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| Where is the Tundra Located? The tundra is located at the top of the world, near the North Pole. This enormous biome, extremely uniform in appearance, covers a fifth of the earth's surface. The most distinctive characteristic of tundra soil is its permafrost, a permanently frozen layer of ground. During the brief summers, the top section of the soil may thaw out allowing plants and microorganisms to grow and reproduce. However, these plants and microorganisms become dormant during the cold winter months. There is another region called alpine tundra , which is found on the tops of tall, cold mountains. |
Tundra Facts
The arctic tundra
is at the top of the world -- around the North Pole.
Animals are adapted to handle cold winters and to breed and raise young quickly
in the very short and cool summers.
Temperatures during the arctic winter can dip to -60 F (-51 C)! The average
temperature of the warmest month is between 50 F (10 C) and 32 F (0 C). Sometimes
as few as 55 days per year have a mean temperature higher than 32 F (0 C).
The average annual temperature is only 10 to 20F (-12C to -6C).
The soil is often frozen. Permafrost, or permanent ice, usually exists within
a meter of the surface. Water is unavailable during most of the year.
Annual precipitation is very low, usually less than 10 inches (25 centimeters).
Tundra Animals
The frigid cold and deep snow makes life in the tundra very difficult.
Every animal must adapt in order to survive. Some have grown thick fur which turns white in the winter. Others find a place to hibernate during the winter months.
Gyrfalcon
| Class: Aves: Birds | Diet: Birds |
| Order: Falconiformes: Birds of Prey | |
| Size: 51 - 63 cm (20 - 25 in) | |
| Family: Falconidae: Falcons | Conservation Status: Non-threatened |
| Scientific Name: Falco rusticolus | Habitat: mountains, tundra |
| Range: Arctic Europe, Asia, North America, Greenland, Iceland | |
An
impressive bird and the largest of the falcons, the gyrfalcon has a stockier
build than the peregrine. Plumage can be dark, white or gray. Most breed north
of the timberline and remain in the Arctic all year, but some populations
migrate south for the winter. When hunting, the gyrfalcon flies swiftly near
the ground. It can make rapid dives on prey, like the peregrine, but this
is less characteristic. Birds are its main prey, although it feeds on some
mammals, particularly in winter. Rock ptarmigan and willow grouse make up
the bulk of the gyrfalcon's diet, and their numbers can affect its breeding
rate. In years when these birds are abundant, gyrfalcons produce large clutches,
but in years of scarcity they lay only a couple of eggs or do not breed at
all. Gyrfalcons perform display flights when courting. When the young
hatch, both parents bring food to them.
Rock Ptarmigan
| Class: Aves: Birds | Diet: Leaves |
| Order: Galliformes: Gamebirds | |
| Size: 33 - 39 cm (13 - 15 1/2 in) | |
| Family: Tetraonianae: Grouse | Conservation Status: Non-threatened |
| Scientific Name: Lagopus muta | Habitat: forest, tundra |
| Range: Holarctic | |
The
ground-dwelling rock ptarmigans depend on camouflage for defense, and to achieve
this in the changing background of their northerly range, they adopt different
plumages. The summer plumage is mottled to blend with the forest, while during
the winter snows ptarmigans have white plumage, only the tail feathers remaining
dark. Rock ptarmigans feed on leaves, buds, fruits and seeds and on some insects
in the summer. They are monogamous birds; the male defends a small territory
at the breeding grounds. The female lays 6 to 9 eggs in a leaf-lined hollow
on the ground and incubates them for 24 to 26 days.ys. The cygnets must make
the long migration south when only 80 to 90 days old.
Ruddy Turnstone
| Class: Aves: Birds | Diet: Insects, plants, crustaceans, mollusks |
| Order: Charadriiformes: Auks, Waders, Laris | |
| Size: body: 18 - 23 cm (7 - 9 in) | |
| Family: Scolopacidae: Sandpipers | Conservation Status: Non-threatened |
| Scientific Name: Arenaria interpres | Habitat: tundra |
| Range: breeds in arctic coast marshes; winters on rocky shores south of breeding range | |
Caribou
| Class: Mammalia: Mammals | Diet: Lichen |
| Order: Artiodactyla: Even-toed Ungulates | |
| Size: body: 1.2 - 2.2 m (4 - 7 1/4 ft), tail: 10 - 21 cm (4 - 8 1/4 in) | |
| Family: Cervidae: Deer | Conservation Status: Non-threatened |
| Scientific Name: Rangifer tarandus | Habitat: tundra |
| Range: Northern Europe and Asia: Scandinavia to Siberia; Alaska, Canada, Greenland | |
Once
divided into several species, all caribou and reindeer, including the domesticated
reindeer, are now considered races of a single species. The races vary in
coloration from almost black to brown, gray and almost white.
