Threatened Arctic Species

British Columbia PLO's:

• Science 6, 7, 8
• English Language Arts 6, 7, 8
• French extension

Background:

Throughout this activity students will research Arctic animals at risk and make a case for protecting their species and obtaining funding for more research. This is a good activity to use towards the end of a climate change unit where students have a good understanding of the topic and are applying concepts to solve problems.

The polar regions of the planet are predicted to be some of the hardest hit in terms of global warming. Warming temperatures are rising almost twice as fast, sea ice is shrinking, and permafrost is melting. The impacts of abrupt climate change on the northern parts of Canada are already being felt by many arctic species in a variety of ways.

As the climate warms in the arctic many species are predicted to move north in order to stay in favourable conditions. For some, range shifts and changes in territory will be enough to maintain the populations, but for many it will not. Some Arctic species have no place to expand their range into. As the climate and the environment changes many northern species will lose habitat, food resources, and southern species moving north may eventually out compete many of the native organisms.

In 2007, the International Polar Year began with researchers from all over the world heading to the poles to carry out numerous experiments from oceanography to human ecology. In Canada, $150 million has been allocated for research in the arctic over the next few years with many projects examining climate change and its impacts on Arctic ecosystems. A call for proposals to apply for funding went out in 2005 with project leaders from across the country competing for the funds. To date 44 projects have received much-needed money to move forward with their Arctic studies.

Materials:

• Images of shrinking glaciers from Scripps and from Global Warming Art
• Access to research materials for the students
• Ocean News class set for reading
• Panel members for judging
• Atlas

Procedure:

1. Have an image of shrinking glaciers on the board (see resource section).
2. Read the Ocean News article Turning up Arctic heat either as a class or individually. Discuss any questions the students have regarding this reading.
3. The students may or may not be familiar with the geography of the Arctic. Have the students look at an atlas to see what area is considered the Arctic. Places north of 60° on a map are commonly viewed as being in Arctic.
4. If the facilities are available watch the NASA animation of the warming climate with the class from the Geology.com website. It shows an animation of global temperatures through the 1800s and 1900s to the present day.
5. Write the phrase Species at Risk on the board. Ask the students to define it and give examples of some species at risk.
6. Explain that their assignment will be to advocate on behalf of their assigned Arctic species and present an argument to a panel (made up of guests from the school community you choose) for funding to go towards the conservation of their species. This will be a formal presentation in front of the class, with a visual component and a written component. They will have to let everyone know why their species is important and why it should receive extra funding.
7. Review what areas should be covered in their presentations. A few things that all the presentations should include are:common and scientific names, species range, role in the ecosystem, how the species will be most likely affected by climate change in the Arctic, how we can help conserve the animal, how other organisms may be affected if this species is lost, how new research should be focused in order to improve our knowledge.
8. Encourage the students to be creative with their arguments and presentations. Remind them that they are presenting in front of a guest panel.
9. Put up the list of Arctic species at risk on the board. Assign organisms to groups or let the students choose what they would like to research. There should be 2-4 people per group.
10. Review some of the sources they use for their research (see the resource list below). This activity can be used as a tool to learn about library resources in the school. Check with your librarian regarding resources.
11. Research can be done during class time over the next few days, or for homework. This will depend on the goals of the project and the motivation of the class.
12. While the students are working you can put up The Cryosphere Today website where the students can see what the current conditions of the polar ice caps are currently.
13. Arrange for guest panel members to come into the class and hear the presentations (ideally three external judges s plus yourself). Ask members of the school community who may be available: principals, vice-principals, guidance counselors, teaching assistants, parents etc.

Presentation Day

1. Set-up where the panel will sit to one side of the classroom allowing all the students and panel member to be able to see the presentations.
2. On presentation day, get the students to make their cases to the panel. Draw species names out of a hat for presentation order, or you can assign an order before hand so that students are aware of when they are presenting.
3. Once the students have made their presentations, ask them to submit their written reports as well. You could also make these due before or after the presentations depending on your timeline and the goals of the written report.
4. Afterwards, the panel can convene and make some decisions based on the presentations. Several different awards can be distributed including most creative, most informative, and then the top 3 or 4 that the panel would give research money to.

Next class

1. Announce the presentation winners and the species that will be receiving funding for future conservation. At this time you can also display a list of the actual Arctic projects that were awarded funding on the overhead or screen.

List of Threatened Arctic Species

• Beluga Whale
• Woodland Caribou (boreal population)
• Eskimo Curlew
• Ivory Gull
• Bowhead Whale
• Polar Bear
• Tundra Peregrine Falcon
• Wolverine
• Narwhal
• Short-eared Owl
• Grizzly Bear
• Atlantic Walrus
• Northern Wolfish
• Harlequin Ducks (eastern population)
• Ross's Gull
• Wood Bison

Discussion:

• Why are northern species at higher risk than southern species?
• How does the loss of one species potentially affect all the other organisms in the ecosystem?
• How does the Species at Risk Act protect Canadian plants and animals?
• How does the government decide what species to protect?
• In what ways are Arctic organisms affected by climate change?

Extension and Resources:

• Since the Species at Risk website is bilingual, this activity can also be done in French.
• Image of shrinking glaciers from Scripps Oceanographic Institute
• Government of Canada Species at risk website
• Atlas of Canada website
• Department of Fisheries and Oceans Aquatic Species at Risk website
• Environment Canada Species at Risk site
• Parks Canada Species at Risk site
• A list of the projects that received part of the $150 million in funding as part of the International Polar Year initiative in Canada.
• Nasa animation in the article - Climate change animation and graph has images as well as an animation showing how global temperatures have climbed over the last several centuries.
• The Cryoshpere Today site shows images of the current state of the polar ice caps. The images are great and can be used to help connect students to what is actually occurring presently.

Downloadable PDF of this lesson plan.