The Tundra BiomeSonja Ohm

Kevin Jachymowski

General Description - Location

Located on in the Northern Hemisphere

Covers about 1/5 of the Earths land surface

Arctic Tundra is a place of barren land, that sometimes is grassland

The sun barely shines in the winter and almost never sets in the Summer because of the Earth’s Tilt

General Description Temperature

Temperature is always cold – Never reaches above 25 degrees Celsius

Summer only lasts for 6-10 weeks, with a growing season of 50 days

Avg Yearly Temp is 10-20 Degrees F

Avg. Temps for Fairbanks, AK and Nuuk, Greenland

Janu

ary

Febu

ary

March

April

MayJu

neJu

ly

Augus

t

Sept

embe

r

Octob

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Novem

ber

Decem

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-25

-20

-15

-10

-5

0

5

10

15

20

Temperature

FairbanksNuuk

Month

Tem

pera

ture

(C

)

General Description - Rainfall

Not much rainfall at all, around 6-10 inches per year

Most Rainfall occurs in late summer

Janu

ary

Febu

ary

March

April

MayJu

neJu

ly

Augus

t

Sept

embe

r

Octob

er

Novem

ber

Decem

ber

0

20

40

60

80

Rainfall

FairbanksNuuk

Month

Rain

fall (

mm

)

Avg. yearly rainfall for Fairbanks AK, and Nuuk, Greenland

Food WebPolar Bears and the Arctic Wolf are the top predators

Primary Photosynthesizes: Arctic Moss, Bearberry, Caribou Moss, Diamond-leaf WillowWho Eats the Plants: (Herbivores) Musk Ox, Arctic Hare, Lemmings, Caribou, and PikasWho eats the animals that eat the plants: (Carnivores) Arctic Fox eat the Pikas along with the Lemmings. Snowy Owl, Coyotes and River Otters. Who is a carnivore: (Scavenger) (eats anything) Ermine, Arctic Fox and Wolverines. Wolverines may be small but they are very strong. They can catch animals that are much bigger than themselves to eat. Top Predator: Arctic wolf and the polar Bear along with Arctic Fox along with Coyotes.

AdaptationsErmine: It’s claws allow it to dig easily into the ground. The coat of the Ermine changes with the seasons to camouflage it from its predators

Polar Bear: Has two layers fur to keep it warm in the harsh climate

Caribou: has large spreading hooves to support them in the snow in the winter and the marshy tundra in the summer.

More Animal AdaptationsSnowy Owl: Dense white feathers to keep them warm

and also to provide camouflage in the snow

Rock Ptarmigan: seasonally camouflaged to prevent it from being attacked by predators.

Plant AdaptationsBearberry: Low growing plant that can stay out of wind

chill and also has leathery leaves to protect it from the cold

Geological FeaturePermafrost

Ground that is frozen for at least two years

Is formed when water is frozen within the ground

Permafrost can reshape the land thought slight thawing and freezing

Can stay frozen all summer long

Process when meltingThe sun heats the topsoil, but is not hot enough to heat up permanently frozen ground. As a result there are massive swamplands that slosh above the frozen ground.

A jackhammer must be used to dig into the soil