Tundra

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Tundra
A. Schetinnikova
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About the Tundra
Temperature Average Yearly
Temperature16 F Average Winter Temperature
-10 F Summer Temperatures 35-55
F Precipitation Annual
precipitation, including melting snow, is 18
inches Solar Insolation Tundra does not
have traditional seasons, only a lengthy winter
and a brief mild season. Limiting Factors
Plant growth is hampered by the layer of
permafrost, or permanently frozen subsoil.
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Species Diversity

• About 1700 types of plants in the arctic tundra
• Vegetation Grasses, mosses, lichens, sedges,
  shrubs, trees include birches and willows
• Mammals Caribou, arctic foxes and hares, polar
  bears, lemmings, porcupines, mountain goats and
  elk in the alpine tundra
• Birds Snowy owls, falcons, snow geese, tundra
  swans, ptarmigans, ravens

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Food Chain of the Tundra
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Unique Facts about the Tundra

• There are two types of tundra arctic tundra and
  alpine tundra
• Arctic tundra is more common and is located from
  the north pole to the forests of the taiga
• Alpine tundra is located in high elevations
• Throughout the winter, the tundra gets only a few
  hours of sunlight. In the summer, the tundra can
  get up to an entire day of sun.

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The Tundra

• By T. Cohen

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Tundra Biome Information

• Temperature -40C to 18C
• Precipitation 150 to 250 mm of rain per year
• Solar Insulation
• Winters long, dark, and cold
• Mean temperatures below 0C for 6 to 10 months of
  the year
• Summers Short season, Long days
• Top layer of soil thaws a few inches down
• Provides a growing surface for the roots of
  vegetation
• Rain and fog water gathers in bogs and ponds
• Limiting Factors low temperatures, the little
  water is frozen, permafrost affects vegetation,
  animal enzymes cannot function in cold

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Tundra Species Diversity

• Vegetation
• Permafrost prevents drainage of excess moisture
• Growing season is short and can last up to 60
  days
• Low diversity Few plants could survive extreme
  temperatures, lack of water, and low soil
• lichens, mosses, sedges, perennial forbs, and
  dwarfed shrubs, heaths, birches and willows
• Trees that do manage to grow stay close to the
  ground
• Insulated by snow during the cold winters

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Tundra Species Diversity

• Animal Life lower diversity due to extreme
  conditions
• Result Residents adapt to environment
• Morphological adaptations
• large, compact bodies
• thick Insulating cover of feathers or fur
• pelage and plumage that turns white in winter,
  brown in summer
• Physiological adaptations
• ability to accumulate thick deposits of fat
  during the short growing season
• Fat acts as insulation store of energy for use
  during the winter, when animal species remain
  active.
• Population adaptations
• cyclical fluctuations in population size
• Predator populations and plant populations
  respond in kind to the peaks and crashes of the
  herbivore populations.

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Food Chain
Tundra food chains are short and highly
susceptible to changes

• Polar Bear

Woodland Caribou
Reindeer Lichen
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Interesting facts

• Permafrost
• temperatures are so cold that there is a layer of
  permanently frozen ground below the surface (6
  in.)
• The Precipitation levels - 150 to 250 mm of
  rain/yr
• Includes melted snow
• Less than most deserts
• Still usually wet though the low temperatures
  cause evaporation of water to be slow
• Snowfall is actually advantageous to plant and
  animal life as it provides an insulating layer on
  the ground surface