High latitude tundra

1. High Latitude Tundra
By Wadim Abad
Anya Saliba
Jonathan Rodgers

2. The high latitude tundra is also known as
 The Arctic tundra biome
 The Alpine tundra

3. Biome location/climate- soil, temperature,
rainfall, climate graph
 Biome is located in Greenland, Alaska, Canada and Russia.
 Tundra soils are generally frozen, and are classified as Gelisols.
 The average temperature per year is 16 degrees F. The highest temperature can get to
45° F and the coldest temperature can get to 10° F below 0. That makes it one of the
coldest regions on earth.
 The tundra is an unusually cold and dry climate. Precipitation totals 6-10 inches of
rain a year, which includes melted snow.

4. Nutrient flow diagram
Precipitation
Runoff
Fallout pathway
Uptake pathway
Decay pathway
Leaching Weathering
Soil
Biomass

5. Characteristics animal/ plants
 Plants that are commonly found in the tundra biome include:
 Arctic willow: A dwarf shrub that is food for caribou, musk oxen, and arctic hares.
 Pasque flower: Its covering of fine silky hairs provides insulation.
 Bearberry: This low-growing evergreen’s leathery leaves and silky hairs provide protection
from the cold and wind.

6. Animals and characteristics
 Animals found in the tundra are:
 Polar Bears: Carnivores, often eat seals
 Caribou: ruminants, mainly eat lichen
 Arctic Fox: Carnivores, eat arctic hares and snowy owls
 Arctic Hare: Herbivore, mainly eat grass
 Snowy Owl: Carnivore, mainly eats rodents
 Muskox: Herbivorous, eating grasses, sedges, forbs, and woody plants.

7. Energy flow pyramid
Lichen, Moss, Grass, Flowers
Caribou, Arctic Hare, Muskox, Fish
Arctic Fox, Snowy Owl
Polar Bear
Arctic Wolf

8. Pyramid of numbers

9. Pyramid of biomass
Artic willow
Artic hare Artic fox
Polar bear

10. Food web
Artic wolf
Artic fox
gyrfalcon
purple saxifrage
Artic willow
rough legged hawk
Ermine
Snowy owl
Artic
hare

11. Photosynthesis
 Only plants with shallow root systems grow in the Arctic tundra because the permafrost
prevents plants from sending their roots down past the active layer of soil.
 Plants have adapted to the Arctic tundra by developing the ability to grow under a layer
of snow, to carry out photosynthesis in extremely cold temperatures.

12. Net Primary Productivity
 600 kilocalories per square meter per year
 2 kilocalories per square meter per day
 Lowest net primary productivity of any ecosystem due to long cold seasons and
infertile soils
 Low gross primary productivity also.

13. Succession
 The tundra has a layer of soil called permafrost that remains frozen year-round.
 The soil above thaws during the winter while the soil below doesn’t.
 During the winter, animals cannot dig into the burrows to live during the winter.
 Only animals that live there are insects and birds who migrate their because of the
reduced competition.
 Then, when summer arrives, plants are able to photosynthesize, sometimes even for
24-hours, and grow at a rapid rate.

14. Human Impact
 Global warming
 Warming of the atmosphere due to fossil fuels
 Melting of permafrost collapsing the tundra
 Pollution due to human settlement.
 Beginning of oil drillings in the US and Sweden

15. Solutions (USA)
 The protection of 11 million acres of special habitat in the Petroleum Reserve Alaska
rewarded to the USA.
 Opposing congress’s plan to open the Arctic Refuge to oil development.

16. Solutions (Sweden)
 The first and largest national park in Europe has been created.
 The Sami people have try to industrialize very little.