tundra

• tundra characteristics

  • cold climates
  • lack of trees
  • located at higher altitude around polar zones
  • low temperatures
• What are the types of tundra?

  1. Alpine
  2. Arctic
  3. Antarctic
• soil description

  • Soil is shallow and poorly developed
  • Subsoil may be permanently frozen (permafrost)
• Soil nutrients

  • nutrient poor due to permafrost, main source of nutrients in tundra soils are animal droppings and dead organic matter
• Why does organic matter break down slowly in tundra?

  Soil may contain large amounts of organic material but extreme cold means it breaks down very slowly
• vegetation in tundra

  • Growing season may be limited to a few weeks

  • mosses and stunted grasses dominate, trees are absent

  • plants are short and grow close together to protect themselves from the cold and wind
• Why is the growing season limited to a few weeks?

  • limited to a few weeks because cold climate only warms for a short period
• why are trees not present in tundra?

  • very strong winds mean trees can't survive
  • the nutrient poor soil does not allow for plants to grow very tall
  • the shallow soil because of permafrost would not allow for the large root system of trees
  • plants have adapted to grow short because of the lack of nutrient in the soil and close together to avoid the impact of the strong winds
• How have animals adapted to the tundra biome?


  Thick fur, hibernation, migration.
• climate in tundra

  precipitation - low causes dry conditions

  temp - low/cold.
• tundra is the worlds ____est climate 


  coldest
• Arctic tundra spatial distribution 


  encircles the North Pole in the Northern Hemisphere
• Antarctic tundra located?


   few small islands near Antarctica and on the peninsula
• Alpine tundra is located....

  tops of high mountains, above the treeline
• Why are tundras so cold

  At high latitudes, where tundras are, the sun's rays are relatively weak because they hit the Earth at an angle.

  i.e the same amount of the sun's energy is spread over a larger area, compared to the equator.
• How does permafrost impact climate change? and vice versa


  when the frozen ground/ soil (permafrost) melts due to significant increase in temperature the carbon trapped inside is released into the atmosphere contributing to the warming of the world. This is an issue as permafrost stores a lot of the world carbon.

  
  

  when permafrost is melted dead material in the permafrost is exposed to oxygen, bacteria begins to break it down releasing green house gases.