THE TUNDRA By: Keely, Liam, Shade and Fin

Meteorologist The average winter temperature is -25 degrees Celsius. In the summer it is rarely over 10 degrees Celsius. The summer only lasts 6-8 weeks. In the winter it is dark most of the time, even in the summer it is usually cloudy and overcast. The tundra is the coldest and the driest of all the biomes on Earth. There is very little rainfall in the tundra. It rains less than ten inches a year. In the summer the soil becomes very soggy from melted snow and rain. The moisture sinks into the ground, which is called permafrost. The permafrost lies six inches below the ground, and is frozen for most of the year. The top layer of the permafrost thaws, but the bottom layer of gravel and finer material stays frozen all year which keeps moisture from rain on the surface of the ground.

Botanist 10 plants in the Tundra are; Dwarf Birch Aleutian shield fern is near extinction and it only reaches 6 in. through its life Cotton Grass Labrador tea Fireweed Yellow Poppy Arctic Campion Arctic Lupine Barberry Cushion Plant: grow low to ground and close together

Plant Life The plant life in the Tundra and growth is limited due to cool and short growing seasons. Like all plants, they need a good supply of light, air, water, and soil. They also need a good supply of Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium which is very limited in the Tundra. While water is plentiful for these plants, the warmth is around for a short period of time. Because of this, the plants grow in tight clumps, or groups.

Pictures Cotton grass Aleutian shield fern Labrador Tea Fireweed Yellow PoppyArctic Campion Arctic LupineBarberry Cushion PlantDwarf Birch

3 tundra herbavores Caribou  Musk ox  lemmings

3 tundra carnivores  Polar bear  Artic fox  Snowy owl

3 tundra omnivores  Grizzly bear  Rock ptarmigan  Ruddy turnstone

Arctic hare

Abiotic Factors  Fast winds  Little rainfall  Short summer days  Long and cold winters  Bad soil  Permafrost

Biotic factors  Plants like Heaths and mosses have to adapt to the very long and cold winters because the sun does not come up in the winter.  Wildlife like arctic tundra animals include snowy owls, reindeer, polar bears, white foxes, lemmings, arctic hares, wolverines, caribou, migrating birds, mosquitoes, and black flies.

How the previous 2 slides effect the animals  Long and cold winters help the polar bear because camouflage in the snow.  Little rainfall helps them by not melting all of the snow when it rains.

Food chain

Abiotic/Biotic Factors  Animals have to keep warm, but insects need to develop ways to prevent freezing. Like the animals in the tundra, insects always use the sun to keep warm. Insects are also dark in color and hairy for the same reason animals are. Being small also makes it easier for tundra insects to keep warm. However, it also makes them more prone to freezing.  Sorce-thinkquest.org

Decomposers  Mosses  lichens  fungi