Greenland's Delicate Ecosystem

Greenland is the single largest island in the world that isn't counted as a continent and it is located entirely within the Arctic region. It borders the Atlantic Ocean, the Arctic Ocean, the Greenland Sea, and Baffin Bay. Therefore the ecosystem of Greenland is fairly unique.

Though most of the island is covered with ice, there exists abundant plant and animal life in the remaining sections. The island is home to mosses and bushes, lichen, wolves, reindeer, and more. The surrounding water is filled with algae, small crustaceans, seals, walruses, and whales. To support these kinds of life, a delicate balance is needed and so this ecosystem is extremely sensitive to human actions and climate changes.

The plant life in Greenland can only grow in specific places on the island and during very specific seasons. Due to the island's proximity to the North Pole, it is possible for the entire land mass to be covered in darkness for days at a time. Ice will fully cover the land in other seasons, eliminating the already limited available space for the vegetation. The climate also greatly affects the available plant life. Since many of the island's animal species are herbivores the amount of available vegetation affects their survival in turn.

Polar bears can be found on Greenland, often farther north than other native animals. They depend not on plants for food but instead find sustenance in the ocean, often eating seals, fish, and seabirds. They spend their time on the sea ice and so are particularly sensitive to increases in temperature which can affect the thickness and strength of the ice. The seals that the polar bears hunt are affected by the changes in ice in much the same way.

The circulation of the oceans and atmosphere cause the pollutants of Europe, North America, and Asia to easily reach Greenland and the rest of the Arctic. This coupled with the fragility of the ecosystem means that humans have a very large impact on well the plant and animal life is doing in Greenland, despite humans inhabiting little of the island. Some of the kinds of pollutants that can travel this way include pesticides, herbicides, and heavy metals. Whaling and fishing practices in the past wiped out a large percentage of the marine life in the Arctic. Many animal species that exist on the island are found in few other places on earth, several of them now endangered or threatened.

Sources:

http://www.allthingsarctic.com/environment/end_species.aspx

http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/earth/polar/arctic_marine_life.html&edu=high

http://www.columbia.edu/~pjs2002/arctic/pages/ecosystem.html