exploring the north - canadian...
TRANSCRIPT
Learning objectives
• Students will use previous knowledge to defi ne what the Arctic looks like in different seasons.
• Students will discover the importance of the Canadian Arctic by brainstorming its symbols, languages, climate and biodiversity.
• Students will examine 16 arctic specimens from the Canadian Museum of Nature’s collection and connect it to the arctic environment.
Time required
30-40 minutes
Grades
3-12
Materials
• Arctic brainstorm worksheet (attached)
• Arctic specimen cards (at-tached)
• Arctic specimen worksheet (attached)
• Tiled Map of Canada (educa-tion.canadiangeographic.ca)
• Copy of Canadian Geographic’s article “Fine Specimens”, pages 55 to 59 (optional)
• Internet access (optional)
IntroductionHave students complete the Arctic brainstorm worksheet. Discuss students’ answers and see if there are any patterns in their views of the Arctic. Have students write a list of what they would like to learn more about on the worksheet.
DevelopmentExplain that the Arctic is vibrant and full of life. Although many people perceive it as a barren region full of snow, the Arctic is rich in biodiversity, resources and culture. The Canadian Museum of Nature, located in Ottawa, Ontario, houses one of the largest collection of Arctic fl ora and fauna in the world. Each year, scientists from the museum travel to Canada’s Arctic and conduct research in one of the museum’s four main disciples: palaeobiology (the study of fossils), botany (the study of plants), mineralogy (the study of rocks and minerals) and zoology (the study of animals). Distribute the Arctic specimens worksheet and defi ne all four disciplines together as a class and have students record these defi nitions.
Next, distribute the Arctic specimen cards to the class. If more than one set of cards has been printed, divide students into groups and have each group examine its own set. As students examine their specimens, have them determine which discipline it fi ts in and record the species’ name on the worksheet. Once all 16 specimens have been examined and divided into their appropriate disciplines, have students choose the one specimen they found most interesting and complete the bottom of the worksheet, explaining why this specimen is important and how it helps us understand the Arctic. Have students come up with a question they have about this specimen and visit the museum’s website (nature.ca) to fi nd the answer. Finally, have students share their ideas with the rest of the class explaining why they selected the specimen they did.
Conclusion In the January/February 2015 issue of Canadian Geographic, “Fine Specimens” references an interview with Jennifer Doubt, Canadian Museum of Nature’s Botany curator, who states:
“...there is an urgent need to study the Arctic today, since climate change isaltering the region more quickly than any other place on Earth, while meltingis uncovering new clues about how life responded to past climatic upheavals and migrations.”
Divide students into small groups and have each discuss what the they think the scientist meant. Ask students how they feel about this comment and to think about what changes they may see in the Arctic in their lifetime. Next, have students refl ect on their Arctic specimen worksheet and predict the challenge that Arctic species may face as the Earth’s climate continues to warm.
EXPLORING THE NORTH
.../Continued
Set-up
Print out one Arctic brainstorm worksheet for each student and enough sets of the Arctic specimen cards for your class. If available, hang a map of Canada in your classroom, use the Tiled Map of Canada or project one on the board to show the location of the Arctic.
Links to the Canadian National Standards for Geography
Essential Element 1: The World in Spatial Terms• Location of major human and
physical features on Earth
• Distribution of major human and physical features at country and global scales
Essential Element 2: Places and Regions• Perceptions of places and
regions
• Regions defi ned by multiple criteria
• Changes in places and regions over time
• Political and historical charac-teristics of regions
• Regional analysis of geographic issues and questions
Essential Element 5: Environ-ment and Society• Human adaptation to the phys-
ical environment
• Limits and opportunities of the physical environment for human activities
• Global effects on the human environment by changes in the physical environment
Extend your geographical thinkingCollect all of the specimen cards and invite one student volunteer to randomly choose a card and hide it from the rest of the class. Explain that the volunteer must think of three fi rst-person sentences (e.g., I can be found in water, I live on land, etc.) to best describe their specimen without saying to which discipline their specimen belongs. After each sentence, allow time for students to guess the specimen. Have the fi rst student who guesses correctly select the next card.
