...The Tundra About a fifth of the land surface of the earth is tundra. The tundra is found next to the icy zones in the arctic. The temperatures on the tundra are below freezing and can drop to as low as -70 degrees F. There are winds that can blow up to 100 miles an hour. Temperatures are so cold, the water in the ground freezes, up to a depth of 2000 feet or more. It can reach temperatures of up to 50 degrees F on a warm summer day. There are a few places where only a few inches on the top layer of ground will thaw. This part of the thawed ground is called the active layer. This active layer is always wet because the water from the melted ice cannot drain. The frozen ground that never thaws is called the permafrost layer. The tundra may get less than five inches of precipitation a year, but it is still very wet in the summer. The water that comes from the melting ice has nowhere to go. During the summer, the tundra is one big open, rolling area of ground, covered with many small lakes and ponds. During the summer, days are close to 24 hours long. This is when there is light for the little plants that grow. The plants in the tundra are only about four inches high, many being perennials. The plants consist of grasses, sedges, mosses, little flowering plants, and tiny dwarf willow bushes. They grow in dense round cushions or mats that hug the ground. Hugging the ground helps protect them from the cold and drying winds. In the rocky area, lichens grow on the rocks...
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...The tundra artic plains completely covering most of the earth’s lands north of the coniferous forest belt. The tundra’s ecosystem is very sensitive. It doesn’t have a good ability to restore itself. Controlled by sedge, heath, willow, moss, and lichen. Plains that are pretty much alike, called alpine tundra, occur above the timberline in the high mountains of the world. Even the Antarctic area has a couple of its own arctic regions itself. The climate of the tundra is characterized by harsh winters. The average temperature in the tundra area is about –27 degrees. But what is even worse are the long night. At nights the lowest temperture recorded was –67.36 degrees. There are even times in the year when the sun doesn’t come up for days. In the tundra we have little snow and even less rainfall. The rainfall is about a quarter inch in a yearly rainfall. Even though the tundra’s winters are long a harsh there summers are the shortest season of all. Do to the terrible weather and climate in the tundra their animals and plant life is very limited. This artic tundra is mainly formed by permafrost, “a layer of permanently frozen subsoil in the ground. Putting frozen ground and flat landscape stops the drainage of water. As the water is being held up on the surface it makes ponds and bogs that give moisture for the plants, or countering the low precipitation. “The periodic freezing and thawing of the soil forms cracks in the ground in regularly patterned polygons”. Some areas...
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...Have you ever wondered what it's like to survive in the freezing cold? Well the Arctic Fox or Alopex lagopus knows exactly what it's like. This fluffy animal belongs to the family Mammalia and is a little bit bigger than a regular house cat. This animal lives in the Arctic Tundra. WIth the seasonal colored fur, this animal can blend in with its natural terrain easily. The arctic fox is a very fascinating creature with lots of things about it to learn. Wild animals have to have certain structural or physical body parts to help them survive in the wild. All animals have certain structures important to survive. The Arctic Fox has evolved to have evolved with specific structures to help them survive in the toughest of snow storms or the warmest...
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...Simple vegetation structure 4. Limitation of drainage 5. Short season of growth and reproduction 6. Energy and nutrients in the form of dead organic material 7. Large population oscillations Tundra is separated into two types: Arctic tundra Alpine tundra Tundra along the Colville River, Alaska. Arctic tundra From left: tundra near Churchill, Manitoba, Canada; tundra in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. Arctic tundra is located in the northern hemisphere, encircling the north pole and extending south to the coniferous forests of the taiga. The arctic is known for its cold, desert-like conditions. The growing season ranges from 50 to 60 days. The average winter temperature is -34° C (-30° F), but the average summer temperature is 3-12° C (37-54° F) which enables this biome to sustain life. Rainfall may vary in different regions of the arctic. Yearly precipitation, including melting snow, is 15 to 25 cm (6 to 10 inches). Soil is formed slowly. A layer of permanently frozen subsoil called permafrost exists, consisting mostly of gravel and finer material. When water saturates the upper surface, bogs and ponds may form, providing moisture for plants. There are no deep root systems in the vegetation of the arctic tundra, however, there are still a wide variety of plants that are able to resist the cold...
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...though it is barren, plants and animals still grow there, because of adaptations to the cold over millions of years. the animals that live here are usually caribou snow hares snow foxes and polar bears all the animals with fur to resist the cold. The tundra is a cold, barren, place where no trees grow. It is home to some plants the most common are the bearberry, the arctic moss, the Caribou moss, the Diamond leaf willow, the Labrador Tea, the Pasque Flower, and the Tufted Saxifrage. Most of these plants have berries that are food to the animals. Since the soil is frozen over ice cannot seep through and there are not many lakes streams or other waterways. Most of these plants stay low to the ground so that they will not freeze over by the high winds. The plants also have hairy stems and grow together to survive the freezing cold temperatures. Just like other plants they get there energy from the sun, but they have adapted to less light and freezing temperatures...
