Tundra Habitat Animals And Plants

Home to animals including Arctic foxes Vulpes lagopus polar bears Ursus maritimus gray wolves Canis lupus caribou Rangifer tarandus snow geese Anser caerulescens and musk oxen Ovibos moschatus the Arctic tundra is changing in broad and somewhat unpredictable ways as global average temperatures rise.

Tundra habitat animals and plants. Notable animals in the arctic tundra include reindeer caribou musk ox arctic hare arctic fox snowy owl lemmings and even. Tundra 2 alpine high altitude tundra and 3 the maritime tundra present on Alaskas western and southwestern coast. The arctic tundra is also a windy place and winds can blow between 30 to 60 miles 48 to 97 kilometers per hour.

Some remain all year though like the polar bear the musk ox and the snowy owl. The dominant plant species of tundra habitats are sedges low and dwarf shrubs and graminoids interspersed with forbs in addition to mat and cushion-forming plants and scattered bryophytes nonvascular plants. Many animals found on the tundra are migratory species moving in to eat the plants in the summer but leaving again before the hard winter.

The tundra is a terrestrial biome that is characterized by extreme cold low biological diversity long winters brief growing seasons and limited drainage. Tundra wildlife includes small mammalssuch as Norway lemmings Lemmus lemmus arctic hares Lepis arcticus and arctic ground squirrels Spermophilus parryii and large mammals such as caribou Rangifer tarandus. Snow covers the ground for nine months of the year when plants cannot grow.

A mountains habitat is unlike any other. The plants growing in the alpine climate and at a higher elevation above the tree line are called alpine plants. Identify a number of arctic plants and animals and their role in arctic food chains.

Alaskas tundra climates are characterized by a short growing. Each card has a colored strip. The arctic tundra is a harsh environment that only the toughest plants and animals can survive in.

Tundra are the coldest areas on the planet and are quite different from every other habitat on earth. Animals in the tundra are also adapted to extreme conditions and they take advantage of the temporary explosion of plant and insect life in the short growing season. The harsh climate of the tundra imposes such formidable conditions on life that only the hardiest plants and animals can survive in this environment.