A great way to extend your Arctic learning is to reserve the Arctic Alive giant fl oor map at education.canadiangeographic.ca. This resource is available on loan for a period of three weeks and is completely free of charge.
EXPLORING THE NORTH
Arctic BrAinstorm Worksheet
What we know
What can you find there?
(Plants/animals/people)
Why is the Arctic important? What is the Actic like in the
sPring
summer
FAll
Winter
symbols Describing words
What we want to knowWhat is the Arctic?
name:
Arctic sPecimen Worksheet
Palaeobiology Zoology
specimen
is important because...
Botany minerology
name:
specimens
AmPeliscA mAcrocePhAlA
Arctic coD
AulAcomnium turgiDum
BeAVer
DiAmonD
DrYAs integriFoliA
gAlenA
gormAnite
ice
mosQuito
muskoX
Pliocene cAmel
PuiJilA DArWini
rhiZocArPon geogrAPhicum
thAlAssiosirA norDenskioelDii
tiktAAlik roseAe
mu
skoX
MU
SKO
X —
OR
OM
ING
MA
K, as the In
uit call this Arctic herbivore —
are well adapted to the
Arctic, both physiologically an
d behaviourally. Distributed throughout m
uch of Can
ada’s High A
rctic in
small herds of roughly 20 in
dividuals, muskox thrive in
the region’s extremely dry, cold con
ditions,
grazing on
low-lyin
g grasses, mosses, A
rctic willow
s and shrubs. W
ith their compact bodies an
d long
hair that covers a soft, dense un
dercoat, they preserve even m
ore warm
th through harsh win
ters by huddlin
g together and sharin
g body heat. The In
uit have relied on m
uskox for millen
nia, usin
g the m
eat for sustenan
ce, fur for warm
coats and skull an
d horns to carve in
to works of art.
AmPeliscA m
AcrocePh
AlAF
OR
MIN
G H
UG
E, D
EN
SE B
ED
S on th
e sea fl oor —som
etimes u
p to 16,000 individu
als per squ
are metre —
Am
pelisca macroceph
ala are a major food sou
rce for everythin
g from divin
g seabirds to grey w
hales, w
hich
scoop up vast qu
antities w
ithin
their m
assive jaws. D
escribed as “fi lter feeders” becau
se they con
sum
e tiny food fragm
ents th
at sink from
the su
rface, Am
pelisca produ
ce silk from th
eir legs so they can
latch on
to food particles. Most of th
e mu
seum
’s preserved specim
ens are from
Cape B
athu
rst in th
e Beau
fort Sea, wh
ere prevailing cu
rrents create an
u
pwellin
g of cold, nu
trient-rich
water, w
hich
mixes w
ith su
rface water —
an ideal scen
ario for the
zooplankton
and ph
ytoplankton
that provide th
eir susten
ance.
Arctic coD
SW
IMM
ING
IN M
ASSIV
E SC
HO
OLS th
rough
out th
e entire circu
mpolar region
— from
n
orthern
Ru
ssia and G
reenlan
d to Alaska an
d Can
ada — B
oreogadus saida, or A
rctic cod, is distin
guish
ed from oth
er types of cod by its forked tail and protru
ding m
outh
. A sleek, slen
der fi sh
that grow
s up to 30 cen
timetres an
d feeds on plan
kton n
ear the su
rface, it’s anoth
er major lin
k w
ithin
the A
rctic food chain
, providing a steady diet for seals, seabirds an
d beluga w
hales. W
ith
antifreeze protein
s in its blood to stave off th
e cold, Arctic cod is on
e of the few
fi sh on
the plan
et th
at can th
rive in su
b-zero temperatu
res.
mo
sQu
itoY
OU
MIG
HT
TH
INK
mosquitoes only frequent forested landscapes, w
here swam
ps and freshwater
lakes abound. But after the A
rctic snow m
elts, in those few short w
eeks or so of warm
temperatures,
the tundra is like a sopping sponge in standing water, partly because an im
pervious permafrost layer
impedes excess w
ater from draining aw
ay. The conditions are tailor-m
ade for breeding mosquitoes,
which have been know
n to turn the sky grey as they swarm
for sweet nectar and blood in the region.
