The Tundra (Arctic)
By: Zehra Nasirali, Gwynedd Macleod,
Jasmine Sutherland
Teacher: Mr. Sims
Course: SNC-2AI-03
Date: 3rd October, 1997
TUNDRA – A CANADIAN BIOME
What is a
biome? It is a large geographic area
with a characteristic climate. It
consists of several ecosystems. A biome
is made up of abiotic components such as climate, precipitation and
temperature, and biotic components such as plants and animals that live
there. The biotic components present
depend on the type of abiotic components present.
LOCATION OF TUNDRA
Tundra is a
vast, barren treeless plain in the Arctic.
It is a circumpolar biome that stretches beyond the Northwest
Territories. This is usually
interrupted by huge sand hills and sometimes mountains, which run to the edge
of the Arctic cap. Small islands break
up the edges of Tundra, not enabling a solid line of latitude to pass through
this whole area. Furthermore, the
Tundra has been given the nickname ‘frozen desert’ because they lay south of
the ice-covered polar seas.
ABIOTIC FACTORS
The climate in the Tundra area
hardly receives any solar energy due to the sun’s oblique angle. The weather is usually very cold, windy and
dry. During this type of weather, food
becomes scarce. However, when the
climate changes to summer, for about 3-6 weeks, the Tundra becomes a land of
ponds and marshes because of the melting of snow.
Winter lasts for about 9 months of
the year with temperatures that fall below 50 degrees Celsius. Summer lasts for a very little time, about
only 60 days. During winter, days are
extremely short, with darkness falling as early as 3p.m. In the summer there is only 2.5 cm of
precipitation with temperatures reaching 104 degrees Fahrenheit. During midsummer, there are 24 hours of
daylight, the opposite happens in winter with 24 hours of darkness.
The cold climate greatly reduces
decomposition of the soil. Soil of the
Tundra is nutrient deficient as well.
In summer, the soil thaws only a few centimeters to about half a
meter. The top layer remains frozen;
this is called the permafrost. It is
600 meters in depth. It usually
prevents proper drainage of spring water causing marshy areas on the land.
Wind carries snow from place to
place along with soil. This causes the
soil to become small mounds called ‘hummocks.’
Weakened rock crumbles as rhizoids (sent by lichens) secrete acids
forming parent soil material. This
further adds organic matter to the soil, which helps support the growth of
ferns, grasses and other herbaceous plants.
The soil isn’t especially fertile, but it could be used for
agriculture. Lemming tunnels also
modify soil structure and vegetation.
Most of the ice fields in North
America are covered by ocean. This
causes isolated tundra landscape to appear in the high alpine regions of mountains
throughout the world. Repeated freezing
and thawing of ice in the Tundra soil produces patterned land surfaces
resembling a patchwork of quilts.
Baffin Island has 10, 526 glaciers covering 35,890 km squared. Among the main rivers are The Mackenzie and
the biggest lake being Great Bear Lake.
The Arctic also has plenty of minerals: uranium, lead, zinc, copper,
silver, gold, diamond, coal, oil and gas being some of them. The highest point in the North West
Territory is the Mackenzie and Mr. Barbeau.
The NWT gets less snow than many places is southern Canada.
BIOTIC COMPONENTS
The Tundra has been described as a
flat treeless plain. It has very few
plants that grow past 1 meter in height and it could take approximately 100
years for it to get that way.
Root systems in the Tundra biome
must be very, very small. In certain
spots, the permafrost runs 600 meters deep.
No plants can grow in the frozen ground, therefore the plants there are
mostly shrubs and small flowers.
Lichens, mosses, grasses and herbs
dominate the Tundra’s vegetation. Most
of these plants are ‘perennials’. These
plants spend up to three seasons growing before they flower. Most arctic plants reproduce by vegetative
propagation, because seeds have trouble germinating in the Tundra soil.
Because summer is the only season
where the snow completely melts and it only lasts for about 60 days, the
vegetation in the Tundra must make adaptations to survive the long cold
winters. Plants growing close together
can be 10 degrees warmer than the surrounding air. Plants like the ‘rhododendron’ grow close to the ground so they
aren’t disturbed by the wind. Plants
also tend to grow where there is shelter, next to a rock for example. Small hairs protect plants like the ‘Arctic willow’
from the cold. Sometimes lichens even
freeze, but only to wake-up unharmed when they thaw out.
‘Lichens’ are one of nature’s most
slowly growing plants. They are coarse
dry plants that cling to rocks and clumps of soil. They do not need much water and they can stand the cold; they are
a perfect type of plant for the Tundra.
