FACTS ABOUT TUNDRA BIOME

SUBMITTED BY:

JUSTIN ADRIAN F. DUQUE

AND

PAOLO CAÑALITA

Tundra is the coldest of all the biomes

It comes from the word tunturia, a Finninsh word which means treeless plain

Noted for frost-molded landscapes

CHARACTERISTICS

CHARACTERISTICS OF TUNDRAExtremely cold climate

Low biotic diversity

Simple vegetation structure

Limitation of drainage

Short season of growth and reproduction

Energy and nutrients in the form of dead organic material

Large population oscillations

ALPINE TUNDRA

Alpine Tundra

Found on tops of tall, cold mountains

No trees grow on this biome

Soil is well drained

Nighttime temperature is below freezing point

PLANTS IN ALPINE TUNDRATussock grasses

Dwarf Trees

Small-leafed shrubs

Heaths

ANIMALS IN ALPINE TUNDRAMammals

– pikes, marmots, mountain goats, sheep elk

Grouselike birds

Insects – Springtails, beetles, grasshoppers, butterflies

ARCTIC TUNDRA

Arctic Tundra

Found in the Northern Hemisphere encircling the north pole

Soil is frozen. Permafrost or permanent ice.

Water is unavailable most of the year.

Annual precipitation is very low, less than 10 inches or 25 centimeters

PLANTS in ARCTIC and SUB-ARCTIC Low shrubs, ridges, reindeer mosses, liverworts, and grass

400 varieties of flower

Crustose and folioce lichen

ANIMALS IN ARCTIC Musk Ox, Arctic Wolf, Brown Bear

Factors that Destroy the Tundra

Carbon dioxides in the atmosphere are poison.

Carbon dioxide is given off by plants that die and decompose.

The tundra is a carbon dioxide sink.

The tundra traps carbon dioxide because the frost prevents plants from dying.

Global warming melts the tundra, which melts the layers of frost, and returns huge amounts of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

Preventing Destruction of the Tundra

Leave the tundra undisturbed. Miners and oil drillers who move into the tundra kill the animals and disrupt the ecosystem. They use pesticides to kill the hordes of insects. Migrating birds feed on these insects and die because of the pesticide inside the insects.

The miners and drillers have polluted the tundra lakes and rivers, which caused the death of plants in the surrounding area.

From the Philippines, we can help save the tundra by not contributing to global warming. Global warming heats up the atmosphere, which reaches the tundra and melts it.