Where the caribou herds roam
, the voracious insects can suck up to 300 milli litres of blood from
each
animal every day. Im
agine that the next time you’re sw
atting bugs on your back porch.
ice* IC
E IS
FO
RE
VE
R S
HA
PIN
G th
e Arctic lan
dscape. It may seem
imm
obile, but it’s con
stantly
shiftin
g, receding an
d meltin
g. An
d every time it ch
anges form
, ice affects all other A
rctic features
— from
the su
rface rock it scrapes un
der constan
t pressure to th
e organism
s that traverse its
slippery slopes, pursu
ing prey or fl eein
g predators. More m
elting ice in
the A
rctic is a harbin
ger for accelerated w
armin
g to come. T
he am
oun
t of Arctic sea ice h
as been declin
ing for decades, as
ancien
t glaciers melt, break off in
to icebergs and open
up n
ew shippin
g lanes that didn’t exist w
hen
this cou
ntry w
as born. *[N
aturally occurring ice meets the fi ve requirem
ents of a mineral substance, and
can thus be considered a mineral. —
Ed.]
gAlen
AA
SH
INY
AN
D M
ET
ALLIC
lead-sulfi de m
ineral, galen
a is a major ore u
sed in th
e production
of lead, an
d is foun
d alongside large zin
c deposits in C
anada’s N
orth. Tw
o large min
es processed galen
a in C
anada’s A
rctic un
til they w
ere both closed in
2002 because of declin
ing resou
rces: B
affi n Islan
d’s Nan
isivik min
e, wh
ich open
ed in 1976 as C
anada’s fi rst A
rctic min
e, and th
e P
olaris min
e, on th
e south
ern tip of Little C
ornw
allis Island, th
e most n
ortherly base-m
etal min
e in
the w
orld wh
en it w
as shu
t down
.
DiAm
on
DT
HE
DIA
MO
ND
S IN
CA
NA
DA
’S A
RC
TIC
formed m
illions of years ago, as a carbon
com
poun
d crystallized un
der searing h
eat and pressu
re deep below th
e surface, th
en bu
bbled up
in m
agma fl ow
s from lon
g-extinct volcan
oes. As th
ese formation
s cooled, they left diam
ond-laced
rock formation
s — called kim
berlite pipes — closer to the su
rface. Can
ada’s major diam
ond m
ines,
wh
ich h
ave propelled the cou
ntry in
to the top 10 diam
ond produ
cers in th
e world, sit atop th
ese key form
ations. M
ost are in the N
orthwest Territories, w
here the Diavik, E
kati and Sn
ap Lake min
es operate, an
d anoth
er, the G
ahch
o Ku
é project, is being developed. O
ther diam
ond m
ines in
clude
Nu
navu
t’s curren
tly dorman
t Jericho m
ine an
d north
ern O
ntario’s V
ictor min
e, near Jam
es Bay.
go
rmAn
iteM
ININ
G IN
TH
E Y
UK
ON
is about far m
ore than
the K
londike gold ru
sh of th
e late 1800s. In
the last few
decades, several new
min
erals have been
discovered in n
ortheastern
Yukon
, between
R
apid Creek an
d Big Fish
River, an
d west of th
e Macken
zie River delta. N
amed after D
onald
“Digger” G
orman
, who fi rst discovered it in
1981, gorman
ite is a bluish-green
min
eral that appears in
a radial-spray form on
fractured rock su
rfaces — so-called fractu
re fi llings —
in ph
osphate-
ironston
e rock formation
s. Alth
ough
it has little econ
omic valu
e, gorman
ite is considered a
collectors’ item, partly becau
se of its rarity throu
ghou
t the w
orld.
