The Tundra Biome
Karina Moody
gist
ArcticTundra
There are about 1,700 kinds of plants in the arctic: low shrubs, sedges, reindeer mosses, liverworts, and grasses, 400 varieties of flowers, crustose and foliose lichen. Plants are short and group together to resist the cold temperatures and are protected by the snow during the winter.
The animals in the arctic are also diverse. They consist of lemmings, voles, caribou, arctic hares, squirrels, arctic foxes, wolves, polar bears, ravens, snow buntings, falcons, loons, ravens, sandpipers, terns, snow birds, various species of gulls, mosquitoes, flies, moths, grasshoppers, blackflies, arctic bumble bees, cod, flatfish, salmon, and trout. Animals are adapted to handle long, cold winters and to breed and raise young quickly in the summer.
Alpine Tundra
Animals in the alpine tundra are also well adapted. These animals are pikas, marmots, mountain goats, sheep, elk, grouselike birds, springtails, beetles, grasshoppers and butterflies.