The
caribou is the only deer in which both sexes have antlers, although those
of the female are smaller.The antlers are unique in that the lowest, forward-pointing
tine is itself branched.
Females
are gregarious and gather in herds with their young, but adult males are often
solitary. In autumn, males fight to gather harems of 5 to 40 or so females.
The female produces 1, occasionally 2, young after a gestation of about 240
days. Young caribou are able to run with the herd within a few hours of birth.
Some
populations migrate hundreds of miles between their breeding grounds on the
tundra and winter feeding grounds farther south. Grass and other tundra plants
are their main food in summer, but in winter caribou feed mainly on lichens
, scraping away the snow with their hoofs to expose the plants.
Musk Ox
| Class: Mammalia: Mammals | Diet: Grass, moss, lichen, leaves |
| Order: Artiodactyla: Even-toed Ungulates | |
| Size: body: 1.9 - 2.3 m (6 1/4 - 7 1/2 ft), tail: 9 - 10 cm (3 1/2 - 4 in) | |
| Family: Bovidae: Bovids | Conservation Status: Non-threatened |
| Scientific Name: Ovibos moschatus | Habitat: tundra |
| Range: Northern Canada, Greenland | |
In
prehistoric times, the musk ox was found throughout northern Europe, Siberia,
and North America. It was largely exterminated, surviving only in northern
Canada and Greenland; however, it has now been successfully reintroduced in
Norway and Alaska. It is the only species in its genus.
The musk ox is superbly equipped for life in harsh arctic conditions, for it has a dense undercoat which neither cold nor water can penetrate and an outer coat of long, coarse hair that reaches almost to the ground and protects it from snow and rain. The broad hoofs prevent it from sinking in soft snow. Both sexes have heavy horns that almost meet at the base, forming a broad frontal plate. Facial glands in the bull emit a strong, musky odor in the rutting season, hence the animal's name.
Musk
oxen are gregarious, living in herds of as many as 100. In the mating season,
young bulls are driven out by old, master bulls and form small bachelor groups
or remain solitary. The female produces 1 young after a gestation of 8 months.
When threatened, musk oxen form a circle, facing outward with horns lowered,
with the young in the middle; this is an effective defense against wolves,
their natural enemies, but not against humans with guns. Musk oxen feed mainly
on grass, but they also eat mosses, lichens
, and leaves and will dig through snow for food.
Norway Lemming
| Class: Mammalia: Mammals | Diet: Grass |
| Order: Rodentia: Rodents | |
| Size: body: 13 - 15 cm (5 - 6 in), tail: 2 cm (3/4 in) | |
| Family: Microtinae: Voles and Lemmings | Conservation Status: Non-threatened |
| Scientific Name: Lemmus lemmus | Habitat: tundra, grassland |
| Range: Scandinavia | |
The
boldly patterned Norway lemming is active day and night, alternating periods
of activity with short spells of rest. Grasses, shrubs and particularly mosses
make up its diet; in winter it clears runways under the snow on the ground
surface in its search for food. These lemmings start to breed in spring, under
the snow, and may produce as many as eight litters of 6 young each throughout
the summer.
Lemmings are fabled for their dramatic population explosions, which occur approximately every three or four years. It is still not known what causes these, but a fine, warm spring following two or three years of low population usually triggers an explosion that year or the next. As local populations swell, lemmings are forced into surrounding areas. Gradually more and more are driven out, down the mountains and into the valleys. Many are eaten by predators, and more lose their lives crossing rivers and lakes. Lemmings do not deliberately commit suicide.
In
the breeding season, the turnstone has bold black, white, and reddish-brown
markings, which become duller in winter. Insects, particularly midges, and
some plant material are its main food in summer, but in winter it forages
on seashores, turning over stones and other debris with its bill to find mollusks,
crustaceans, and even carrion. Breeding birds arrive from wintering areas
in late May or early June. The 4 eggs are laid in a grass-lined hollow on
the ground and incubated by both parents for 21 to 23 days.
| What Does the Tundra Look Like? T hese pictures were taken in northern Finland, in an area known as Lapland. All these photographs were taken by Janne Sinkkonen . We thank him for letting us use his pictures. |
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Above information from site below:
http://www.mbgnet.net/sets/tundra/index.htm