Tundra By: Brittney Eshter, Halle Graham, and Matt Eicher.

The Tundra is a biome that is dominated by grasses, lichens, and herbs and that is located primarily north of the Arctic Circle. It encircles the north pole and extends south to the taiga. The word tundra comes from a Finnish word tunturi, which means treeless plain. the alpine tundra is located on high altitude mountain tops around the world where trees cannot grow.

Ground in the Tundra Underneath the first thin layer of soil is a layer of soil called permafrost. Permafrost is permanently frozen top soil. When the top layer thaws, the tundra becomes covered in bogs and swamps. The soil in the Tundra mostly supports tough grasses and shrubs.

Vegetation of the Tundra Covering vast areas of the tundra are mosses and lichens. They can grow without soil, which makes tundra’s rocky ground a perfect place to grow. The soil that plants grow in is very thin, so plants have wide, shallow roots to help keep them in their place against the icy winds of the tundra.

Plants grow close to the ground because it keeps them out of the wind and helps them absorb heat from the sunlit soil. Woody plants and perennials such as willow and juniper have evolved dwarf forms to grow flat and along the ground. To the left is a picture of an arctic fox laying in some willows.

Animals of the Tundra Migratory birds fly in flocks of millions to the tundra to breed in the summer. Food is abundant in the form of plants, mollusks, worms, and especially insects.

Searching for food and water, Caribou migrate throughout the tundra. Wolves roam the tundra in search of food. Caribou, deer, moose, lemmings, mice and rabbits are all in danger when the wolves start to roam. They all become the wolves prey.

The arctic fox is one of the animals that lives in the tundra year-round. Arctic foxes lose their brown fur and grow white fur that camouflages them with the winter snow.

Threats to the Tundra The tundra is one of the most fragile biomes on the planet. Food chains are relatively simple so they can become disrupted easily. Conditions are so extreme, the land is easily damaged and slow to recover.

Recently most of the tundra areas were undisturbed by humans. Oil has been located in some of the tundra and oil exploration, extraction and transport has disrupted the habitats of plants and animals in many parts of the tundra.

Pollution caused by the spills or leaks of oil and other toxic materials may also poison the food and water sources of the organisms that live in the tundra.

Arctic Tundra The Arctic Tundra is a tundra. It is located in the northern hemisphere, encircling the north pole and extends south to the taiga.

The climate of the arctic tundra ranges. During the average winter the temperature is -34* C (-30* F), but the average summer temperature is 3-12*C (37-54*F). Giving this biome the chance to sustain life. Since rainfall may vary in different regions of the arctic, precipitation, including melting snow, is 15 to 25 cm (6 to 10 inches) a year.

The growing season in the arctic tundra is very short days, and most plants reproduce by budding and division rather than sexually by flowering.

There are 1,700 kinds of plants in the arctic and subarctic, and these include: low shrubs, sedges, reindeer mosses, liverworts, and grasses. There are 400 varieties of flowers, they can carry out photosynthesis at low temperatures and low light intensities.

Alpine Tundra The Alpine Tundra is located on high altitude mountain tops around the world where trees cannot grow.

The alpine tundra is known for its below freezing temperatures at night. This area receives more precipitation than the arctic tundra. The average yearly precipitation is around 20 inches, however, most of this is in the form of snow.

This tundra can have winds up to 100 miles per hour, due to its elevation. The growing season in the alpine is around 180 days for plants. In this tundra, the sun remains in the sky for about the same amount of time throughout the year. This enables the vegetation to grow at an almost constant rate. The vegetation consists of short shrubs, grasses and rosette perennials.

Interesting Facts The tundra is known as the second most deadly environment in the world. Covers one tenth of the worlds land. You can see the northern lights in the tundra.