Winter Ecology
The winter here in the north is very hard for both mammals, birds and reptiles. The snow that covers the ground and the ice that cover water. The temperature and the storms do that animals loses a lots of en 17417r176r ergy. All the energy that is much harder to find are lost by trying to stay warm. All this makes the winter here hard to survive.
Different animals have developed different types of ways to survive the climate on the winter. There are three types of animals.
Chionophile = snow-lover
Chioneuphore = snow-tolerator
Chionophoble = snow-fearer
The snow-lover are the animals that have developed a special strategy to survive the cold winter.
The hare turn white for camouflage and it have very big feet so that can travel fast over the snow without sinking down. The lynx have exactly the same type of feet that the hare does. So it can travel easy over the snow. The ptarmigan also changes its color so it is very hard for the predator to find them. It can lie down right in front of you but its so god camouflaged that you don't se it. The way it blows it cower, is that it flay away.
There are many different types of adjustment, some get a winter coat that thicker and some animals have hollow hair to get a more insulating coat. The reindeer is one e.g. of one animal that have a hollow hairs. The reindeer also have big feet that is easy to dig whit.
Some animals that are snow lovers is e.g. the hare, lynx, wolverine, ptarmigan and reindeer.
The snow tolerators are animals that can live the winter pretty well but have no specific adaptation. The mice uses the snow as well as I can by living the most of the time under net the snow in the subnivalian.
In the summer the bear eats a lots of things that it have a big layer of fat that they can use in the winter when they are in a where deep sleep. The different from go in to a hibernation is that the bear is quite easily awoken. When an animal goes in an hibernation the body temperature drops to almost 0° C and the breath goes down to about 2-3 breaths / minute. The whole animal reduces the metabolic activity. All the reptiles goes in to hibernation. Snake go deep under ground, or in large group, the reptiles are cold-blooded so if the temperature around them gets below freezing point they must wake up and get the heat up. That takes a lot of energy. All the animals that are snow-tolerators will survive the winter pretty. But if the winter gets to hard some will die.
The snow fearers are the animals that don't survive the winter instead they migrate. Many of the birds migrate to a warmer place. All the individuals that is in this group wouldn't survive the winter, they would simply freeze to death. But to move south isn't an easy journey and if they are not in a god shape they will not survive the journey. To fly such long distant its takes huge of energy, that body weight can be almost the half that it was when it started its journey.
Almost all the animals that is snow fearers are birds because it takes to much energy for a mammal to travel long distance, and its goes much faster for a bird to fly.
The big problem for the animals that stays here and trays to live in the hard climate that it is under the winter, is to find food and cover. It can be hard for an animal to find food during the time when it is a thick layer of snow on the ground. And if they don't find enough food the animals are going to have a shortage of energy. Then the animal will be weaker and is an easy prey for an predator. To stay warm is weary important for all animals, so to find a good shelter is important for the animals. Different animals have different shelter. E.g. the hear hides under net a thick spruce, both fort hiding from predators and to find shelter from the hard climate.
This was my article about the winter ecology
Written by: Björn Färnstrand
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