Tundra

1
Tundra

• Life At The Top Of The World

2
Temperature

• Winter- as low as -60 F
• Warmest time of Summer- 32 to 50 F
• Less than 55 days a year over 32 F
• Average temperature- 10 to 20 F

3
Precipitation

• Only 10 Inches of Precipitation a Year

4
Vegetation

• Plants are short and close to the ground
• Larger plants will grow where soil accumulates
  between rocks
• Dark colored to absorb as much heat as possible

• Lichens grow on exposed rocks. They are fungus
  and algae living together
• Cotton grass spreads through the wind, like
  dandelion seeds.

5
Soil

• Soil is frozen most of the year.
• Permafrost is soil that never thaws out.
• Only the very top soil thaws during the short
  summer to allow plants to grow and reproduce.
• Water is scarce in the tundra.

6
Animals

• The extreme cold and snow make it a difficult
  life.
• All animals must adapt in order to survive with
  thick fur that can turn white in the winter.
• Others hibernate in the winter.

7
Prevailing Winds

• The North Pole pattern circulates wind around the
  North Pole.
• The Polar Circulation Cell brings up some warmer
  air from the Equator.

8
Ocean Currents

• The Oyashio, Alaska, Greenland and North Atlantic
  Currents all contribute to the climate of the
  tundra.

9
Carbon Cycle

• Living organisms? air ? plants ? living organisms
• Nothing really penetrates permafrost in seasons
  other than summer.

10
Nitrogen Cycle

• atmosphere ? lichens (nitrogen fixing organism) ?
  amino acid synthesis in plants ? animals ?
  atmosphere

11
Phosphorus Cycle

• rocks ? plants ? animals ? water?rocks

12
Primary Succession

• There is not much usable soil in the tundra at
  all. During the summer plants can grow and
  reproduce.
• Lichens are constantly growing on rocks in the
  tundra. Some small shrubs can grow in some
  areas, but lichens are abundant.

13
Secondary Succession

• Secondary Succession occurs basically every year.
• Nothing can grow in the soil during seasons other
  than summer due to permafrost.
• During the summer is when most plant growth
  occurs.
• If the tundra were destroyed it would take a long
  time to replace due to the slow plant growth in
  cold weather.

14
Climax Community

• Not very many plants grow too large.
• Larger plants grow between rocks, where the soil
  builds up.
• Lichens are a key organism to the progression of
  the tundra. They can grow anywhere and are food
  for many animals.

15
Niche of the Arctic Hare

• They eat The food they eat is mostly willow
  leaves, shoots, bark, roots, grasses, flowers,
  saxifrage and crowberry.
• The arctic hare lives on the rocky slopes and
  upland tundra of the Arctic. They live in groups
  with little competition.
• Arctic Hares are white in the winter and brown
  in the summer. Their ears are tipped with black
  all year round.

16
Intraspecific Competition

• Caribou and most other herbivores have to find
  the scarce vegetation of the tundra.

17
Interspecific Competition

• Caribou and Pika (small rodent) both have to have
  vegetation that is not very abundant.

18
Woolly Mammoth

• Woolly mammoths have been thought to became
  extinct through various reasons.
• The first humans that inhabited North America
  hunted large animals like the woolly mammoth,
  driving them to extinction.
• Rapid climate changes are also a theory as to how
  the woolly mammoths became extinct.

19
Arctic Tern

• Arctic terns migrate from the Arctic to the
  Antarctic every year for the summer.

20
Human Effects on the Tundra

• Oil drilling occurs often in the tundra, this can
  cause major environmental problems.
• Vehicle tracks can remain for decades, they could
  even get bigger through time.
• Road dust can alter melting rates, soil,
  vegetation and underground nutrients.

21
Decrease in Ozone

• A decrease in ozone would lead to a lot of ice
  melting and flooding due to the increased heat in
  the tundra.