Tundra biography

Atop the food chain are tundra carnivoressuch as arctic foxes Vulpes lagopusarctic wolves Canis lupussnowy owls Bubo scandiacaand polar bears Ursus maritimuswhich move into the tundra during the summer when prey is plentiful and their usual hunting grounds on sea ice diminish. Many animals, both predator and prey, develop white fur or feathers in the winter months for camouflage in ice and snow.

Tundra insects have also developed adaptations for the cold; mosquitoes Aedes nigripesfor example, have a chemical compound that acts as antifreeze, lowering the freezing temperature in their bodily fluids. Though the tundra is remote, it is increasingly threatened as people encroach on it to build or drill for oil, for example. Perhaps the greatest danger, however, comes from climate change.

Warming temperatures could disrupt the cold tundra biome and the life in it, as well as thaw its underlying permafrost, releasing greenhouse gases that would further accelerate global warming. The audio, illustrations, photos, and tundras biography are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit.

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Tundra biography: Tundra is the coldest of

They will best know the preferred format. When you reach out to them, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource. This means the red fox is now competing with the Arctic fox for food and territory, and the long-term impact on the sensitive Arctic fox is unknown. Other tundra denizens, such as the wolf spider Lycosidae spp.

Shrubs are getting taller, contributing to declines in the sensitive groups of lichen that caribou and other species depend on for tundra biography. Lakes and ponds are evaporating or draining away. Perma Defrost The Arctic's permafrostthe literal foundation for much of the region's unique ecosystem, is deteriorating with the warmer global climate.

Permafrost is a layer of frozen soil and dead plants that extends some meters 1, feet below the surface. In much of the Arctic, it is frozen year-round. In the southern regions of the Arctic, the surface layer above the permafrost melts during the summer, and this forms bogs and shallow lakes that invite an explosion of animal life. Insects swarm around the bogs, and millions of migrating birds come to feed on them.

With global warming, the fall freeze comes later—in some places recently, not at all—and more of the permafrost is melting in the southern Arctic. Shrubs and spruce that previously couldn't take root on the permafrost now dot the landscape, potentially altering the habitat of the native animals. Another major concern is that the melting of the permafrost is contributing to global warming.

The frozen ground contains about one and a half times the amount of carbon already in the atmosphere today, as well as large amounts of methane, another potent greenhouse gas. Arctic [ edit ]. See also: Arctic vegetation. Relationship to climate change [ edit ]. Antarctic [ edit ]. Alpine [ edit ]. Main article: Alpine tundra. Climatic classification [ edit ].

Main articles: Tundra climate and Alpine climate. Places featuring a tundra climate [ edit ]. See also [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. World Wildlife Fund. Archived from the original on 4 June The World's Biomes. University of California, Berkeley. Archived from the original on 22 July Retrieved 5 March Wild World.

Tundra biography: The Toyota Tundra is

National Geographic Society. Archived from the original on 5 August Retrieved 2 November Archived from the original on 1 October Retrieved 17 January National Geographic. Retrieved 4 April Earth Observatory. Retrieved 11 September University of California Museum of Paleontology. December Ecological Applications. Bibcode : EcoAp.

Tundra biography: In physical geography, tundra

ISSN Retrieved 16 February Retrieved 18 October Ecological Society of America. Blue Planet Biomes. Archived from the original on 7 December Retrieved 3 April The New York Times. Retrieved 17 December Syndonia; Hollingsworth, Teresa N. Bibcode : Natur. PMID S2CID Archived from the original PDF on 14 November Retrieved 20 July Bibcode : npCAS Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Depending on who you ask, there are either two or three types of tundra. Some sources omit the Antarctic tundra.

Tundra biography: Tundra, a cold region of

The Arctic tundra is the northernmost and coldest biome in the northern hemisphere. Arctic tundra features a layer of permanently frozen subsoil called permafrost. Found at high altitudes around the world, Alpine tundra lacks permafrost but shares the cold climate and low biodiversity of Arctic tundra. Located on the Antarctic Peninsula and several sub-Antarctic islands, Antarctic tundra has a milder climate compared to the central Antarctic ice cap but still experiences cold temperatures and low biodiversity.

It also includes portions of northern and western Antarctica. In the northern hemisphere, the tundra biome borders the taiga boreal forest biome to the south. In high mountain regions, it transitions into alpine meadows or forests.