The Tundra Biome…The Tundra Biome…The tundra is a biome that is types by its extreme temperatures. There are three types of tundras: arctic tundra, antarctic tundra and the alpine tundra. The arctic and antarctic tundra have a dark and cold winter, its average temperatures ramge from -50 ºC to -28 ºC. In Summer the temperature rises to 12 ºC but often decreases to 3 ºC.The alpine tundra has an average winter temperature with -3 ºC to 0 ºC and the warmer seasons have temperatures ranging from 10 ºC to 50 ºC.All three types of tundra have a low annual precipitation rate.

Animals that are common in the biome (Alpine Tundra)

• The Tundra is a place that houses very curious and unique animals, the animals that live there have adapted themselves to that environment. In the Alpine tundra we can see a large variety of animals like the Kea parrot, marmot, Mountain goats, chinchilla and pika.

This is a Pika and not a

pikachu. Kea parrot

Marmot

Mountain goat Chinchila

(Arctic Tundra)

•The Artic tundra is a frozen land but also has some animals living there like the caribou (reindeer), musk ox, arctic hare, arctic fox, snowy owl, lemmings, and polar bears.

Caribou Arctic hare Lemmings

Musk ox

Polar bears

Arctic fox Snowy owl

The Antarctic Tundra is also a frozen land like the arctic one but has different animals living there. Sea mammals and sea birds, including seals and penguins, inhabit areas near the

shore, and some small mammals, like rabbits and cats, have been introduced by humans to some of the subantarctic islands.

(Antarctic Tundra)

Seals Penguins Rabbits

Plants that could be found on the biome

In any Tundra we may find a veriety of plants or small bushes but nothing else. In fact, we don´t find any tree in any tundra due to the wide ice that covers the ground but we may find low growing plants such as moss, heath, and lichen.

Impacts that the Global warming may have on the biome

A serious problem is that the Tundra has a soil-bound carbon and it traps the carbon dioxide, a green house gas, which means that what was once a carbon sink is now a carbon source.

Another consequence is that with the rise of temperatures and the ice melting, if animals and plants that live there cannot adapt themselves to the climate change. All those species will become extinct in time