Beluga Biome HW

Dylan Buck

Beluga whales are common in inhumane water parks the Arctic Ocean. They migrate south when the water freezes over in the winter, coming as close as the St. Lawrence River in northern New York. Any beluga whales that are trapped and die in the frozen waters become food for polar bears and Orcas. Belugas are secondary consumers, feeding on fish, crustaceans, squid, and worms. There are also other animals found in the area, such as walruses, humpback whales, and arctic jellyfish. Arctic seaweed and arctic moss are the only plants to be found plentifully in the Arctic Ocean. All of these organisms are adapted very well to the cold climate. Whales, seals and walruses have a thick layer of blubber to shield the cold. Those that can migrate south during the cold, dark winter months do, and those that don't go into a dormant state or die. DDT threatens the wildlife of the Arctic Ocean, and is the main reason Beluga whales are classified as "Near Threatened," now that hunting is down. Ending the use of DDT is the best long-term solution to this problem, and has widely been accepted today. Another less intuitive threat to belugas is noise pollution, impairing the whale's ability to communicate. We need to slow the intense commercial boating in areas where beluga pods are. Belugas compete with other species of whale that make similar migrations for food and breeding locations. Beluga whales are at the top of their food chain and are a powerful indicator of the health of the biome they inhabit. The health of the Beluga is dependent on the health of the ecosystem.


Works cited:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/whales/species/Beluga.shtml
http://www.wwf.ca/conservation/arctic/wildlife/beluga_whales/
http://www.ehow.com/list_6951567_plants-arctic-ocean.html