What is Climate Change's Effect on the Arctic Food Web?

A food web is a network of interrelated food chains within a community of organisms. In the Arctic, a typical food web consists of phytoplankton (algae), fish, seal and polar bear, all of which are interdependent for their subsistence. Because climate change is reducing the amount of ice in this region, the population of each species in this food web is diminishing.

Effect on Ice

The Arctic region is mostly covered by ice and snow. According to the U.S. Global Change Research Program, the sea ice of this region is vanishing as a result of the rise in global temperatures.

Effect on Algae

Algae form the first trophic level (position of an organism in a food chain) in the Arctic food web. As a result of the diminished ice and warmer temperatures, the algae population is also diminishing.

Effect on Fish

Fish found in the Arctic Ocean, such as Arctic Cod, feed on Amphipod (smaller organisms), which depend on Copepod (even smaller organisms), which in turn depend on algae for food.

Effect on Seal

Seals such as the ringed seal live and reproduce on the ice sheets in the ocean. They depend on smaller fish for their food. In the absence of ice, the seals lose their habitat and it threatens their existence.

Effect on Polar Bear

Polar bears depend mainly on seal for their food. Ice serves as a platform for them to hunt their prey. As the ice vanishes and the seal population diminishes, polar bears are also becoming extinct.

References

• U.S. Global Change Research Program: Ecosystems
• Michigan State University: Arctic ecosystem
• GreenFacts.org: Scientific Facts on Arctic Climate Change

Resources

• Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: Arctic Ocean Ecosystem
• Greenpeace: The Threat of Climate Change to Arctic Wildlife