3.1.4.5 Human Impacts On Cold Environments Flashcards
What’s a fragile environment
A sensitive environment on the edge of survival, where even the slightest change can have significant effects
2 types of effects that can cause harm to fragile environments
E.g
Natural effects - small shifts in rainfall + temperatures
Human activity - intensive agriculture, deforestation, urbanisation
What are plants + animals in fragile environments sensitive to
Why
Sensitive to change
As have adapted to the environmental conditions
3 indigenous groups in the arctic
The Inuit people
The Sami people
The Vuntut gwitchin
Who are the Inuit people
A group of indigenous people living in the arctic regions of Greenland, Canada and the USA
What does the Inuit peoples traditional way of life involve
Fishing
Hunting
What do the Inuit people do with the animals they hunt
Eat the meat
Make clothes + shoes from the animal fur + skin
Who are the Sami people
Indigenous people living in the arctic area of the Sápmi (parts of far northern Norway, Sweden, Finland
What’s the Sami peoples best known livelihood
Semi-nomadic reindeer hunting
Where can the Vuntut Gwitchin people survive
What are 3 problems there
Northern Canada
Low precipitation
Temperature
Isolation
Long hours of winter darkness
What village do about 300 Vuntut gwitchin people live in
Old crow
What do Vuntut gwitchin base their culture on
The seasonal migration of Caribou herds across the tundra
What does caribou provide the Vuntut gwitchin people with
Meat, clothing + tents
Bones + antlers -> soups/tools
2 reasons why the Vuntut gwitchin‘ s way of life is no longer nomadic
They now use snowmobiles to travel instead of dog sledges
Now use rifles
4 human impacts on cold environments
Climate change
Oil exploitation
Tourism
Hunting + whaling
3 cold environments humans impact
Tundra (periglacial)
Polar (glacial land + sea ice)
Alpine (glacial + fluvioglacial)
How will climate change affect Vuntut Gwitchin people (tundra)
They will struggle to get meat + lose their culture and traditions as there’s less snow and an earlier snow melt so carribou will change migration routes
Where do the caribou migrate to and give birth now every summer
10 02 lands
In the 10 02 lands what could reduce the number of caribou, Making life for the Vuntut Gwitchin nearly impossible
Drilling for oil
What oil spill in Alaska was due to human negligence and incompetence
The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, 1989
What happened in the Exxon Valdez oil spill
The Exxon Valdez supertanker carrying 50 million tonnes of crude oil, ran aground on Bligh reef as the captain was drunk
What happened after a week of the Exxon Valdez oil spill
Oil covered 2600km2 and extended 900km from the wreck
How much did it cost to clean up after the Exxon Valdez oil spill
$600 million
What was recovered from the Exxon Valdez oil spill
Bodies of 35,000 seabirds and 3000 sea otters
Where are 2 of the 7 huge arctic basins that contain 87% of the arctics oil and natural gas
Siberia, Russia
3 impacts of oil spills
Contaminates soil
Kills all plants growing
Destroys habitats for mammals and birds
E.g of an oil spill in Russia
In Unsinsk, close to the arctic circle
How much oil does the Russian oil industry spill on land each year
30 million barrels
What is whaling
The hunting of whales for meat, blubber and oil
What type of whaling emerged in the 17th century
What did this lead to
Industrial whaling
Decline in numbers of whales
How come there are thought to now be 5000 whales
1n 1986, the international whaling commission (IWC) banned commercial whaling
What is the only whaling that is still allowed today
Whaling under scientific-research + aboriginal-subsistence provisions
What country is still whaling commercially today
Norway
How is climate change affecting Antarctica
There are increasing numbers of polar bears drowning as sea ice is melting
How do most tourists in Antarctica travel
By cruise ship
2 disadvantages of tourists on cruise ships
Can disturb wildlife when they get too close to shore so can affect breeding, feeding + rearing of young
Ships can have accidents in icy waters. Wrecked ships leak oil, polluting the sea + beaches, threatening birds, animals + plants
How many tourists visit the European alps each year
120 million
What causes the most destructive human impacts in the European alps
E.g
The ski industry
E.g are illegal ski developments in Carpathian Mountains, Bulgaria (Europe’s last wilderness areas)
What has happened to the Carpathian Mountains, Bulgaria due to the ski industry
Forests have been stripped for ski developments + infrastructure causing habitat loss and fragmentation
Modern adventure sports (mountain-biking, canyoning, paragliding) and some motor bases activities are disturbing wildlife and pose a threat to biodiversity
What’s happening to the climate in the swiss alps
What is this causing glaciers to do
E.g
It’s rising
So glaciers are retreating
E.g Mer de Glace is 500m shorter than in 1994
What is happening to alpine summers due to climate change
They’re getting drier
What are expected to change in the Swiss alps due to climate change
How
Ecosystems
A rise in 1*c pushes the tree line up by 100m and some high mountain flora and fauna will be extinct
What species in the Swiss alps will be threatened by climate change
Marmot
What is melting permafrost causing in the Swiss alps
Rock avalanches and mudslides
What is under threat due to melting permafrost
Several mountain communities
Cable cars + chair lifts
What happens to glaciers in the alps in the summer
Melting occurs and can be ponded-up behind debris dams to be released as powerful torrents if water (flooding + mudslides)
