Wapusk National Park
This Canadian national park is located in the province of Manitoba
What is Wapusk National Park?
Polar bears rely most heavily on this prey species for energy.
What are Seals
A heritable trait that increases survival and reproduction is called this
What is Adaptation
Climate change refers to this timescale.
What is Long-term.
Organisms that can interbreed and produce fertile offspring belong to the same
Natural selection occurs when individuals differ in survival and this factor.
What is reproduction
Traits passed from parents to offspring are called these.
What are inherited traits?
The variable intentionally changed in an experiment is the ____.
What is the independent variable?
Wapusk National Park is best known for protecting this large Arctic mammal.
What is the Polar Bear
Polar bears are classified as apex predators because they have this role in the food web.
What is controlling other prey populations.
Endothermic organisms regulate body temperature using this type of energy.
What is metabolic energy.
Seasonal changes in the Arctic most strongly affect this limiting factor for photosynthesis.
What is Sunlight.
Ecoregions are defined by climate, vegetation, and this additional factor.
What are animals, organism diversity.
Biological fitness is best measured by this outcome, not strength or size.
What is reproductive success
Genetic variation arises from mutations and this reproductive process.
What is sexual reproduction?
The variable that responds to changes and scientist take data on is the ____.
What is the dependent variable?
The name “Wapusk” comes from a Cree word meaning this animal.
What is a polar bear (white bear)?
This physical trait reduces heat loss and increases survival in extreme cold.
What is thick fur. What is hollow fur. What is blubber.
Thick fur and blubber are examples of adaptations that reduce this.
What is heat loss
Melting sea ice is an example of a change caused by this global process
What is climate change.
Two species occupying similar niches (special roles in their environment) in the same ecoregion will most likely experience this interaction.
What is Competition.
Environmental change shifts which traits are considered advantageous, altering this process.
What is natural selection?
Genetic variation is essential because it provides the physical traits for this process.
What is natural selection?
In a study measuring polar bear mass across different ice conditions, ice coverage is the ____.
What is the independent variable?
Protecting Wapusk helps preserve biodiversity by maintaining these large ecological areas.
What are ecoregions
Explain why polar bears are considered a climate indicator species.
What is a species whose health reflects environmental changes in their area.
Structural adaptations for thermoregulation are effective only if they also improve this evolutionary outcome.
What is reproductive success (biological fitness)
(DD): Analyze: How could reduced sea ice duration affect polar bear population growth rate over multiple generations?
What is Reduced growth rate due to decreased survival and reproduction
Explain why polar bears have a narrow ecological niche compared to generalist species.
What is They rely on sea ice and specific prey to survive.
Individuals with traits poorly matched to the environment typically show reduced ____.
What is biological fitness?
A population with low genetic diversity is at greater risk for this outcome when the environment changes.
What is extinction risk
Body mass and cub survival based of various ice conditions would both be considered this type of variable.
What are dependent variables?
Scientists study Wapusk to understand how climate-driven habitat loss affects this population-level variable.
What is population size
Reduced access to sea ice most directly decreases polar bear reproductive success by limiting this behavior
What is hunting efficiency (or access to prey).
Predict how warmer winter temperatures could change the selective pressure on thermoregulatory traits like thick fur and sweat glands in the feet.
Reduced temperatures may decrease selection for extreme cold tolerance traits and would eventually die out.
Climate change can reduce biodiversity by altering species interactions and this ecosystem property.
What is ecosystem diversity
A species restricted to one ecoregion is more vulnerable to extinction because of reduced ____.
What is adaptation to other environments.
(DD): Explain: How could climate change shift selective pressures on polar bear hunting behavior and lead to evolutionary change?
Behavioral traits that improve hunting in open water may be favored
Without genetic variation, natural selection would be unable to occur because there would be no differences in this.
What are traits (or phenotypes)?
Identifying variables allows scientists to test this type of relationship supported by evidence.
What is a cause-and-effect relationship?