Investigative Study 2 - Tundra

In this investigative study you need to compare environmental change in Australia with at least one other country. Throughout the activities you will compare change to arctic and sub-arctic tundra environments in Australia with change in Canada.

Tundra environments are basically cold deserts. The three types of tundra are: Arctic tundra, Antarctic tundra and Alpine tundra. 

Features of tundra:

• tree growth hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons
• dominant vegetation is grasses, mosses and lichens
• the ecotone between tundra and the forest is known as the tree-line of timberline.
• biodiversity of tundra is low
• Summers are short and moisture is scarce. ​

Syllabus:
​
Investigative study​
Select ONE type of environment in Australia as the context for a comparative study with at least ONE other country.
Students:

• investigate the biophysical processes essential to the functioning of the selected environment
  • explanation of how the biophysical processes operating in the environment maintain its functioning 
• investigate the causes, extent and consequences of the environmental change  (ACHGK073)
  • examination of the causes and extent of change to the environment in each country  
  • analysis of the short and long-term consequences of the environmental change in each country 

• investigate the management of the environmental change, for example:  (ACHGK074, ACHGK075) 
  • discussion of the factors influencing the management responses in each country eg worldviews, competing demands, technology, climate change 
  • comparison and evaluation of the effectiveness of the management responses in achieving environmental sustainability 
  • proposal of how individuals could contribute to achieving environmental sustainability for the environment in each country ​