Tundras are among Earth's coldest, harshest biomes.

Tundra ecosystems are treeless

regions found in the Arctic and on the tops of mountains, where the climate is cold
and windy and rainfall is scant. Tundra lands are snow-covered for much of the year,
until summer brings a burst of wildflowers.
Mountain goats, sheep, marmots, and birds live in mountain, or alpine, tundra and
feed on the low-lying plants and insects. Hardy flora like cushion plants survive on
these mountain plains by growing in rock depressions where it is warmer and they are
sheltered from the wind.
The Arctic tundra, where the average temperature is 10 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit (-12
to -6 degrees Celsius), supports a variety of animal species, including Arctic foxes,
polar bears, gray wolves, caribou, snow geese and musk-oxen. The summer growing
season is just 50 to 60 days, when the sun shines 24 hours a day.
The few plants and animals that live in the harsh conditions of the tundra are
essentially clinging to life. They are highly vulnerable to environmental stresses like
reduced snow cover and warmer temperatures brought on by global warming.
The Arctic tundra is changing dramatically due to global warming. Already, more
southern animals like the red fox have moved onto the tundra. The red fox is now
competing with the Arctic fox for food and territory, and the long-term impact on the
sensitive Arctic fox is unknown.
It is the Arctic's permafrost that is the foundation for much of the region's unique
ecosystem, and it is the permafrost that is deteriorating with the warmer global
climate. Permafrost is a layer of frozen soil and dead plants that extends some 1,476
feet (450 meters) under the surface. In much of the Arctic it is frozen year round. In
the southern regions of the Arctic, the surface layer above the permafrost melts during
the summer and this forms bogs and shallow lakes that invite an explosion of animal
life. Insects swarm around the bogs, and millions of migrating birds come to feed on
them.
With global warming, the fall freeze comes later and more of the permafrost is
melting in the southern Arctic. Shrubs and spruce that previously couldn't take root on

the permafrost now dot the landscape, potentially altering the habitat of the native
animals.
Another major concern is that the melting of the permafrost is contributing to global
warming. Estimates suggest that about 14 percent of the Earths carbon is tied up in
the permafrost. Until recently, the tundra acted as a carbon sink and captured huge
amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as part of photosynthesis. This
process helped keep the amount of this greenhouse gas from accumulating in the
atmosphere.
Description
The tundra is the coldest of the biomes. It also receives low amounts of precipitation, making the
tundra similar to a desert. Tundra is found in the regions just below the ice caps of the Arctic,
extending across North America, to Europe, and Siberia in Asia. Much of Alaska and about half of
Canada are in the tundra biome. Tundra is also found at the tops of very high mountains elsewhere in
the world. Temperatures are frequently extremely cold, but can get warm in the summers.
Tundra winters are long, dark, and cold, with mean temperatures below 0C for six to 10 months of the
year. The temperatures are so cold that there is a layer of permanently frozen ground below the
surface, called permafrost. This permafrost is a defining characteristic of the tundra biome. In the
tundra summers, the top layer of soil thaws only a few inches down, providing a growing surface for
the roots of vegetation.
Precipitation in the tundra totals 150 to 250 mm a year, including melted snow. That's less than most
of the world's greatest deserts! Still, the tundra is usually a wet place because the low temperatures
cause evaporation of water to be slow. Much of the arctic has rain and fog in the summers, and water
gathers in bogs and ponds.
Vegetation in the tundra has adapted to the cold and the short growing season. Mosses, sedges, and
lichens are common, while few trees grow in the tundra. The trees that do manage to grow stay close
to the ground so they are insulated by snow during the cold winters.

Plants that grow in this place include grasses, shrubs, herbs, and lichens but not trees. You may
notice that plants in this place grow in groups and stay low to the ground to stay protected from
the icy winds. They tend to have shallow roots and flower quickly during the short summer
months.
Most of the plants in the tundra are perennials that come back each year from the same root.
This allows them to grow during the summer and save up nutrients as they lay dormant for the
winter. They also tend to have hairy stems and dark leaves. This helps them in absorbing
energy from the sun.

The tundra is a very fragile biome that is shrinking as the permafrost melts.

Lemmings are small mammals that burrow under the snow to eat grasses and
moss during the winter.

Polar bears come to the tundra for the summer where they have their babies.

Animals in the tundra tend to have small ears and tails. This helps them to lose
less heat in the cold. They also tend to have large feet, which helps them to walk
on top of the snow.

Plants that grow in tight groups to protect themselves from the cold are
sometimes called cushion plants.

The Inuit people of Alaska live on the tundra