Some lichens on Baffin Island have even been growing for 10,000 years.
Colorful blooms also help plants to
stay warm. The air around a pink flower
would be several degrees warmer than those around a white one.
Examples of plants that thrive in
the Arctic due to the adaptation they make, are: Squirrel-tail grass, purple
firweed, cotton grass, caribou moss, arctic poppies, wooly lousewort and the
arctic willow. Some types of berries
can also survive through the Tundra’s cold days. Cranberries and crowberries do very well.
‘Crowberries’ grow on a bush; in
damp, rocky, open coastal areas. They
look something like a cross between a yew bush and heather with berries on
them. The needles are about 1/8 to ½ of
a cm long. They develop a very pretty
purple flower, from June to July. Their
berries are edible from early August until mid-September. Crowberries are said to be favorite food for
the Inuit.
The small black-blue berries are
sweet. They grow about 1 berry per
branch of plant. Since the needles grow
alternately, the berry fits right in.
The shrub grows 2 to 6 inches high and is a freely branching evergreen
shrub. It is also sometimes called
‘heathberry’. Its specific name is
‘Emperium Nigrum’.
Animals:
The Tundra has herbivores, both
large and small. The Arctic hare is one
of the smaller herbivores. However, for
a hare it is quite large, some weighing up to 12 pounds. During the summer months, the Arctic hare is
usually brown and white. Like many
animals in the Tundra, the hairs fur turns white in the winter to help it hide
from its predators.
A small but important herbivore in
the Tundra is the lemming. Lemmings are
small rodents that dig tunnels beneath the snow. They are very important to the Arctic food chain because almost
all carnivores eat them. Although
lemmings have many predators after them, they produce a lot of offspring to
keep themselves abundant.
The ‘ptarmigan’ is a chicken like
bird that lives in the dried areas of the Tundra. These birds are mainly brown with a few white feathers in the
summer in order to blend in with their surroundings. The short feathers on their feet help them travel in the
snow. In the winter, the ptarmigan’s
feathers turn white for camouflage.
Now moving on to the larger
carnivores of the Tundra, there is the ‘caribou’. Caribou are related to deer, but are much stockier. Both sexes of caribou have antlers, and travel
up to 30 miles a day. Their entire body
is covered with long hollow hairs with a curly layer of under fur to protect
themselves from the cold. Caribou spend
only the summer in the Tundra. In the
winter thy live in forests below the tree line.
Even larger than the Caribou, is the
‘musk-oxen.’ They are bulky animals with large, curved horns and shaggy coats
of hair to protect them from the cold.
No matter how cold the temperature gets, musk oxen never seek shelter
from the cold. Their large body-surface
areas prevent heat from being lost.
Many carnivores and omnivores also
live in the Tundra. The weasel is a
long, thin carnivore that eats a lot of lemmings. Their brownish coat turns white in the winter for camouflage.
The ‘snowy owl’ is another carnivore
of the Arctic. Unlike most owls, the snowy
owl hunts in the daylight as well as the night during the summer. The feathers of this owl are mainly white,
to blend in with its snowy background.
The Arctic fox is a carnivore. They are one of the smaller members of the
wild dog family, and have grayish-brown coats during the summer. The thick, warm coats of the Arctic fox turn
white in the winter to hide form their enemies and surprise their prey.
A large Arctic omnivore is the
‘grizzly bear.’ Grizzlies hibernate below the tree line in the winter and more
north of the Tundra in the summer.
These blonde-colored bears have very thick coats or warmth. Another omnivore is the ‘polar bear.’ Their
diet consists mainly of meat and they can weigh up to 1000 pounds. Polar bears have long, narrow bodies and
slightly webbed toes for swimming. Thick fur insulates these bears from icy
Arctic waters.
CHARACTERISTICS
Arctic or Tundra wolves are the
supreme hunters of the far north. They
have excellent hearing and vision and can smell animals more than a mile away.
Male wolves can be over 6 feet long
and weigh over 100 pounds. Females have
shorter legs and are significantly smaller.
Males are pure white in color, while females are light gray with the
rear halves of their backs darker than the front half.
The strong, sleek bodies of the
Arctic wolf are made for running. They
can reach speeds of 40 miles per hour and have exceptional endurance.
DIET
Arctic Wolves are strictly
carnivores, and hunt in packs. They
tend to hunt larger game such as caribou, must-oxen, deer, moose, etc. They will settle for lesser animals like
rodents, lemmings and mice. Wolves
typically prey upon very young or old animals.