Pliocen
e cAmel
IF Y
OU
GE
T A
CH
AN
CE
to see the foss ilized tibia of an
extin
ct giant cam
el in th
e m
useu
m’s
research
and
collections facility, you
migh
t easily m
istake it for an old
hu
nk of w
ood. Bu
t the 30 leg-
bone fragm
ents —
foun
d on a
steep,
sand
y slo
pe
near
Strathcon
a Fiord on th
e west-
central sid
e of Nu
navu
t’s E
llesmere
Island
—
are
actually th
e most n
ortherly
tiktAAlik roseAe
AN
OT
HE
R R
AR
E M
ISSING
LINK
, Tiktaalik roseae h
as been called a “fi sh
apod” because th
is extin
ct species helped scien
tists fi ll the evolu
tionary gap betw
een fi sh
and fou
r-legged anim
als (tetrapods). D
iscovered in 2004 on
south
ern E
llesmere Islan
d in rock sedim
ents form
ed by an
ancien
t river system, T
iktaalik’s fossilized remain
s date back 375 million
years. At th
ree-metres
long, w
ith a fl at head and big jaw
s, Tiktaalik resem
bled a present-day crocodile. Its fi n
s, which w
ere stron
g enou
gh to prop itself u
p on lan
d, either in
shallow
water or alon
g the w
ater’s edge, were on
th
eir way, in
evolution
ary terms, to becom
ing feet. W
hen
Tiktaalik lived, E
llesmere Islan
d was
mu
ch farth
er south
, due to con
tinen
tal drift, and resem
bled a subtropical fl oodplain
.
PuiJilA D
ArWin
iIT
’S RA
RE
FO
R SC
IEN
TIST
S to un
cover a new
genu
s and species, rarer still w
hen
that extin
ct creature provides a crucial m
issing lin
k in evolution
. The fossilized rem
ains of P
uijila, which m
eans
“youn
g sea mam
mal” in
Inu
ktitut, w
ere discovered in an
ancien
t lake deposit on N
un
avut’s D
evon
Island by m
useu
m research
ers in 2007. T
he bon
es were in
credibly well preserved in
the H
augh
ton
Crater —
a 16-kilometre-w
ide impact site created by a m
eteor strike about 24 m
illion years ago.
An
ancestor to m
odern seals, P
uijila h
ad legs that allow
ed it to hu
nt on
land an
d an otter-like body
and w
ebbed feet for swim
min
g in fresh
water lakes.
BeAVerB
EA
VE
RS IN
TH
E T
RE
ELE
SS AR
CT
IC? It m
ay seem h
ard to believe, but abou
t three m
illion
to fi ve million
years ago, Can
ada’s Arctic w
as mu
ch w
armer th
an it is today an
d largely covered by a larch
-domin
ated boreal forest landscape. A
t the B
eaver Pon
d site on E
llesmere Islan
d, Can
adian
Mu
seum
of Natu
re researchers fou
nd th
e fossilized remain
s of an extin
ct beaver, along w
ith
preserved wood th
at had been
un
mistakably gn
awed by beaver teeth
. Th
e fossils were fou
nd in
peat w
ith m
olluscs an
d other plan
t matter, offerin
g the scien
tists a treasure trove of m
aterial for stu
dying th
e climate of th
at time, kn
own
as the P
liocene E
poch.
