Life on the Tundra
By: Alexis Hammerling
About the Tundra
The Tundra is a cold biome located at the Artic circle. Mining and drilling oil is causing habitat loss. Tundra has a high threat of global warming. Growing season for plants only lasts up to sixty days and the Tundra only has a few plants. The Tundra covers one fith of the whole earth. The Tundra only has two seasons which are summer and winter.
Plants in the Tundra
The Tundra is the coldest and driest biome out of all the Biomes. It hardly rains in a Tundra, they usually only get ten inches a year. In the winter the highest temperature is usually around 45 degrees and in the summer it is usually only 50 degrees. When the season changes the temperature doesn't drastically change.
Artic Willow
An Artic Willow is a plant that grows in the winter in the Tundra. This plant you will usually see through the whole year. An Artic Willow can grow between 70 and 20 degrees. This plant will either grow under or over rocky places. It does not need much soil to grow.
Purple Saxifrage
A Purple Saxifrage is a plant is a plant with small purple flowers. This plant starts to grow in the middle of the winter and blooms when winter is coming to an end. This is one of the first plants you will see popping out of melting snow.
Liche
A Liche is one of the characteristic plants that grow in the Tundra. In the winter a Liche clings to life with little soil and harsh weather. You will mostly see this plant in the summer when the weather isn't so harsh.
Bearberry
Bearberry is small plant that grows small red berries. It would be rear to find this plant in the winter. It usually grows between March and June. This plant grows in dry and sandy areas. Bearberry gets its name because bears like to eat these berries.
Labrador Tea
Labrador Tea is a plant that grows small white flowers. This plant also does not grow in the winter. You will usually see this plant grow between June and July. Native Americans brewed the leaves from this plant to make tea. They also let their clothes sit in the leaves over night to help keep moths away. Somehow the branches of this plant keep mice away.
Animal Life in the Tundra
There are many animals that live in the Tundra. You see more animals in the summer time than in the winter time. The animals that don't stay in the Tundra during the winter migrate to warmer places. The animals that stay find a warmer place to sleep.
Pika
One animal that lives in the Tundra is a Pika. A Pika is a small hamster like animal. This type of animal has to hide in holes so they don't get eaten. They also hide under flowers and bushes. This animal can be found in the Tundra and grassland areas. This animal stays in cold places so it doesn't have to adapt to cold weathers.
Polar Bears
Polar bears like the cold and snowy weather. A Polar bear usually gives birth to twin cubs. They raise the cubs for about two years and teach them how to hunt, eat, and other life skills. Polar bears never really migrate anywhere. Polar bears always stay where it is cold.
Artic Hare
An Artic Hare is a bunny that you will find in the Tundra only in the winter. An Artic Hare doesn't have to adapt to colder weathers. This type of bunny prefers colder places so it will migrate when the place its at gets warm. In the winter the bunny's coat turns white and in the summer their fur turns brown.
Carbiou
A Caribou migrates north every summer. They migrate in big groups. They like cold and warm weathers. You will usually find a Caribou during the summer in a Tundra. They like to eat the grasses and shrubs in the summer in a Tundra and they like flowers and mushrooms during the winter.
Artic Fox
An Artic Fox likes cold weathers so you will see this animal in the Tundra during winter. They will migrate to colder places when winter is over. They dig holes in the snow to sleep and hide from predators. They are scavengers which means they hunt for their food.
Cooperation
1) Polar bears let Artic Foxes and gulls eat their scraps.
2) Caribou eat grass and then they fertilize for other animals.
Competition
1)When food is low a Caribou and Ox might fight over food.
2) A Polar bear and Wolf will fight over other animals for food.
Predator/Prey
1)Caribou and Wolf: The Caribou eats plants and the wolf eats the Caribou.
2) Brown bear and Artic hare: The bunny eats plants and the Brown bear eats the bunny.
3) Polar bear and Artic fox: An Artic fox eats plants and small animals and the polar bear eats the fox.
4) Artic wolf and Caribou: The Caribou eats plants and the Wolf eats the Caribou.
Artic Fox
The Artic fox is an endangered in the Tundra.
Grizzly Bear
The Grizzly bear is also endangered in the Tundra.
Global Importance and Threats
The Tundra helps regulate temperatures of the whole planet. It is also a big winter home for so many animals. It gives animals food, water, shelter,etc.. Some threats to the Tundra are air pollution, oil spills killing animals, buildings and roads put heat in the biome, etc..
Cool Facts
* Tundra only has one type of tree which is the dwarf willow tree.
*Tundra means treeless pain.
* Only six weeks of summer.
* Sun is up almost 24hrs a day.