The Arctic tundra is a cold, treeless region around the North Pole where winter temperatures average -30°F. Summers are short and cool, allowing some plants like lichens, mosses, and low-growing flowers to survive. The ground is permanently frozen except for the top layer of soil. Antarctica is even colder, with temperatures below freezing year-round. Only lichens, mosses, algae and two flowering plants survive on its ice-free areas in summer. Penguins are the only birds that breed on Antarctica, finding food in the surrounding oceans. Both polar regions are home to animals like seals, whales, polar bears, and birds that have adaptations like blubber and thick

1. Earth’s Polar Regions
First the Arctic--Tundra
By Moira Whitehouse PhD

2. The Arctic tundra is in the northern hemisphere
around the north pole. The arctic is known for its
cold, desert-like conditions. The average winter
temperature is minus 30° F below zero. In the
summer it warms up to between 37-54° F so some
plants can grow during this time.

3. Summer are short,
cool and light most of
Winter are long the day
cold, and dark

4. The tundra is
very, very cold,
flat and
treeless. The
word tundra
comes from a
Finnish word
and means
“treeless plain”.

5. In the tundra, except for about a meter of soil
on top, the ground is permanently frozen. This
layer of frozen soil is called permafrost.

6. This frozen soil under the melted snow stops the
water from soaking into the ground. As a result
in the spring puddles of water, big and small,
form on top of the frozen ground (permafrost).

7. These bodies of water are perfect places for
mosquitoes, black flies and other insects to
lay eggs. The eggs quickly hatch and grow
into biting insects.

8. There are so many
mosquitoes and
black flies in the
tundra during the
summer months that
you would have to
wear this kind of suit
to protect them
from biting you.

9. In the very short summers when it warms up,
the top level of soil melts just long enough for
plants to grow and reproduce. These plants
become dormant (hibernate) over winter. But
even during the summer, the permafrost
layer never thaws.
permafrost

10. In spite of the harsh conditions, there are many
kinds of lichen and plants that grow in the Arctic.
Lichens are the main living thing in the tundra
that carries out photosynthesis. Lichens are
really two living things– an alga and a fungus.
Together they become a lichen. It is nearly
impossible to identify the alga or the fungus
once they get together and become a lichen.
Lichens can survive very cold temperatures and
many continue to live even when covered with
snow for up to three years.

11. The alga provides the food and the fungus provides
the water for the lichen. The alga uses light, water,
and carbon dioxide (through photosynthesis), to
produce food (carbohydrates) for itself and the
fungus. In return for its food, the fungus provides
liquid water for itself and the alga. The fungus also
attaches to the rocky surface.
Two types of Arctic lichen.

12. Summer in the far north is very short—6-10 weeks.
Plants must grow, flower and reproduce in this very
short amount of time.
Tundra plants have adapted to live in this environment.
They have
shallow roots
for the thin
layer of soil
and grow low
to the
ground for
protection
from the cold
and wind.

13. There are many low growing plants called
sedges and forbs that bloom beautifully for a
very short time in the tundra.

18. Mosses, very simple plants without roots, are
often thick in the tundra where there is some
soil and water.
Moss growing around a rock Moss growing around a rock
with lichen

19. Many different species of animals that live in
the tundra-- some on land, some in the water.
Some living
on land are
herbivorest
hat eat the
plants and
lichen that
grow there.

20. Musk Ox Caribou
Dali Sheep
Ptarmigan
Arctic
Lemming Hare

21. Others are carnivores that eat the herbivores.
wolverine ermine
Arcticwolf
Arcticfox

22. Polar bears live on the ice
sheets but usually catch
their favorite food, seals,
by grabbing them and
pulling them through the
seal’s breathing hole in
the ice.

23. Walruses climb out on the sea ice to rest
and to give birth. They congregate
together in great numbers. However, they
dive in the water to catch various kinds of
seafood.

24. Others like
Beluga
whales live all
the time in
the icy cold
water of the
Arctic Ocean .
Animals that live in the Arctic have special
adaptations that allow them to survive the
conditions there.

25. Some animals are
white in the winter
and brown in
summer either for
protection (prey) or
to help them hunt
(predators).

