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The Arctic
Tundra
(Cold Grassland)
Human Impact:
Unique Characteristics:
 Global Warming
 Only about 18 inches of the
 Permafrost melts which
soil thaws during the summer
disrupts ecosystem and
and the rest remains frozen
releases methane and
 Most of the soil in the arctic
carbon dioxide into the
tundra was formed about 17,00
atmosphere
years ago
 Oil Drilling, Pipes, mines,
military bases
 leaves scars for centuries WORKS CITED:
 Commercial Hunting
Miller, G. Tyler, and Scott Spoolman.
 kills animals faster than
Living in the Environment:
reborn
Concepts, Connections, and
Solutions. 16th ed. Belmont, CA:
 Pesticides
Brooks/Cole, 2009. Print.
 Contaminates area and
kills different species
Weigel, Marlene. UXL Encyclopedia of
Biomes. Vol. 3. Detroit: UXL,
2000. Print.
"Arctic LTER." MBL: The Ecosystems
Center. National Science
Foundation. Web. 03 Jan. 2012.
By Michelle Jamshidi &
Olivia Sahadeo
Types of Organisms:
 Thick spongy mat of low
growing plants
◦ grasses
◦ mosses
◦ lichens
◦ dwarf shrubs
 Animals and insects
◦ mosquitoes
◦ black flies
◦ birds
◦ polar bears
◦ arctic wolves and foxes
◦ caribou
◦ musk oxen
 Low diversity
 Low species richness
 High species evenness
◦ only a few species of plants
and animals live in the
tundra, but they are found in
great numbers
Climate:
 Long and cold winters (windy
and icy)
 Summers are short and cool
 Driest and coldest
 Average can get as cold as -70
degrees
 Similar to a cold desert
 Little precipitation
◦ Less than 10 inches
annually and comes mostly
as snow in the winter
Location:
 Found on all 3 norther
continents
 Northern Russia
 Northern Europe
 Norway, Sweden,
Finland
 Alaska and Canada
 Greenland and Iceland
 60-70 degrees Northern
latitude
Ways to Adapt:




Thick coats and fur
Living underground
Migration
Annual Growth