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> Is There Enough Food?, Is there enough food for the snow geese
Andrea
post Sep 14 2005, 07:13 PM
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Would there be an increse in the population of snow geese if there was an increase in global warming? Wouldn't there be more plants for them to eat? How can you protects there habitat from other animals?
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Leslie_Pierce
post Sep 23 2005, 06:24 PM
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Hi Andrea,

Great questions!

Well, the numbers of snow geese on the North Slope have been increasing in the last decade or so. This population increase may be due to the increase in temperatures that have already occured - between 3 and 4 degrees Celsius in the Arctic!

I'm not exactly sure what would happen if it got even warmer here. Increasing the temperature would probably cause the plants to increase their growth which would proabably be good for the snow geese, but it could also cause a change in the plant species. The snow geese may not be able to forage on new species of plants that may come into the area or different species that do better in warmer temperatures.

Another factor in the global warming issue is the rise in the level of the ocean. Right now, the snow geese graze on the salt marsh area adjacent to the mudflats on the delta. A rise in the ocean level may flood this habitat pushing the snow geese farther inland.

So, far the snow goose habitat does not seem to be threatened by other species. There is lots of forage on the Ikpikpuk delta and other river deltas on the North Slope.

Time will tell!

Ms Pierce
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