The Bear Necessity

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Great Bear Rainforest

Absolute and relative location

Size

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Great Bear Rainforest: the last and largest tract of intact coastal temperate rainforest on Earth and is the home to the iconic spirit bear.

 

Absolute location: 53°N, 128°W.

Relative location: located on the Pacific Coast of British Colombia, Canada and extends from the BC-Alaska boundary in the north to the Discovery Islands in the south

Size: covers 6.4 million hectares, 64,000 km2

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Biomes

Ecosystem

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Biomes: a major terrestrial vegetation community with specific flora and fauna

 

Ecosystem: a community of interacting plants and animals and their physical surroundings

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Climate

Climate change

Greenhouse effect

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Climate: the long-term pattern of weather in a particular area

 

Climate change: a long-term change in regional or global climate patterns

 

Greenhouse effect: the atmospheric processes that maintain an average surface temperature of 15℃

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Biophysical processes

Environment

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Biophysical processes: interconnected sequences that form and transform natural environments in a cause and effect relationship

 

Environment: the living and non-living elements of the Earth's surface and atmosphere. Where unqualified, it includes human changes to the Earth's surface e.g croplands

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Biodiversity

Bioaccumulation

Desertification

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Biodiversity: the variety of living organism and the environments they form

 

Bioaccumulation: the accumulation of substances such as pesticides in an organism (this is when the rate of absorption exceeds the rate of elimination)

 

Desertification: the expansion of deserts due to overgrazing, soil erosion, climate change or prolonged drought

 

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Why is the natural environment important to humans?

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• Provides essential resources: food, water, shelter, energy, and medicine

• Supports recreation, hobbies, and cultural traditions

• Improves air quality through photosynthesis

• Regulates climate and filters water

• Enhances mental health and wellbeing

• Cycles nutrients and maintains ecosystem balance

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What are the four functions of environments?

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Source: an environments ability to supply the food and materials which we depend on

 

Sink: an environments ability to break down, recycle or absorb wastes

 

Service: an environments ability to perform environmental service functions

 

Spiritual: an environments ability to fulfill cultural and recreational purposes to people and the ways in which it enriches aesthetic experience

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Explain the food chain/web in the Great Bear Rainforest

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• Salmon are the foundation of the Great Bear Rainforest ecosystem

• Their 2–7 year life cycle ends in spawning and death, releasing nutrients that boost forest growth

• Bears rely on salmon to build fat for hibernation and reproduction; spirit bears eat coastal foods in off-season

• Coastal wolves eat salmon brains and marine carcasses; they’re a unique subspecies

• Otters feed in intertidal zones on mussels, crabs, and fish

• Ravens and eagles scavenge salmon remains opened by bears

• Whales consume thousands of fish using bubble-net feeding

• Salmon nourish both animals and vegetation, making them essential to the rainforest’s survival

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What are the main challenges to sustainability?

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Population growth, energy use, pollution, land degradation, urbanisation, exploited oceans

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How was the GBRF created?

GBRF agreement - the 2016 GBRF Land Use Order and GBRF (Forest management) Act

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In 2006, coastal First Nations teamed up with the BC government, environmental groups and forest companies to create the GBRF Agreements - formalised in 2016.

an agreement that aims for high resource management that will conserve 85% of the forest