Tundra Animals And Plants Facts
Some animals of alpine tundra environments include the kea marmot mountain goat bighorn sheep chinchilla himalayan tahr yak and pika.
Tundra animals and plants facts. Scarcity of food and the harsh climate may make survival in the tundra biome seem impossible but the animals found here pull off this seemingly impossible task with ease. There are few species with large populations. The conditions are so harsh that few animals live in the tundra all year.
Caribou moss reindeer moss is seen growing abundantly in the alpine tundra. A few of the common north american animals if the alpine tundra are marmots mountain goats bighorn sheep and pika. It is by far the coldest of all biomes.
The biodiversity of tundra is low. As the tundra melts the plant mass decomposes and returns carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. From the lack of lots of vegetation some herbivores in the Tundra have a hard time finding areas with a abundance of plants to eat during the Winter.
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. But sadly this particular biomes animals are quickly dying off from the melting snow from global warming or just humans killing either from weapons or. Polar bears dominate the frozen waters.
Snow covers the ground for nine months of the year when plants cannot grow. The tundra is the coldest biome on Earth having average annual temperatures ranging from -40F in the winter to 65F in the summer. Plants grow in clumps and create their own micro climate.
The extremely cold temperatures makes it a difficult environment to survive in during the winter and plants and animals have a hard time coping with any extra stresses and disturbances. The prominent plants include varieties of mosses lichens sedges perennial grasses and cushion plants. The tundra biome is an ecosystem situated near the North Pole in the Arctic Circle.