26. Many grow thick
fur, hair or feathers
in the winter to
keep warm and
lose it in spring.

27. Mammals living in the Arctic prepare for the
winter months by eating more food to put on
extra body fat. Food is scarce in the winter and
they often need to live off stored body fat.

29. Some like this
lemming burrow
under the snow in
winter to keep warm.
Some like this Arctic
ground squirrel eat a
lot of food in the fall
storing it as fat and
then hibernate for the
winter living off this
stored fat.

30. Animals that live in the Arctic Ocean such
as seals, whales and walruses have an extra
layer of fat called blubber which keeps
them warm in the cold.

31. Many birds have
adapted to the cold
Arctic through
migration. In summer,
thousands of birds
migrate to the Arctic
from Central and South
America to feed and to
raise their young.

32. Some of
the birds
in North
America
that
migrate.

33. Now Antarctica—the other polar region
Antarctica is a continent near the south pole.

34. View of Antarctica from above—the frozen continent

35. Interior of Antarctica

36. Coast of Antarctica

37. Antarctica is the coldest, driest, windiest place
on Earth.
Around the coasts of Antarctica, temperatures
are generally close to freezing in the summer
months. During winter, average monthly
temperatures are always well below freezing--
between 14°F and −22°F.
On the high plateau in the middle of
Antarctica temperatures are much colder.
Here, summer temperatures struggle to get
above −4°F and monthly averages in the
winter fall below −76 °F.

38. These extreme conditions make Antarctica a
habitat in which only the hardiest can survive.

39. Only two percent of
the continent of
Antarctica is ice free
in summer, so very
few producers live
there. The
producers include
30 mosses, two
flowering plants and
some algae.
The most common life form is the lichen.

40. About one hundred and fifty to two hundred different
kinds of lichen live in the Antarctica. A lichen,
remember, is an algae and a fungus growing together.
They depend on one another for survival. On
Antarctica, the fungus provides the water while the
algae, a producer, makes food both of them.

41. Two kinds of lichen that grow in the Antarctica

42. Mosses are very small green plants that have
no roots. They have stems not much thicker
than a stand of your hair and are covered with
tiny, tiny leaves. Many mosses grow together
on rocks forming a thick green mass.
Mosses
growing in
the
Antarctica

43. On the Antarctic continent, some algae (very
small producers) live in lakes and streams, on
moist soil and in snow banks. Algae also live in
the spaces between the sandstone rocks.
Algae growing in
the Antarctica
Many, many algae
live in the
Antarctica Ocean
and are the
bottom of the
ocean food chains.

44. Only two native flowering plants can
survive in this cold climate, the
Antarctica Hair Grass and the Antarctica
Pearlwort. Both these plants tolerate
very cold and dry conditions. They grow
in small clumps near the shore of the
west coast of Antarctic Peninsula. This is
in marked contrast to the Arctic regions
where nearly 100 flowering plants are
found.

45. Antarctic Pearlwort
Antarctic Hair Grass

46. Sincehardly any plants live on the continent, no
land animals can actually call it home. It's just
too cold and dry to support very many life
forms!
Penguins (Emperors and Adelies) are the only
birds that actually inhabit this frozen landscape.
They come on land only to breed and raise their
young. They must find their food in the oceans
surrounding Antarctica

48. Emperor penguin Adelie penguin with
with baby baby

49. Emperor penguin carrying baby on his feet to keep it
warm (yes, his feet, Mom has gone to find food)

50. Emperor penguin on the ice sheet .

51. Emperor penguins diving in water to get food.

52. Emperor penguins huddling together to keep warm.

54. The ocean
surrounding
the continent
of Antarctica is
home to many,
many animals.

55. Weddell Seal
Orcas

56. Leopard Seal
Antarctic Fur Seal

57. Blue Whale
Crabeater Seal

58. Chinstrap Penguin Antarctic Shag

59. Rockhopper Penguins
Black-bowed Albatross

60. Man does not live on Antarctica—a few
researchers and tourists only visit for a few
months of the year.
Antarctica, a place where it is too cold and dry
for humans to live, is indeed a fascinating
continent.