Range Shifts

Snowy owls inhabit a large portion of the globe. However, these portions are mainly restricted to the northern hemisphere, and even more specifically, arctic climates. Occasionally, snowy owl populations will shift during times of high environmental stress; whether that is large shifts in temperature, or increased scarcity of prey varies from year to year, but a trend is beginning to emerge.

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/snowy-owl/


Large scale migrations of the snowy owl have been witnessed all over the world. Sightings of snowy owls have even ranged as far south as northern California which is extremely peculiar. Factors such as, "Lack of food or prey population declines are believed to be a major contributing reason" (Holt and Zetterberg 150). As lemmings are the main food source for snowy owls, with individuals consuming up to 1,600 lemmings a year (National Geographic), one must examine this relationship closer to see the true motives for range shifts

2 comments:

  1. UnknownNovember 12, 2012 at 4:38 PM

    I love how you gave a good foundation on snowy owl and its prey & how climate change affects them. It was well explained in detail. The only thing I think you should review is clarity. Some of your statements were not really clear in each tabs; In this tab for example, on the 2nd to 3rd sentence, a correct version would be "...high environmental stress; it could be large shifts in temperature or increased scarcity of prey varying from year to year, but a trend is beginning to emerge". Overall, you have done a Good Job!!

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  2. UnknownNovember 13, 2012 at 3:54 PM

    I agree so much with Kehinde. Great job Will. I really like that you continuously address the link between the prey and predator. I can see where your direction is and can already tell what your next page is going to be about.

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