Arctic Tundra

Did you know that the Arctic Tundra is one of the coldest but driest places on the Earth, but still supports life? I chose the Arctic Tundra as my biome because this is one of the most interesting places I have ever learned about.
Animal Life There are only 48 land mammals that make this habitat their home. However, even though this zone has very few species the number of individuals in each species that make this biome a home for part of the year is very large. Take the massive herds of caribou or flocks of migratory birds as an example.
Many animals migrate to the tundra in the summer months to take advantage of the lack of predators, abundant plants, insects, and fish. Snowy Owls breed on the ground in the summer months, and prey on voles, lemmings and other small rodents. Musk oxen, a smaller cousin of the Ox feeds on the grasses in small herds. They defend themselves from one of the few predators, packs of wolves.
Plant Life
Tundra vegetation is made up of herbaceous plants (grasses, forbs, and sedges), mosses, lichens, and shrubs that grow close to the ground, where temperatures are highest. During warm months the plants begin to grow rapidly and will develop flowers and seeds when temperatures climb above 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit).By providing an insulating layer, snowfall are advantageous for tundra plants during cold winter months.

Climate
In the arctic tundra there are two seasons: winter and summer. In the summer, the sun is present almost 24 hours a day. This sun however, only warms the tundra up to a range of about 3°C to 12°C. In the winter the opposite light conditions are present. There are several weeks where the sun never rises. This causes the temperatures to drop to extremely cold levels. The average temperature of the tundra is around -28°C while extremes can dip to -70°C.
Geography
Arctic tundra occurs in the far Northern Hemisphere, north of the taiga belt. Permafrost tundra includes vast areas of northern Russia and Canada. The polar tundra is home to several peoples who are mostly nomadic reindeer herders. Arctic tundra contains areas of stark landscape and is frozen for much of the year. The soil there is frozen from 10–35 in down, and it is impossible for trees to grow. Instead, bare and sometimes rocky land can only support low growing plants such as moss, heath, and lichen.
Interesting Facts
It is the Arctic 's permafrost that is the foundation for much of the region 's unique ecosystem, and it is the permafrost that is deteriorating with the warmer global climate. Permafrost is a layer of frozen soil and dead plants that extends 450 meters under 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 shallow lakes that invite an explosion of animal life. Insects swarm around the lakes, and millions of migrating birds come to feed on them.
I chose the Arctic Tundra as my biome because the Arctic Tundra is truly an amazing place. The Arctic Tundra is not a cold and useless wasteland. It is a very fragile environment and the plants and animals that have made their home on the tundra biome have made some incredible adaptations to the long, cold winters and the short but abundant summers.

Bibliography

www.blueplanetbiomes.org/tundra.htm
Whitney S. 2002 www.environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/tundra-profile en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tundra
Wikipedia
www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/msese/earthsysflr/tundra.html‎
Wheeling Jesuit University/NASA-supported Classroom www.windows2universe.org/earth/polar/arctic_tundra.html Lisa Gardiner

Bibliography: www.blueplanetbiomes.org/tundra.htm Whitney S. 2002 www.environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/tundra-profile en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tundra Wikipedia www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/msese/earthsysflr/tundra.html‎ Wheeling Jesuit University/NASA-supported Classroom www.windows2universe.org/earth/polar/arctic_tundra.html Lisa Gardiner