High Latitude Tundra

By Wadim Abad

Anya Saliba

Jonathan Rodgers

The high latitude tundra is also known as

The Arctic tundra biome

The Alpine tundra

Biome location/climate- soil, temperature,

rainfall, climate graph

Biome is located in Greenland, Alaska, Canada and Russia.

Tundra soils are generally frozen, and are classified as Gelisols.

The average temperature per year is 16 degrees F. The highest temperature can get to

45° F and the coldest temperature can get to 10° F below 0. That makes it one of the

coldest regions on earth.

The tundra is an unusually cold and dry climate. Precipitation totals 6-10 inches of

rain a year, which includes melted snow.

Nutrient flow diagram

Precipitation

Runoff

Fallout pathway

Uptake pathway

Decay pathway

Leaching Weathering

Soil

Biomass

Characteristics animal/ plants

Plants that are commonly found in the tundra biome include:

Arctic willow: A dwarf shrub that is food for caribou, musk oxen, and arctic hares.

Pasque flower: Its covering of fine silky hairs provides insulation.

Bearberry: This low-growing evergreen’s leathery leaves and silky hairs provide protection

from the cold and wind.

Animals and characteristics

Animals found in the tundra are:

Polar Bears: Carnivores, often eat seals

Caribou: ruminants, mainly eat lichen

Arctic Fox: Carnivores, eat arctic hares and snowy owls

Arctic Hare: Herbivore, mainly eat grass

Snowy Owl: Carnivore, mainly eats rodents

Muskox: Herbivorous, eating grasses, sedges, forbs, and woody plants.

Energy flow pyramid

Lichen, Moss, Grass, Flowers

Caribou, Arctic Hare, Muskox, Fish

Arctic Fox, Snowy Owl

Polar Bear

Arctic Wolf

Pyramid of numbers

Pyramid of biomass

Artic willow

Artic hare Artic fox

Polar bear

Food web Artic wolf

Artic fox

gyrfalcon

purple saxifrageArtic willow

rough legged hawk

Ermine

Snowy owl

Artic

hare

Photosynthesis

Only plants with shallow root systems grow in the Arctic tundra because the permafrost

prevents plants from sending their roots down past the active layer of soil.

Plants have adapted to the Arctic tundra by developing the ability to grow under a layer

of snow, to carry out photosynthesis in extremely cold temperatures.

Net Primary Productivity

600 kilocalories per square meter per year

2 kilocalories per square meter per day

Lowest net primary productivity of any ecosystem due to long cold seasons and

infertile soils

Low gross primary productivity also.

Succession

The tundra has a layer of soil called permafrost that remains frozen year-round.

The soil above thaws during the winter while the soil below doesn’t.

During the winter, animals cannot dig into the burrows to live during the winter.

Only animals that live there are insects and birds who migrate their because of the

reduced competition.

Then, when summer arrives, plants are able to photosynthesize, sometimes even for

24-hours, and grow at a rapid rate.

Human Impact Global warming

Warming of the atmosphere due to fossil fuels

Melting of permafrost collapsing the tundra

Pollution due to human settlement.

Beginning of oil drillings in the US and Sweden

Solutions (USA)

The protection of 11 million acres of special habitat in the Petroleum Reserve Alaska

rewarded to the USA.

Opposing congress’s plan to open the Arctic Refuge to oil development.

Solutions (Sweden)

The first and largest national park in Europe has been created.

The Sami people have try to industrialize very little.