THE TUNDRA BIOME

It is the coldest of all the biomes.Comes from the Finnish word tunturia,

meaning treeless plain.   It is noted for its frost-molded landscapes,

extremely low temperatures, little precipitation, poor nutrients, and short growing seasons. 

Tundra

•Trees do not grow there.•Winters are very cold.•Summers last for a very short time.

Extremely cold climateLow biotic diversitySimple vegetation structureLimitation of drainageShort season of growth and reproductionEnergy and nutrients in the form of dead

organic materialLarge population oscillations

Characteristics of Tundra..

Climate type that impact life in this biome include extremely short growing season (6 to 10 weeks) long, cold, dark winters (6 to 10 months with mean monthly temperatures below 32° F or 0° C.) low precipitation (less than five inches/year) coupled with strong, drying winds.

Snowfall is actually advantageous to plant and animal life as it provides an insulating layer on the ground surface.

Climate..

It has been called "the land of the midnight sun". But even the sun can't warm the tundra much. The short summer lasts only 6 to 10 weeks. It never gets any warmer than 45 or 50° F.

The warmer weather causes a layer of permafrost, ice that never goes away in

the ground, to melt, creating bogs and shallow lakes that don't drain.

They breed stinging insects, which make life even in the summer miserable for the inhabitants of the tundra. The wind blows constantly, whipping around the small plants.

During the long winter months the sun barely rises and it is dark for most of the day. Bitter cold winds scud across the barren snow scape, exposing high plateaus to barren ground.

The tundra climate spans from most of Greenland to parts of Alaska, northern Canada, and

northern Russia.

Tundra climates can be found on the coastal areas of the arctic. The ocean water keeps the climate from falling to the extreme temperatures found in the interior of the continents.

 

Tundra in Greenland

Alpine Tundra Arctic Tundra

Two types of Tundra..

Alpine Tundra

It is found on mountain tops all over the world, at the high altitudes (commonly at 10,000 feet or more) where trees cannot grow.The growing season is approximately 180 days. Night temperatures are below freezing. The soil in the alpine tundra is well drained so

bogs and ponds do not form. The plants are similar to those in the arctic tundra and include tussock grasses, dwarf trees and small-leafed shrubs.

Alpine biome lies just below the snow line of a mountain.

Alpine Tundra..

In the summer average temperatures range from 10 to 15° C . In the winter the temperatures are below freezing. The winter season can last from October to May. The summer season may last from June to September.

Plants must adapt to heavy snow and wind in an alpine biome. Plants grow in sandy and rocky soil. Most plants protect themselves by hugging the ground. They are small and grow slowly. There are only about 200 kinds of alpine plants.

Copper Mountain at Colorado

Alpine animals have to deal with two types of problems: the cold and too much high UV wavelengths.

Alpine animals adapt to the cold by hibernating, migrating to lower, warmer areas, or insulating their bodies with layers of fat.

Animals will also tend to have shorter legs, tails, and ears, in order to reduce heat loss

Animal Adaptations..

There are many animals that live in the tundra. Some of these animals include caribou, ermine, water birds, mosquitoes, polar bears, arctic fox, white wolves, grizzly bears, gray falcons, bald eagles, bumble bees, squirrels, Norway lemmings, shrew, and voles. Ptarmigan, ravens, snowy owls, arctichares, pikas, and pocket gophers are also found in this vast biome.

Birds migrate from the tundra during the colder months.

During winter you may not see a lot of animals there.

One of the animals found in the tundra is a pika. A pika is a hamster type animal. It is 20cm long and is a cute, little, brown, fuzzy tan animal.

The pika eats grass and herbs, therefore it is a herbivore.

Many carnivores feed upon the pika. It survives by living in holes in the ground and storing grass, flowers, and herbs. This animal can

also be found in grassland biome. It is mostly found in the tundras in North America.

Pika

Alpine animals also have larger lungs,

more blood cells and hemoglobin because

of the increase of pressure and lack of

oxygen at higher altitudes. This is also true for people who

have lived on mountains for a long time, like the Indians

of the Andes Mountains in South

America and the Sherpas of the

Himalayas in Asia.

Llamas

Mountain goats

Migratory species such as waterfowl, shorebirds and caribou adapt to the tundra by avoiding the most severe conditions of winter. Each year at the end of the short growing season they move southward into the boreal forest or beyond, but return to the tundra to breed.

Dark colors on alpine plants absorb more heat:Anthocyanins: pigments that create red or blue - they

convert light into heat.Plants are often slow growing. This makes them vulnerable

to human impacts.Most plants are long-lived perennial plants. They don't

grow stems, leaves, flowers and fruite each season.Plants are matted against the earth, this keeps them away

from the harmfull wind.Some plants have hairs, which allow them to trap heat

and diffuse the harmfull solar radiation.Some plants are succulents, storing water in their leaves

(waxy leaves that prevent dessication).

Plant Adaptation..

The animals in the tundra eat these plants to survive and gain energy to stay warm. The plants adapt by growing short and close to the ground to avoid high winds. Hairy stems also keep plants warm in the tundra.

The Tundra has a lot of plant life within this biome:• Bearberry• Arctic moss • Caribou moss• Diamond leaf willow,

• Labrador Tea, • Pasque Flower• Tufted Saxifrage.

This plant survives in this biome by staying close to the ground to avoid high winds. Hairy stems to help keep safe from the extreme temperatures Owls and birds in the tundra eat the berries on the plant. The bearberry isn't found in any other biome. The bearberry is the most common plant in the tundra.

