibrary.bigchalk.com/elibweb/curriculum/do/document?set=search&dictionaryClick=&secondaryNav=&groupid=1&requestid=lib_standard&resultid=1&edition=&ts=82F3D23E28598222B4938382CBC2DC15_1322588426879&start=1&publicationId=&urn=urn%3Abigchalk%3AUS%3BBCLib%3Bdocument%3B77849537
Global warming has already forced some animals to evolve. The smaller animals, birds and squirrels, can evolve quickly throughout their short generations. Scientists have hypothesized that the change is due to changes in the length of the seasons more than the actual temperature change. It is more difficult for larger animals because they have longer generations and less offspring compared to smaller animals. With fewer generations, less deviation happens from the original parents gene, resulting in less adaptation to the environment. Unfortunately, little adaptation has taken place in these extreme environments to help these animals live on and prosper. On the other hand, it is general science knowledge that around 4 million years ago, the sea levels were 80 feet higher than they are today. This coincides with the theory there is no global warming, only natural climate change happening in an ever-changing world.
I got this information from http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0609-02.htm
Global warming has seemed to be an issue for many years. Many people debate whether it is actually happening or not. The huge icebergs seem to be permanent, but if they slowly keep melting they will eventually vanish. It will take many, many years for that to happen, though. Some animals that are in danger are the wolves and foxes. Along with the animals the plants such as Whitebark pines are being killed off, threatening the ecosystem.
http://www.nrdc.org/wildlife/default.asp
Animals seem to already be adapting to the change in climate. The smaller ones such as squirrels, birds, and insects can breed quickly allowing them to adapt much faster. The larger animals are slower to reproduce and it may be harder for them to adjust to the changes.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0609-02.htm