Page 33 - Microsoft Word - geo class task.docx

CASE STUDY

Northern Alaskan Tundra

• 1,700 types of plants
o Grow very low to the ground
o Can photosynthesise 24/7 in summer as always sunlit
o Lots of fungi, mosses, lichen, dwarf shrubs
o Some have anti-freeze in them or special adaptations
§ EG reindeer lichen that is drought resistant
• Animals also evolved to have thicker coats, bury into the permafrost for
when temperatures get warmer, camouflage and have compact bodies to
prevent heat loss
• Birds migrate there from southern areas to tundra annually because of
reduced competition and plentiful insects
• Fires becoming more prevalent and severe, eg fire burned 621 square
miles on Alaska’s North Slope in 2007
o Caused by warmer temperatures and dry weather
• Warming more rapidly than the rest of the planet
• Indigenous peoples such as the Inupiat still lead largely traditional lives in
communities, such as in Kaktovik on Barter Island
• However, government is moving them to other regions due to increased
oil drilling and mining, and there houses are sinking into the land due to
the melting of permafrost
o This is leading to a loss of spirituality and religious heritage, also
increased by Western society contact and technology, globalisation
o The community is able to hunt 3 whales each summer to store as
food for winter
o They follow precise cultural hunting practices and the meat is
divided between the families for winter
o With the melting of the ice, polar bears are beginning to move onto
land and into Kaktovik on the lookout for whale meat
§ This means the Kaktovik Polar Bear Patrol is out every
night on quad bikes making sure bears do not stray into
town but stay outside the community and at the whale bone
pile
• RESULT OF WESTERN/TECHNOLOGICAL AND
CLIMATE CHANGES à THREATENED AND
CHANGING ECOSYSTEM

Link to great article about Kaktovik shared by Leonardo De Caprio

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/18/science/polar-bears-global-
warming.html?_r=0