5 Nature

5.0 Introduction and materials

Unit 5 'Nature' will enable students to understand and appreciate the special environmental qualities and major components of the Antarctic ecosystem.

5.1 Southern Ocean food web

Draw a food web for the Southern Ocean and see how animals depend on each other for food.

5.2 Krill

Many animals in the Southern Ocean ecosystem depend on krill.

5.3 Penguins

The harsh Antarctic environment has produced some very interesting adaptations and behaviour in penguins. Discover how these give the penguin an advantage.

5.4 Seals

Sub-Antarctic and Antarctic seals have adapted to their habitat, allowing them to hold their breath and swim under water for much longer periods than we can.

5.5 Whales

Whales belong to a wonderfully diverse group of the most aquatically specialised of the world's mammals called Cetaceans. Should a similar law to that protecting seals protect whales? Why is there no such law?

5.6 Southern Ocean sea birds

Sub-Antarctic islands play a vital role in the life cycle of Southern Ocean birds. Many man-made pressures have caused the decline in albatross numbers and much is being done to reverse this.

5.7 Wandering albatross

Imagine that you are a wandering albatross, the largest flying bird in the world. You cover vast tracts of the Southern Ocean, flying up to 15,000 kilometres on a single foraging trip.

5.8 Counting Antarctic animals

In order to assess and predict the possible effects of environmental change and human impacts on Antarctic wildlife, it is important to have reliable data on the distribution and abundance of the key species in this ecosystem before changes occur.

5.9 Adaptation of wildlife

Where animals live, how they breed and what they feed on are, in part, determined by the environments in which they live.

5.10 Diseases in Antarctic wildlife

Many factors influence the introduction and spread of diseases in birds and seals in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic.

5.11 Introduced species

The ecological balance of Macquarie Island has gone through several changes. The native fauna and flora have been affected by the introduction of several animal species and some plant species, leading to the extermination of some of the native species.