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...In this essay, I am going to be looking for how animals differ depending on where they live in the world. Animals can be grouped in many different categories. Some categories could be things like where they live. For instance animals could be categorized, such as safari, jungle, and arctic. In the arctic, some animals that could be found there include narwhals, polar bear, arctic fox, snowy owl, and artic hare. Most animals from the artic have a warm coat of fur, which helps them survive in these harsh conditions. Narwhals are wale like creatures that have horns on their head, which are actually two teeth that form a tusk. Narwhals have a hide that keeps them warm when in the artic water. Polar bears dig out large caves out of snow to have their cubs in. Polar bears usually have only two cubs, and only come out in the spring. Polar bears usually eat seals, waiting under the ice breathing from holes in the ice. Baby polar bears usually starve before their third birthday; other polar bears often die from oil spills and melting ice. In the safari, some animals that could be found are, zebras, crocodiles, African elephants, and rhinos. These animals live in some warmer climates and have adapted for survival. Zebras have any natural predators such as loins, spotted hyenas, leopards, and cheetahs. Zebras prefer to eat short grass, but will eat tall grass if needed. Zebras are more likely to have a chance to escape predators if in a herd, rather than if alone...
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...Biomes Tropical rainforest: * What: Hot and wet areas with broadleaved evergreen forest * Where: Within 5°N and S of the equator * Climate, limiting factors: High rainfall(2000-5000 mm yr-1), high temperatures( 26-28°) and high insolation, P>E rain washes nutrients out of the soil, so nutrients may limit plant growth * Structure: amazingly high levels of biodiversity: plants compete for light thus growing tall to absorb it, so there is a multi-storey profile to the forests called stratification. Many niches and habitat for animals and large mammals can get enough food * Net productivity: produce 40% of NPP of terrestrial ecosystems. Fast rates of decomposition, respiration and photosynthesis. Biomass gain very high, rapid recycling of nutrients * Human activity: more than 50% of world’s human population live in the tropics/subtropics forests exploited e.g. nutrients quickly exhausted by agriculture, commercial logging of timber * Issues: logging, conversion to grazing and to plantations forests exploited for economic development * Examples: Amazon rainforest, Borneo rainforest Desert: * What: dry areas usually hot in the day and cold at night as skies are clear and there is little vegetation to insulate the ground. Tropical, temperate, cold deserts * Where: cover 20-30% of the Earth’s land surface, about 30°N and S of the equator where dry air descends. Most are in the middle of continents * Climate, limiting factors: water...
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...Arctic tundra occurs in the far Northern Hemisphere, north of the taiga belt. The word "tundra" usually refers only to the areas where the subsoil is permafrost, or permanently frozen soil. (It may also refer to the treeless plain in general, so that northern Sápmi would be included.) Permafrost tundra includes vast areas of northern Russia and Canada.[2] The polar tundra is home to several peoples who are mostly nomadic reindeer herders, such as the Nganasan and Nenets in the permafrost area (and the Sami in Sápmi). Tundra in Siberia Arctic tundra contains areas of stark landscape and is frozen for much of the year. The soil there is frozen from 25–90 cm (10–35 in) down, and it is impossible for trees to grow. Instead, bare and sometimes rocky land can only support low growing plants such as moss, heath (Ericaceae varieties such as crowberry and black bearberry), and lichen. There are two main seasons, winter and summer, in the polar tundra areas. During the winter it is very cold and dark, with the average temperature around −28 °C (−18 °F), sometimes dipping as low as −50 °C (−58 °F). However, extreme cold temperatures on the tundra do not drop as low as those experienced in taiga areas further south (for example, Russia's and Canada's lowest temperatures were recorded in locations south of the tree line). During the summer, temperatures rise somewhat, and the top layer of the permafrost melts, leaving the ground very soggy. The tundra is covered in marshes, lakes, bogs...
