Biol 2650                                Video: Hot Times in Alaska

1. During the course of the study, what has happened to the guillimot population, and why?

2. In what way does the change in sea ice (since the 1970s) have the potential to affect global temperature?

3. What pattern of change is apparent in the study of Alaska’s glaciers?

4. What is permafrost?

What is happening to the permafrost?

 How could this change affect global atmospheric CO2 concentrations?

 5. What causes “drunken forest” syndrome?

6. What evidence suggests that Alaska is getting drier?

7. What two factors together are killing off vast areas of spruce forest?

8. How many major tree species make up the boreal forest?

  How many of them have major insect problems?

9. The ground squirrels in one tundra study area are facing what problem?

10. Repeat aerial photography show what landscape change in the tundra biome?

 How could this affect global temperature?

11. What experiment provides an explanation for this change in the landscape?

12. Up until the 1970s, the tundra was a “net carbon sink”. By 1982, it was a “net carbon source”. What does this mean?

How could this affect global warming?