Arctic Ocean Animals Adaptations. How global warming is affecting the arctic environment and how the food chain might be affected. For millennia, the arctic marine environment was dominated by the polar ice cap and its dynamics (laidre et al.
The beaufort and chukchi seas, the arctic waters north of alaska, are sometimes known as These animals depend on eating large quantities of krill for survival in the harsh climate. They play an important role in the aquatic food chain, particularly in the southern ocean.
Have students research arctic animals and complete the worksheet.
Many of the animals and plants that live in the arctic have special adaptations to allow them to survive in the harsh environment. Natural selection over many generations results in helpful traits becoming more common in a population. Water depth, temperature, and the presence or absence of light are some of the conditions that differ in these habitats. The north pole is in the middle of the arctic ocean which is surrounded by the land masses of north america, europe and asia so there is a land connection to the south meaning that land animals can more easily reach the arctic unlike antarctica where animals must be able to swim or fly across hundreds of miles of frigid.
