Pollution
Pollution by human waste products and oil spills are a threat to all of the Earth’s ecosystems, but especially the sensitive tundra biome. Oil spills can kill wildlife and significantly damage the biome's ecosystem. Also, while drilling for oil in the tundra, dusts and gases are released, which can cause air pollution. In addition, waste products from human settlements and tourism are difficult to dispose of, and they create pollution and health problems for this delicate ecosystem. Consequently, all of this pollution from humans mining and living in the tundra not only negatively affects the air, soil, and water, but the wildlife that depends on those resources to survive!
Unregulated Hunting and Trapping
Decreasing populations of certain animals in the tundra is a worsening issue. Uncontrolled hunting of marine mammals, seals, penguins, and land mammals has resulted in a drastic decrease of their populations, to the point where some are endangered. The arctic fox is an example of one of those endangered species, and trapping them for their fur threatens the species survival.
Human Settlement
The freezing temperatures in the winter already make it difficult for the plants and animals of the tundra to survive, and now they have to cope with more and more people moving to their home! As more humans move to the tundra to work in oil rigs and mines, they have created more towns, roads, and pipelines which have had a negative effect on the tundra wildlife. These new obstacles have disrupted animal’s feeding grounds, and with their feeding patterns disrupted, many have starved.
Pollution by human waste products and oil spills are a threat to all of the Earth’s ecosystems, but especially the sensitive tundra biome. Oil spills can kill wildlife and significantly damage the biome's ecosystem. Also, while drilling for oil in the tundra, dusts and gases are released, which can cause air pollution. In addition, waste products from human settlements and tourism are difficult to dispose of, and they create pollution and health problems for this delicate ecosystem. Consequently, all of this pollution from humans mining and living in the tundra not only negatively affects the air, soil, and water, but the wildlife that depends on those resources to survive!
Unregulated Hunting and Trapping
Decreasing populations of certain animals in the tundra is a worsening issue. Uncontrolled hunting of marine mammals, seals, penguins, and land mammals has resulted in a drastic decrease of their populations, to the point where some are endangered. The arctic fox is an example of one of those endangered species, and trapping them for their fur threatens the species survival.
Human Settlement
The freezing temperatures in the winter already make it difficult for the plants and animals of the tundra to survive, and now they have to cope with more and more people moving to their home! As more humans move to the tundra to work in oil rigs and mines, they have created more towns, roads, and pipelines which have had a negative effect on the tundra wildlife. These new obstacles have disrupted animal’s feeding grounds, and with their feeding patterns disrupted, many have starved.