The Tundra

1
The Tundra

• By Claire Armstrong-Hann
• And Mike Marshall

2
Climate

• Summer lasts for 4-6 weeks
• 24 hour sunlight
• Milder climate
• Winter lasts for 10 months
• Extreme cold and very windy
• Land of the Midnight Sun
• Desert-like precipitation 6-10in. (including
  snow)
• Wind blows anywhere from 30-60 mph

3
Animals

• Not much biodiversity
• Only about 48 species
• Mostly rodents and insects
• Caribou, wolfs, and polar bears are some of the
  larger mammals

4
Landscape and Plants

• Mosses, sedges, and lichens are common
• Few trees grow in the tundra
• Ice permanently frozen 10in. to 3ft
• In summer, top layer the permafrosts melt and
  form marshes and lakes
• No soil development
• One of the three major carbon dioxide sinks
• Takes in more carbon dioxide then it releases

5
Alpine Tundra

• Located at high altitudes on mountains where
  trees cannot grow.
• Soil is well drained.
• Animals are adapted from lower altitudes

6
Location

• Latitudes 55 to 70 North
• Surrounds the North pole
• Almost all are located in northern hemisphere

http//www.blueplanetbiomes.org/tundra.htm
7
Human Impacts

• Pollution in air, lakes, and rivers from mining
  and drilling for oil
• Footprints and tire tracks leave marks and form
  gullies (lakes formed from WWII)
• People moving to tundra to work in mines and oil
  rigs have disturbed animal feeding grounds,
  feeding patterns and migration paths

8
Endangered Species Polar Bears

• At one time only 5,000 polar bears
• In the past people hunted them for fur
• Chemicals are polluting their food stock
• Ice packs melt sooner in the spring, cutting time
  to hunt seals
• Major cause of death now
• is starvation because of
• people moving into their
• feeding grounds

http//www.blueplanetbiomes.org/polar_bear.htm
9
Interesting Facts

• The worlds youngest biome. 10,000 years old
• The word tundra comes from finnish word
  tunturia barren land

10
Sources

• http//www.blueplanetbiomes.org/tundra.htm
• http//www.blueplanetbiomes.org/polar_bear.htm
• http//www.runet.edu/swoodwar/CLASSES/GEOG235/bio
  mes/tundra/tundra.html