The Arctic Tundra

The Arctic Tundra is one of the coldest of all the biomes. The word Tundra comes from a Finnish word "tunturia", which means treeless plains. The Arctic Tundra is mentioned for its frost-moulded landscapes, extremely low temperatures, little precipitation, poor nutrients, and short growing seasons. Dead organic materials function as a food source in this cold climate. The two major nutrients in the Arctic Tundra are nitrogen and phosphorus. Nitrogen is created by biological fixation, and phosphorus is created by precipitation. The Tundra is seperated into two types: arctic tundra and alpine tundra.

• It has an extremely cold climate
• It has low biotic diversity
• It has a simple vegetation structure
• It has limitation of drainage
• It has a short season of growth and reproduction
• The energy and nutrients are in the form of dead organic material
• It has large population oscillations (movement back and forth at a regular speed)

The Arctic Tundra, is in the far northern hemisphere, it has a latitude and longitude of 71.2 degrees N and 156 degrees W. The Arctic Tundra encircling the North Pole and extending south across parts of Alaska, Canada, Russia, Greenland, Iceland, and Scandinavia, to the coniferous forests of the taiga.

The Arctic Tundra is known for its cold, desert-like conditions. The growing seasons range from 50 to 60 days. The average winter temperature is -34 degrees Celsius (-30 degrees Fahrenheit), but the average summer temperature is 3 to 12 degrees Celsius (37 to 54 degrees Fahrenheit) which enables this biome to sustain life. Yearly precipitation, including melting snow , is 15 to 20 cm (6 to 10 inches). In the Arctic Tundra there is a layer of permanently frozen subsoil called permafrost exists, consisting mostly of gravel and finer material.

Not a lot of plants grow in the Tundra but this is how the ones that survive grow, when water saturates the upper surface, bogs and ponds may form, providing moisture for plants. There are no deep root systems among the vegatation of the Arctic Tundra; however, there are still a wide variety of plants that are able to resist the cold climate. Thre are about 1700 different kinds of plants in the Arctic Tundra and the Subarctic, these include:

• Low shrubs, sedges, reindeer mosses, liverworts, and grasses
• 400 varietes of flowers
• Crustose and foliose lichen
• All of the plants are adapted to sweeping winds and disturbances in the soil. Plants are short and group together to resist the cold temperatures and are protected from snow during the winter. They can carry out photosynthesis at low temperatures and low light intensites , the growing seasons are short and most of the plants reproduce by budding and division rather than sexually by flowering. This wildlife is also diverse in the Tundra:
• Reindeer
• Polar Bear
• Arctic Fox
• Musk Ox
• Lemming
• Arctic Hare
• Snowy Owl
• Ptarmigan
• Arctic Wolf
• Stoat
• Snow Goose
• Arctic Ground Squirrel
• Marmot
• Rock Ptarmigan
• Snow Bunting
• Ringed Seal
• Gyrfalcon
• Arctic Tern
• Pika
• Caribou

There have been a total of 48 documented species of animal living in the Tundra biome.

Animals are adapted to handle long, cold winters and to breed and raise young quickly in the summer. Animals such as mammals and birds also have additional insulation from fat. Many animals hibernate in the winter because food is not abundant. Another alternitave is to migrate south in the winter, like birds do. Reptiles and amphibians are few or absent because of the extremely cold temperatures, because of constant immigration and emigration, the population oscillates (moves back and forth at a regular speed).

There are several invasive species in the Arctic Tundra like:

• Japenese Knotweed
• Snowy Owl
• Arctic Tern
• Eriophorum
• Gyrfalcon
• Mosquito
• Reindeer
• Arctic Hare
• Salmon
• Cotton Grass
• Caribou

Possible species invasion warning: This includes well-known invaders such as the European green crab (carcinus maenus), the Japanese ghost shrimp (caprella mutica), and the club sea-squirt (styela clava).

1. ucmp.berkley.edu
2. https://untamedscience.com
3. https://scienceing.com
4. https://nhpbs.org
5. kids.nceas.ucsb.edu
6. https://www.bioexpedition.com
7. https://peabody.yale.edu
8. https://theecologist.org