For this homework assignment, you will select and read a scientific journal research article that describes the impact of global climate change on an organism or group of organisms. You must select an article from the list below. Once you have read the article, please answer all of the questions that follow. Do not use more than 1 side of one page for your entire response (all 4 questions) and the response must be single-spaced, 12 point font, 1 inch margins. Responses must be submitted through TurnItIn.com and as hard copy to your instructors. Please note that this is an individual assignment and your responses to questions should be your own. This assigment is due at the start of your next lab period and is worth 10 points.
Chose one research article from the list below and find the article through the UCF library website (this GEP website is public domain so direct links to materials that UCF purchases cannot be included here). If you are unsure how to get to these links, please follow the guidelines on the right side of the student course materials page of this web site, ask your teaching assistant, or ask a librarian.
Articles are listed by taxa:
Birds
Breeding distributions of North American bird species moving north as a result of climate change. 2007. Conservation Biology 21:534-539.
Climate change and fitness components of a migratory bird breeding in the Mediterranean region. 2003. Global Climate Change 9:461-472.
Interactions of climate change with biological invasions and land use in the Hawaiian Islands: modeling the fate of endemic birds using a geographic information system. 2002. PNAS 99:14246-14249.
Corals
Effect of temperature on bleaching of the coral Oculina patagonica by Vibrio AK-1. 1998. Marine Ecology Progress Series 171:131-137
Fishes
Potential effects of global climate change on small north-temperate lakes: physics, fish and plankton. 1996. Limnology and Oceanography 41:1136-1149.
Effect of temperature changes on the reproductive cycle of roach in Lake Geneva from 1983 to 2001. 2006. Journal of Fish Biology 69:518-534.
Effects of climate warming on fish thermal habitat in streams of the United States. 1996. Limnology and Oceanography 41:1109-1115.
Plants
Earlier plant flowering in spring as a response to global warming in the Washington, DC, area. 2001. Biodiversity and Conservation 10:597-612.
Using population viability analysis to predict the effects of climate change on the extinction risk of an endangered limestone endemic shrub, Arizona cliffrose. 2006. Conservation Biology 20:218-228.
Phenological responses in maple to experimental atmospheric warming and CO2 enrichment. 2003. Global Change Biology 9:1792-1801.
Global warming and soil microclimate: results from a meadow-warming experiment. 1995. Ecological Applications 5:132-150.
Mammals
The impact of climate change on mammal diversity in Canada. 1998. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 49:263-270.
The impact of increased environmental stochasticity due to climate change on the dynamics of Asiatic wild ass. 2006. Conservation Biology 20:1402-1409.
Landward and eastward shift of Alaskan polar bear denning assocaited with recent sea ice changes. 2007. Polar Biology 30:1395-1405.
Climate change and ringed seal (Phoca hispida) recruitment in western Hudson Bay. 2005. Marine Mammal Science 21:121-135.
Implications of warm temperatures and an unusual rain event for the survival of ringed seals on the coast of southeastern Baffin Island. 2004. Arctic: 57:59-67.
Spiders and Insects
Influence of climate changes on animal communities in space and time: the case of spider assemblages along an alpine glacier foreland. 2006. Global Change Biology 12:1985-1992.
Uphill shifts in distribution of butterflies in the Czech Republic: effects of changing climate detected on a regional scale. 2003. Global Ecology and Biogeography 12:403-410.
Impact of climate change on the northern latitude limit and population density of the disease-transmitting European tick Ixodes ricinus. 2000. Environmental Health Perspectives 108:119-123.
Individually, please answer the following questions for the journal article you read. Combined, your responses are worth 10 points. The point value for each question is listed after each question.
1) Provide a one paragraph summary of your research article (3 points).
2) How did the scientists measure/monitor/determine global climate change in your article (2 points)?
3) Did the scientists document a significant negative effect of global climate change on their study organisms in your article (2 points)?
4) If you had unlimited resources (money, time and equipment), what woud you do next to continue this project (3 points)?
Please remember to submit your 1 page response via turnitin.com and to your laboratory instructor by the start of your next laboratory period. Please also remember that the Golden Rule applies to this assignment. It must be your own response. Penalties for cheating are listed in the lab syllabus.
