Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 09/20/2007 - 12:54
Forums
Alaska Climate Variation

hi im a 1st year student at collage and i have an assiment for collage, i need to find out what effects sunlight has on ecosystems, i was wondoring what information u could give me about sunlight in the polar ecosystem.

Fri, 10/12/2007 - 03:24

Peggy Foletta

Hi.  Good luck in your first year of college!  The amount of sunlight varies greatly throughout the year in the polar ecosystems due to the 23.5 degree tilt of the earth.  These are the extreme ecosystems!  Temperature and precipitation (or the amount of water available) are the two major factors that determine what type and how many life forms can survive in an ecosystem.  The variation in amount of sunlight at the poles is extreme, from no sunlight in winter to 24 hours of sunlight in summer!  Temperature varies with the amount of sunlight, so temperatures varies greatly during the year at the poles as well.  Consequently, organisms must adapt to these variations and are therefore quite unique in the polar regions.  In addition you have the differences between the Arctic and Antarctic land masses; the Arctic with little land and the Antarctic is a high elevation land mass and is not only the coldest continent, but the windiest of the continents.  So, while both poles have similar summer and winter light conditions, their land water ratio make them each unique.  I found a web site that might help you with your studies:  http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=12316.  Best of luck!

Wed, 02/25/2009 - 08:26

Guest

can you plese answer this question describe how sunlight supports the life of all organisms though the process of photosnthesis this quetion is about the tundra