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What is the Tundra?A tundra is a vast, treeless Arctic region characterized by permafrost. This biome is very harsh and isolated from the other biomes. The tundra biome has extremely cold temperatures, short growing seasons, and little precipitation. Because of this, a tundra is basically a cold desert. It also has poor nutrients, so only simple vegetation can grow here. However, dead matter can become nutrient pools, filled with nutrients and energy. A tundra's biodiversity is relatively low.
Although these environments are rough places to live, they are still very delicate and can easily be damaged by human impact. Tundras are separated into two types: arctic and alpine tundra. Arctic Tundra |
Arctic tundras are found at the arctic and antarctic regions of the planet and at around sea level. They usually lie between the taiga and ice cap biomes. In this biome, there are only the two seasons summer and winter. In the summer, the sun almost never sets, and in the winter, there are several weeks where the sun never rises. In the summer, the sun only warms up the tundra about 9 degrees Celsius, and in the winter, the temperature is about -30°C and can dip down to -70°C. As mentioned above, tundras do not have much precipitation. However, as a result of permafrost, there is a large amount of standing water in the arctic tundras. Almost no moisture is lost to evaporation.
Usually, the permafrost would capture and trap carbon from the atmosphere. However, because of global warming, more permafrost would melt, releasing the carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere.
Usually, the permafrost would capture and trap carbon from the atmosphere. However, because of global warming, more permafrost would melt, releasing the carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere.
Alpine Tundra
The alpine tundra is typified by altitude instead of latitude, unlike the arctic tundra. Alpine tundras are found on mountainsides. Unlike arctic tundras, they can be located at any latitude on earth. The elevation that the alpine tundra begins at depends on where you are on the planet.
The growing season in this region is usually 180 days long.
The growing season in this region is usually 180 days long.
Problems
As mentioned before, tundras are very easily damaged from human impact. As such, the tundra biome faces many problems, both natural and manmade. However, even though they have not been able to sustain much human life, human impact has been changing these delicate biomes more and more over the years. Some human impacts include air pollution, fragmentation, and destruction.
One of the main impacts is the introduction of invasive species to the biome. Even though the tundra cannot support many different life forms, invasive plants can still take over very quickly. When invasive species start taking over an area, they push out the native vegetation, leaving less space for the plants native to the area grow. This could eventually cause a certain type of plant to go extinct, which could set the whole ecosystem off balance. If an animal depended on the native vegetation for food, then the species would start dying out, since they will not be able to eat. Then other species might depend on that certain animal for food, and they would start dying out too, and so on, since they won't be able to reproduce. Eventually, a large number of different types of organisms could go extinct. |
An invasive species of mustard plants
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