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...expeditions Scotland, Arctic & Russia Scotland and Faroe Islands | European Arctic | Russian Arctic | Russian Far East 2012 it Stra it tra Denmark S Denmark ATLANT C A T L A N T II C OCEAN OCEAN St Kilda St Kilda Reykjavik Reykjavik GREENLAND GREENLAND Isafjordur Isafjordur ICELAND ICELAND Oban Oban Faroe Faroe Islands Islands ouu SSo b byy ss ree or So Scc nd nd 90° 90° 60° 60° 30° 30° Edinburgh Edinburgh UK UK Norweg an N o r w e g iia n Shetland Islands Shetland Islands G een and G rre e n lla n d Sea Sea Spitsbergen Spitsbergen Longyearbyen Longyearbyen 0° 0° North North Sea Sea NORWAY NORWAY Sea Sea North North Pole Pole 30° 30° 60° 60° 90° 90° Franz Josef Franz Josef Land Land Novaya Novaya Zemlya Zemlya 2012 EXPEDITION PROGRAM CRUISE DATES VOYAGE * Kayaking Option # Diving Option WILD SCOTLAND & EUROPEAN ARCTIC 11-24 June 14 days WILD SCOTLAND AND THE FAROE ISLANDS*# SPITSBERGEN ODYSSEY* SPITSBERGEN ODYSSEY*# JEWELS OF THE ARCTIC *# JEWELS OF THE ARCTIC * RUSSIAN COAST TIC IC ARC T ARC E CL E L CIR C CIR B aren ts B aren ts Murmansk Murmansk Sea Sea a lya mly em Ze aaZ yy vaa oov N N Kara Kara Sea Sea PAGE 8 R R 19-29 July 11 days 29 July-8 Aug 11 days 8-21 Aug 14 days 21 Aug-3 Sept 14 days 10 10 12 12 25 June-7 July 13 days 7-19 July 13 days 19-31 July 13 days 31 July-13 Aug 14 days 13 Aug-7 Sept 26 days 8-21 Sept 14 days RING OF FIRE* BERING SEA EXPLORER*...
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...hij Teacher Resource Bank Environmental Studies Unit 1 ENVS1 The Living Environment Teachers Notes Copyright © 2008 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved. The Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA) is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (company number 3644723) and a registered charity (registered charity number 1073334). Registered address: AQA, Devas Street, Manchester M15 6EX. Dr Michael Cresswell, Director General. Teacher Resource Bank / GCE Environmental Studies / Teachers’ Notes Unit 1 / Version 1.0 Unit 1 ENVS1 The Living Environment Introduction These Teachers’ Notes are intended to expand upon Unit 1: The Living Environment by providing greater detail of the topics to be covered and how these should be developed. Examples included in the specification must be covered. Where specific examples are not given, suitable examples should be chosen to illustrate the principles and issues that are included in the specification. This guide includes suitable examples that may be used (in italics) but others may be used if preferred eg if the candidates or teachers have particular experience or knowledge. It is anticipated that the use of carefully selected examples may reduce total teaching effort by enabling a number of issues to be covered in a single situation. This will also help candidates to appreciate the holistic, inter-connected nature of the subject and prepare them for the study of broader issues such as sustainability...
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...GLOBAL WARMING Introduction Global warming begins when sunlight reaches Earth. The clouds, atmospheric particles, reflective ground surfaces and ocean surface then reflected about 30 percent of it back into space, while the remaining is absorbed by oceans, lands and air. This in turn heats the planet’s surface and atmosphere, making life possible. As Earth warmed up, this solar energy is radiated by thermal radiation or infrared heat, traveling directly out to space, thus cooling the Earth. However, some of the outgoing radiation is re-absorbed by carbon dioxide, water vapor and other gases in the atmosphere and is radiated back to Earth’s surface; these gases are known as greenhouse gases due to their heat-trapping capacity. This re-absorption process is naturally good; the Earth’s average surface temperature would be very cold if not for the greenhouse gases. The problem begins when the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere were artificially raised by humankind at an ever-increasing rate since the past 250 years. As of 2004, over 8 billion tons of carbon dioxide was pumped out per year; natural carbon sinks such as forests and the ocean absorbed some of this, while the rest accumulated in the atmosphere. Millions of pounds of methane are produced in landfills and agricultural decomposition of biomass and animal manure. Nitrous oxide is released into the atmosphere by nitrogen-based fertilizers and other soil management practices. Once released, these greenhouse...
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...Alaska Brand Audit Brand Inventory History Alaska has been a unique brand for many years. Originally known as Russian America because it was owned by Russia, the origin of the name Alaska is a misconception from the first Russian explorers to venture into Alaskan waters (the original Aleut word "alaxsxaq" literally meaning "object toward which the action of the sea is directed"[Alaska]). When the United States bought Alaska, even though the price was only two cents an acre, it was known for many years as “Seward’s Folly” or “Seward’s Icebox”, after William Seward, the Secretary of State who was primarily responsible for pushing the purchase from Russia through Congress. In the early days Alaska’s brand image was mostly negative. It was known as the “Frozen North”, the “land of ice and snow”, the “land without summer”. Many of these images are from the stories and poetry of Robert Service, Jack London and their contemporaries. A good example of this writing is the poem “Cremation of Sam McGee”— see appendix II, (Service). All these extreme brand images dominated perceptions of Alaska prior to the discovery of gold in the Klondike in the late 1800s. After gold was discovered these negative perceptions were softened somewhat, though they remained rather negative—in large part due to the difficulty of living in the far north. Our Brand Survey We did a brand audit of Alaska to see how well Alaska has worked past these harsh criticisms. To accomplish this we surveyed...