Bearberry

Labrador Tea

The Labrador Tea has a bunch of red leaves that use chlorophyll and the sun to create heat and nourishment. This plant also has a hairy stem to keep warm. No animal eats the Labrador Tea. The Labrador Tea is in the middle of the bearberry and the Diamond leaf willow in population.

Diamond leaf willow has green leaves and small round twigs that are soft, slender and bend easily.

Just like the rest of the plants it has a hairy stem and stays close to the ground to keep as warm as possible.

Animals and people eat this willow because it has a lot of vitamin C, vitamin A, and Calcium.

It is not as abundant as the other plants because so many people and animals eat it.

Diamond Leaf

LichenLichen is an alga and fungi living as a combined organism, sharing the very few nutrients it may come across so this is very much a mutualistic relationship between the two organisms and is a perfect example of a symbiotic relations going on in the Alps. Although lichens are plants, they are one of the few with no root or vascular system (the transport of water and nutrients from one part of the plant to another).

Dwarfed Shrubs

Dwarfed shrubs also tend to grow very slowly as other plants here often do because the alpine conditions are not very accommodating for plant life to grow , as the soils give minimal nutrients and/or water to draw upon.

Heaths

Growing short and unnaturally low to the ground (one of the adaptations the plant has had to make). Heaths thrive in acidic soil. The heath's leaves are long and which allows the continuation of the photosynthesis process even in colder months in the alpine tundra. Heath plants are able to withstand the strongest of winds due to being close to the ground and having a very strong root system, which is brutal enough to uproot smaller plants.

A perennial plant is a plant that lives more than 2 years, or a winter hardy plant. In the picture you see is what you will see in the very limited sunny or growing period in the Alps. This will only last no more than 1 and a ½ months in the tundra.

Most of these plants a dwarfed due to being there for thousands of years and have had to adapt to the powerful winds and lack of water for growing

Perrenial Grasses/Plants

Arctic Tundra

Arctic tundra is found across northern Alaska, Canada, and Siberia.

Has long cold winters and short cool summers. Has low precipitation (less than 10 inches per

year) and dry winds. (desert-like climate)Has a permafrost ground that

is permanently frozen.

WHERE IT IS FOUND?

During the summer Arctic tundra is characterized by lots of surface water.

The growing season ranges from 50 to 60 days.

Winter temperatures average -34° C , but the summer temperatures average 3-12° C, which is warm enough for plants and animals to reproduce and grow.

Rainfall varies around the Arctic, but on average yearly rain and snow is 15 cm to 25 cm.

- a metre under the top layer of soil there is ground that is permanently frozen.

- In the Arctic tundra, warmth and sunlight are in short supply, even in the summer. The ground is frequently covered with snow until June, and the Sun is always low in the sky.

- Plants also have adapted to the Arctic tundra by developing the ability to grow under a layer of snow, to carry out photosynthesis in extremely cold temperatures, and for flowering plants, to produce flowers quickly once summer begins.

Permafrost

Plants in the tundra are low-growing, and include:low shrubs, sedges, mosses, liverworts, and grasses;400 varieties of flowers;lichens.

Plants group together to withstand the strong winds and cold temperatures. They are protected by the winter snows. They have adapted so that photosynthesis (getting food from sunlight) can occur in the low light and cold temperatures. 

Most of the plants are small, grow close together and close to the ground. This protects them from the cold temperatures and the strong winds.

Some flowering plants have fuzzy coverings on the stems, leaves and buds to provide protection from the wind. Some have woolly seed covers.

How are plants able to grow in the Arctic? There are ways that plants have adapted.

Purple saxifrage

Anemone patens

Flowering plants use the long hours of sunlight to produce flowers quickly in the short growing season.Some plants have cup-shaped flowers that face up to the sun, so the sun's rays are directed towards the centre of the flower. Only the top layer of soil thaws out so plants have shallow

roots. Small leaves help the plants retain moisture others are dark

coloured so the plants can absorb more solar heat.Because of the short growing season, most tundra

plants are perennials. Perennials do not die in the winter.

Arctic poppy

Hibernation and Migration – behavioral adaptation in Arctic tundra.

During the summer, the brown bear's behavior is to eat just about anything it can find; then it hibernates, or sleeps, during the winter. (The bear's physical adaptation allows the food eaten during the summer to be stored as a layer of fat underneath its skin. The layer of fat insulates the bear from the cold. While in hibernation the fat is slowly converted into energy that maintains life.)

Animal adaptations..

Herbivorous (plant eating) mammals such as; lemmings, voles, caribou, arctic hares and

squirrels Carnivorous (meat eating) mammals such as; arctic foxes, wolves, and polar bears Migratory birds such as; ravens, falcons, loons, ravens, sandpipers, terns

and snow birdsInsects such as; mosquitoes, flies, moths, grasshoppers,

blackflies and arctic bumble bees 

Animals found in the Arctic include: 

Animals in the tundra have adapted to survive the long cold winters. They have an extra layer of fat to keep them warm, and in winter their fur is longer and thicker. Many hibernate during the winter when food is hard to find. Others migrate to warmer places to avoid the tundra winter. This means that animal populations in the tundra fluctuate with the seasons. Animals breed and raise their young in the short summer. There are few reptiles and amphibians in the tundra because of the cold 

Musk ox

Common animals in Arctic Tundra..

Arctic fox Owl Arctic hare

Beluga whale Tundra swan

Red foxCanada lynx