evidence of th
e earliest camels, w
hich
originated in
North
Am
erica more th
an 45 m
illion years
ago. Collagen
from th
e bone in
dicates it most closely m
atches m
odern on
e-hu
mp cam
els and th
e Yu
kon gian
t camel, th
ough
t to be the an
cestor of modern
camels. T
he fossils are abou
t 3.4 million
years old, w
hich
mean
s these cam
els lived alongside th
e beavers and oth
er boreal creatures fou
nd
at a nearby site called B
eaver Pon
d (see “Beaver,” bottom
).
rhiZo
cArPon
geo
grAPh
icum
RH
IZO
CA
RP
ON
GE
OG
RA
PH
ICU
M IS often
called the “m
ap lichen” becau
se it grows in
patch
es bordered by black lines an
d, as a result, looks like a m
ap with
little rivers and roads. It’s
the origin
al lichen
used for lich
enom
etry, a process that dates exposed rock an
d other su
rfaces. Sin
ce the lich
en on
ly grows at a fraction
of a millim
etre each year, lich
enom
etrists can u
se the size
of a lichen
to date wh
atever surface it’s grow
ing on
. Rhizocarpon is also an
extremely tou
gh
organism
that th
rives in th
e most extrem
e Arctic en
vironm
ents. To test its tou
ghn
ess, researchers
decided to take a colony in
to Earth’s orbit, w
here it w
as exposed to empty space for n
early 15 days. It su
rvived un
harm
ed, of course.
AulAco
mn
ium
turg
iDu
m
AU
LA
CO
MN
IUM
TU
RG
IDU
MIS
A V
ER
Y H
AR
DY
MO
SS
; so h
ardy, in fact, th
at researchers w
ere recen
tly able to bring som
e back to life after it h
ad lain dorm
ant for m
ore than
fou
r centu
ries un
der th
e Teardrop
Glacier in
Nu
navu
t. With
its bright
yellow
-green
co
lou
r an
d
spo
ng
y textu
re, it’s an attractive an
d distinctive
Hig
h
Arctic
species
that
gro
ws
especially
well
in
dam
p
tun
dra
land
scapes. If you’ve ever felt th
e “sprin
gy” Arctic tu
ndra u
nder you
r feet,
that’s
likely
Au
lacom
niu
m
turgidu
m. It’s also fou
nd in
isolated, rem
nan
t patches of alpine tun
dra, such
as the O
uim
et Can
yon on
the n
orth
shore of Lake Su
perior, near T
hu
nder
Bay, O
nt., w
here it still rem
ains after
the glaciers retreated 10,000 years ago.
thAlAssio
sirA no
rDen
skioelD
iiT
HIS U
NIC
ELLU
LAR
ALG
AE
SPE
CIE
S (a diatom) is so tin
y you need a m
icroscope to see it. B
ut despite its size, these and other comm
on phytoplankton form the base of the
Arctic’s m
arine food chain. Wherever they fl oat in northern w
aters, a feeding frenzy is sure to follow
— from
tiny crustaceans to the biggest whales. Like other diatom
s, Thalassiosira
nordenskioeldii is often said to live in “glass houses,” because it resides within clear silica cell
walls called frustules, w
hich stay in the environment long after the organism
s die. After
sinkin
g to the sea fl oor, the glass shells provide key physical evidence for researchers
learning about earlier climates and conditions in w
hich the organisms grew
.
DrYAs in
tegriFo
liALIFE IS N
OT
EASY
for fl owering plants in the H
igh Arctic. In an urgent frenzy during the
Arctic’s short sum
mer season, D
ryas integrifolia (the mountain aven) and sim
ilar species have to grow
, fl ower and then produce seed, all before w
inter returns. A m
ember of the rose
family, this plant’s stem
and leaves are fuzzy, creating a thin layer of still air that protects it from
the Arctic’s extrem
ely dry, moisture-sucking w
inds. Inuit often called these plants m
alikkaat, or “the followers,” because they follow
the seasons: the fl owers fold out in one
direction when sum
mer is com
ing, and twist and fold the opposite w
ay for winter.
rhiZo
cArPon
geo
grAPh
icum