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...Stewart Park Rehabilitation Action Plan December 2009 Prepared by: Rick Manning, ASLA Cayuga Waterfront Trail Initiative Program Coordinator Prepared for: City of Ithaca, Strategic Tourism Planning Board, and Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce Foundation STEWART PARK REHABILITATION ACTION PLAN Cayuga Waterfront Trail Initiative Page 2 STEWART PARK REHABILITATION ACTION PLAN Acknowledgements The Stewart Park Rehabilitation Action Plan was funded with Tourism Capital Program funds provided by the Tompkins County Strategic Tourism and Planning Board. Following are the individuals and organizations that participated in the preparation of the plan; Steering Committee Scott Wiggins, Strategic Tourism Planning Board Mary Tomlan, City of Ithaca Common Council Jennifer Dotson, City of Ithaca Common Council Leslie Chatterton, City of Ithaca Department of Planning and Development JoAnn Cornish, City of Ithaca Department of Planning and Development Suzanne Vandemark, City of Ithaca Parks Commission Steve Hunt, Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce Herb Dwyer, Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce Doug Levine, Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce Rick Manning, Project Coordinator Stakeholder Committee Mayor Carolyn Peterson, City of Ithaca JoAnn Cornish, City of Ithaca Department of Planning and Development Leslie Chatterton, City of Ithaca Department of Planning and Development Mary Tomlan, City of Ithaca Common Council Dan Mitchell, Ithaca Beer Company Rob Licht, Artist/Designer Bruce...
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...COLLAPSE HOW S O C I E T I E S CHOOSE TO FAIL OR S U C C E E D JARED DIAMOND VIK ING VIKING Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A. Penguin Group (Canada), 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), Cnr Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland 1310, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England First published in 2005 by Viking Penguin, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 13579 10 8642 Copyright © Jared Diamond, 2005 All rights reserved Maps by Jeffrey L. Ward LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA Diamond, Jared M. Collapse: how societies choose to fail or succeed/Jared Diamond. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 0-670-03337-5 1. Social history—Case studies. 2. Social change—Case studies. 3. Environmental policy— Case studies. I. Title. HN13. D5 2005 304.2'8—dc22...
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...500 extraordinary islands G R E E N L A N D Beaufort Sea Baffin Bay vi Da i tra sS t a nm De it Stra rk Hudson Bay Gulf of Alaska Vancouver Portland C A N A D A Calgary Winnipeg Newfoundland Quebec Minneapolis UNITED STATES San Francisco Los Angeles San Diego Phoenix Dallas Ottawa Montreal ChicagoDetroitToronto Boston New York OF AMERICA Philadelphia Washington DC St. Louis Atlanta New Orleans Houston Monterrey NORTH AT L A N T I C OCEAN MEXICO Guadalajara Mexico City Gulf of Mexico Miami Havana CUBA GUATEMALA HONDURAS b e a n Sea EL SALVADOR NICARAGUA Managua BAHAMAS DOMINICAN REPUBLIC JAMAICA San Juan HAITI BELIZE C a r PUERTO RICO ib TRINIDAD & Caracas N TOBAGO A COSTA RICA IA M PANAMA VENEZUELA UYANRINA H GU C U G Medellín A PAC I F I C OCEAN Galapagos Islands COLOMBIA ECUADOR Bogotá Cali S FR EN Belém Recife Lima BR A Z I L PERU La Paz Brasélia Salvador Belo Horizonte Rio de Janeiro ~ Sao Paulo BOLIVIA PARAGUAY CHILE Cordoba Santiago Pôrto Alegre URUGUAY Montevideo Buenos Aires ARGENTINA FALKLAND/MALVINAS ISLANDS South Georgia extraordinary islands 1st Edition 500 By Julie Duchaine, Holly Hughes, Alexis Lipsitz Flippin, and Sylvie Murphy Contents Chapter 1 Beachcomber Islands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Aquatic Playgrounds 2 Island Hopping the Turks & Caicos: Barefoot Luxury 12 Life’s a Beach 14 Unvarnished & Unspoiled 21 Sailing...
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