Tundra
Robert Steed
The Tundra is located at the top of the earth and is so cold that it soil is permafrost (a permanently frozen part of the ground). During summer in the Tundra it allows just enough time for small plants and animals to grow and reproduce.
Animals
In the Tundra it is difficult to survive so many animals have to adapt to the environment. Some of the animals hibernate and others grow thick fur to keep them warm in winter ether way they have to change there living ways.
Gyrfalcon
The Gyrfalcon feeds mainly off other birds it does feed off of mammals to. Gyrfalcons are 20-25in. tall. They are the largest of the falcons family. When the chicks are too small to eat their meal at once the mother Gyrfalcon brings it to vegetation about 100 to 200 yards away from their nest and store it there for either her or for the chicks later
Ruddy Turnstone
The Ruddy Turnstone is part of the Sandpiper's family. It eats insects and plant material.In breeding season the turnstone's colors are black white and reddish brown which fade a little in the winter. The Turnstone has 4 eggs and each parent helps with the baby for 21 to 23 days and live in Canada, Iceland, Northern parts of russia.
Snowy Owl
A Snowy Owl is a large animal and eats small animals. It's Usually 20.5in. to 25.5in. in size. They lay up to 15 eggs (if the food supply is good) and Normally has 4-10eggs. The parents raise the baby for 33 to 34 days. Snowy Owls in the winter go all the way down to northern united states and sometimes to southern united states which is where we live. They are known for being aggressive and unlike other owls the Snowy Owl hunts its prey in the day and not the night.
Tundra Swan
The Tundra Swan is part of the Ducks, Geese, and Swans family and has a diet of aquatic plants. The parents of the babies are usually very strong and they stay together. The Swans have to migrate great distances in winter. The Tundra Swan normally has 3-5 eggs and both parents raise them for 35-40 days. The babies have to migrate when they are only 85-90 days old! When they are going to their other habitat they travel 3,725 miles and do this twice a year!
Polar Bear
The polar bear is a huge mammal and feeds off of seals, fish, seabirds, arctic hares,caribou, and musk oxen. They are usually 7.25ft and 8.25 ft, thats bigger than most humans! They live where every ice flows and breed in midsummer. They casually have 1-4 babies and care for them for 9 months. Girl polar bears only mate every other year. Polar Bears are connivers (which means that the only eat meat). When the bear is going after its prey they can run all the way up to speeds of 25mph. Adult male polar bears can weigh up to 990 pounds and females weigh from 330-550 pounds. When a Polar Bear is sleeping they sleep for 7-8 hours and mainly at day so they can east seals at night (seals are more active at night than day). In the winter they sleep in small pits they dig with their claws and sleep with back or side towards the wind.
Plants
During summer in the tundra it grows a variety of plants that can live in harsh environments. The plants adapted to their environment by growing short to the ground and have furry stems to keep them warm.
Lichen
Lichen grows on rocks and is a combination of fungi and algae. When Lichen grows it can be many colors and normally grows on the exposed part of the rock. There are more that 15,000 different kinds of Lichen in the Tundra and some look like hard crust growing on trees and others look flat and leafy and all of them can be on rocks, hanging on trees, on tree bark or even on leaves themselves.
Dark red leaves
Dark Red Leaves allow the plant that has it absorb more heat from the sun in the Tundra. Without the dark red leaves on plants most of them would freeze or get to cold and eventually die.
Cushion Plant
cushion plants are given there name because they grow low and wide and look like a cushion. They normally grow where the habitat is going to help protect it. Cushion plants normally grow only a few inches off the ground and take up a lot of space and have really deep roots but, they grow really slow. Every stem of the plant grows at the same rate so that some of them don't get more exposure than the other because they would slowly die.
Cotton Grass
They are grown in the Tundra and are cotton but people don't normally live there so the wind moves the seeds so more can grow.
Seeds
Seeds are moved by birds and are what is needed for the next generation of that plant is. This can include Red Algae, over 400 different types of fungi, Lichen, cotton grass, arctic willow, bearberry, arctic poppy, and purple saxifrage.
Abiotic Factors
Abiotic Factors are the things in the ecosystem that help and are nonliving that are chemical or physical.
temperature
The temperature can go all the way down to a astonishing -51 degrees Celsius and in the summer the hottest it get is only to 10 degrees Celsius.
Precipitation
The yearly rainfall is only 25cm and is about the same as the desserts rainfall.
Cool Fact
the Tundra is the youngest biome only being 10,000 years old.
Tire tracks and footprints last for decades before they disappear because it takes a lot of time for the tundra to recover.
Human Impact (ecology)
There isn't a lot of people in The Tundra Biome but when there is most are drilling for oil so the Tundra is being damaged by people and pollution could get so bad that the snow on top could melt and the permafrost could thaw.
landform
it is very cold with ice and snow all over the ground but in the summer there are spots where you see plants and animals. There are also lots of glaciers because the ice breaks off from time to time