Tundra

= Tundra = Tanica & Ashna

The anual temperature for the tundra is -56 degrees celsius. []

5 examples of Animals that live in the tundra environment: **The artic fox**lives in the tundra biome. It lives in un frosted areas in low mounds or rock piles. The artic fox is a scavanger and finds its own food. Weither it mooches the left overs from polar bears or other predators. **The polar bear** lives in the tundra biome through the polar regions of the Northern hemisphere. They are the biggest carnivore on land. They can easily catch their prey. Lichen that lives in the Tundra. Found in fresh water in the tundra.

The Mycobiont: The fungal mutualist may belong to one of over 500 genera and over 13,500 species of lichen-forming fungi ---about 20% of known fungal species Although a few are Basidiomycota (about 20 species) or deuteromycetes, most are Ascomycota, coming from 16 orders, 5 of which are entirely composed of lichen-forming fungi. Lichenized and non-lichenized fungi may occur in the same order. Taxonomically, the lichenized fungi are widely distributed in the Ascomycota. It is not known whether the fungal partners have an extensive independent existence in nature.

__Food Web__

[]

catch their prey. **The harlequin duck** have strong webbed feet for swiming, they need to be able to swim through strong currents are excellent swimmers. They are the prey of the artic fox and the grey wolf. **Snowy owl** is one of the largest and most attracive owl of all the other species of owls. Their nest is a hollow, formed out of frozen turf and moss on a ridge or hill. The snowy owls feed on arctic fox, rabbits, lemmings, voles, and various seabirds. **Musk Ox** lives in the frozen tundra of northern alaska, canada, ellesmere island, ect. There is no other hoofed animal as far north as the musk ox. The musk ox has 24 long inches of thick hair that helps them withstand dangerously low temperatures. They can weigh from 336-880 pounds and a length of 7 feet.

5 plants in the tundra biome **Arctic moss** is an aquatic plant found growing on the bottom of tundra lake beds and in and around bogs and fens. The Calliergon giganteum grows in the arctic tundra which is a harsh cold environment in the Northern Hemisphere within the arctic circle They have rhizoids (tiny rootlets) instead of roots. They never have wood stems. They have tiny leaves, usually only one cell thick. There are lots of leaves on the stem. They do not have flowers. They can either reproduce by growing shoots or by sending out spores, which need to be wet to survive. They have two life stages; gametophyte and sporeophyte.

**Arctiv willow** Salix arctica is 15-20 cm in height. It has many different shapes, but sometimes has long trailing branches that root where they touch the surface. Rock willows/Arctic willows grow prostrate, shrub, and carpet. The leaves are oval shaped with pointed tips, wedge shaped bottoms, and have little stalks. These leaves are 15-50 mm in length. The leaves are dark green on the bottom and a lighter green on the top. They have net like veins and long hairs that cover their leaves. The flowers of the Salix arctica are upright scaly spikes that are unisexual flowers with no petals. The Salix arctica blooms in the spring. They are 5 cm and are dark brown or sparkling pink. There's no fruit on the plant, only seeds. There are no taproots on this plant. The lateral roots are shallow due to the frozen ground underneath the permafrost. **Pasque flower** Pasque flower is found in many areas in the [|tundra]. The plant only grows on southward facing slopes and is common throughout northwestern U.S. up to northern Alaska. The Pasque flower is also the state flower of South Dakota. It is popular in many home gardens. It likes well-drained, sandy, and gravelly soils as well as roadsides. The Pasque flower has several stems that rise 6-8 inches off the ground. On each stem is one flower with 5-8 petals. The range of color in the petals is from dark lavender to almost white. In the center of the flower are yellow stamens. Below the flower, around the stem is a leaf covered in silky hairs, as is the rest of the plant. The fruit of the plant is a plum that is achenial, which means that one seed is attached to the ovary wall, like a strawberry seed.

**Tufted saxifrage** Tufted Saxifrage is a small perennial that grow in thick mats on the tundra. It has several straight flower stems which can get 3-15 cm high. The leaves are rigid and very hairy and only 5-10 mm long. Their tips divide into 3 lobes. Two to ten flowers bloom from the top of each stem. Each flower has five white petals, that look like a bell when just opening and turn into a star when fully opened. This flower also has a small fruit which usually holds many small seeds.

Food web



"On the tundra there is usually only a few inches of soil . Usually composed of sand or mud sized particles and various amounts of organic matter. Below that its usually sand or mud down to the nearest hard rock. There is a horizon where the water in the soil is frozen year round this layer is called the permafrost. The layer above it is soft muddy when temperatures are above freezing, when the air temperature goes below freezing the soil is frozen in ice right up to the surface." - Yahoo answers

location

Tundra biomes exist of habitable territory on earth. Symbiotic relationships in the tundra can take many forms, from mutually beneficial relationships to relationships where one organism is harmed. Parasitism and a mutual relationship involving lichen are two prevalent forms of symbiosis in the tundra.Caribou are involved in a form of symbiosis in the tundra.

Considering it gets cold in the tundra there are as many as 1700 plant species that grow there. The tundra plants consist of mostly mosses, lichens, grasses, sedges and shrubs. There are around 400 types of plants that grow in the growing season. Which last up to 50-60 days. No trees grow in the tundra because of the permafrost and they cannot send their roots into the ground.



There are only about 48 species of land mammals occuring in the tundra. The tundra animals are mostly modified of deer, bears, foxes, wolves, rodents, hares and shrews. Small musk-oxen herds also roam about the frozen regions. The predators of the tundra are polar bears, arctic foxes, and wolves.



Environmental issues Oil companies: The tundra is filled with lots of minerals and oils, that our man made devices and oil companies are taking them from the tundra and putting the animals and plants in harms way. Hunting: The tundra environment has many animals that you cannot find any where else in the world and this attracts hunters who travel to the tundra to hunt animals that are rare to where they came from. Global warming: []

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101103211553AAgglPW
 * []**