The document summarizes key aspects of the Arctic ecosystem, including:
- The Arctic region includes parts of several northern countries and is characterized by cold winters and cool summers with low precipitation.
- The habitat of the Arctic tundra supports dwarf shrubs, grasses, herbs and mosses close to the ground, as well as herbivores like caribou and predators like polar bears and Arctic foxes.
- Food chains in the Arctic ecosystem show the transfer of energy from plants through herbivores to carnivores, with examples of a food chain and food web provided.
Tundra is the coldest of all the biomes. Tundra comes from the Finnish word tunturia, meaning treeless plain. It is noted for its frost-molded landscapes, extremely low temperatures, little precipitation, poor nutrients, and short growing seasons. Dead organic material functions as a nutrient pool. The two major nutrients are nitrogen and phosphorus. Nitrogen is created by biological fixation, and phosphorus is created by precipitation. Tundra is separated into two types: arctic tundra and alpine tundra.
Characteristics of Tundra
Extremely cold climate
Low biotic diversity
Simple vegetation structure
Limitation of drainage
Short season of growth and reproduction
Energy and nutrients in the form of dead organic material
Large population oscillations
2. INDEX OF THE ARCTIC ECOSYSTEM
Where the ecosystem are ?
Weather condictions?
Habitat
Types of plants
Types of animals
Non-living things
Examples of food chain and food web
Conclusion
3. WHERE THE ECOSYSTEM ARE?
The Arctic is a polar region located at the
northernmost part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of
the Arctic Ocean and parts of Alaska (United States),
Canada, Finland, Greenland (Denmark), Iceland,
Norway, Russia, and Sweden.
4. Weather condictions
The Arctic's climate is characterized by cold winters
and cool summers. Precipitation mostly comes in the
form of snow. The Arctic's annual precipitation is low,
with most of the area receiving less than 50 cm
(20 in). High winds often stir up snow, creating the
illusion of continuous snowfall. Average winter
temperatures can be as low as −40 °C (−40 °F), and
the coldest recorded temperature is approximately
−68 °C (−90 °F).
5. Habitat
The Arctic isn’t just cool, it’s cold! The Arctic is an
area that includes parts of Canada, Greenland, Russia,
Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and the United
States (Alaska).
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6. Types of plants
Types of animals
Arctic vegetation is
composed of plants such as
dwarf shrubs, graminoids,
herbs, lichens and mosses,
which all grow relatively
close to the ground, forming
tundra.
Colder summer temperatures
cause the size, abundance,
productivity and variety of
plants to decrease.
Herbivores on the tundra
include the Arctic hare,
lemming, muskox, and
caribou. They are preyed on
by the Snowy owl, Arctic fox
and wolf. The polar bear is
also a predator, though it
prefers to hunt for marine
life from the ice. There are
also many birds and marine
species endemic to the colder
regions. Other land animals
include wolverines, ermines,
and Arctic ground squirrels.
7. Non-living things
The Arctic includes sizable natural resources (oil, gas,
minerals, fresh water) to which modern technology
and the economic opening up of Russia have given
significant new opportunities.
The interest of the tourism industry is also on the
increase.
8. What is a food chain?
Food chains show how plants and animals get their
food (energy). It shows how energy is passed from
one organism to another, with the arrows
representing the direction of energy flows.
What is a food web?
A food web is a lot of food chains all put together to
show how the plants and animals in an entire
ecosystem rely on each other. Figure 2 shows a basic
food web for an arctic ecosystem.
9.
10. Conclusion
In our country, Spain, at the end of the century, the
beaches of Benidorm, Marbella and San Sebastian will
be submerged under floods of water, as most of the
infrastructure situated in coastal areas. The rising
temperatures and melting ice caps will be the main
cause.
Then, the Arctic is also a matter of Spain