In one meal, wolves can consume as
much as 20 pounds of meat. Pack members
regurgitate food for the pups to eat.
This partially digested food is much easier for the pups to digest. After the wolves have filled themselves,
each tries to carry off as much food as it can, buries it, in case next time
they fail to make a kill.
THE PACK
Being social animals, wolves live
and hunt in packs. Each pack has an
“Alpha” or leader male and female, who are usually the breeding pair. The pack generally consists of a breeding
pair, and their offspring, which stay with the pack for unto 4 years or more. The raising of the pups is a communal
effort, which is fortunate because some packs number up to 20 members!
The eerie howl of the wolves is a
form of communication among pack members.
There are four main occasions when wolves howl:
MEN AND WOLVES
David Meck said in his book
entitled: ‘The Arctic Wolf,’ that wolves are very tolerant towards humans,
especially while he was living close to them, filming and photographing
them. He said being with the pack was
the highlight of his life. Wolves are
probably hated by so many because they don’t understand them. Children grow up
hearing stories about wolves being wicked and vicious. In reality, they hunt for food, not for
sport as people used to think. By
killing the weakest animals, wolves help the herds to produce healthier
offspring.
HUMAN IMPACT ON THE BIOME
Humans that live in the Tundra are
mostly ‘Inuit.’ There are about 100,000
Inuits in the entire world, 25,000 of those live in Canada. In the past, Inuits lived in tribes. They were hunters and gatherers. Caribou, seal, polar bear and various types
of whales provided them with food, shelter, clothing, weapons and tools. Now the Inuit people live and work in
permanent communities but still go on hunting-fishing excursions,
occasionally. Most communities are
located along the Mackenzie River and in the Mackenzie River valley. Yellowknife and Whitehorse are the two
largest settlements but the ones of Frobisher Bay, Fort Smith and Dawson City
are fairly populated.
In the Tundra any problems in the
land take longer to heal than here, because of the extreme cold
conditions. For example tire tracks
made on the Tundra soil take 50 years to disappear and garbage takes forever to
decay.
Pollution increases every time
someone new moves into the neighborhood, with their garbage and snowmobiles,
but that’s the same everywhere. Garbage
takes longer to decay because the bacteria that break them down thrive in the
Arctic climate.
The threat of oil spills is a danger
to the plants and animals in the Tundra.
If an oil spill did occur, the oil would collect in ‘polynas’ (areas of
open water surrounded by ice). When the
‘polyna-plankton’ was affected, all the birds and fish that ate them were
poisoned too!
Pollution from the industries in the
southern cities often gets blown into the Tundra by the fierce winds. The transportation of metals like zinc and
lead often hurt the plants. Any animals
eating the plants then absorb these substances and the bioaccumulation cycle
begins. In the last thirty years oil
and mining companies have been drilling and mining in the Arctic. Although these companies offer jobs to
people, they pollute the environment.
The human presence has begun to have
a serious impact on the Arctic. Petroleum and mineral exploration, road
building and scientific and military testing are adding to the pressures of
this delicately balanced ecosystem.
Arctic water is threatened by oil spills, the atmosphere by industrial
chemicals and the land by unsafe water, the Arctic’s marine animals by toxic
metals – all due to the human impact on the biome. All these pollutants are blown to the Arctic from somewhere
else. The worst part is that in the
cold, arid Arctic climate, these pollutants don’t rot, evaporate or fade
out. Once the damage is done it lasts
for a very long time, to such an extent that residues of pesticides and other
toxic chemicals have been found in the tissues of the flora and fauna. The wilderness and wildlife of the NWT
belong to all the people of the world; therefore, people from many countries
are trying to conserve this astounding piece of nature. So Canada’s Federal government is enforcing
an “Environmental Strategy” to help maintain and protect the Arctic’s fragile
ecosystem. “By preserving the
relatively pristine part of our planet, perhaps we can learn how to preserve
the rest of the world,” quoted from the book Discover Canada, Northwest
Territories.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1.
Mach,
L. David. The Arctic Wolf – Living
With The Pack. Toronto: Key Porter Books, 1988.
2.
Stone,
Lyn M. Arctic Tundra, Vera Beach Flo: Rourke Enterprises, 1989.
3.
George,
Michael. Tundra, Mankato Minnesota: Creative Education, 1994.
4.
Andrews,
William A. et. al. Science 10 – An Introductory Study, Scarborough:
Prentice-Hall Canada Inc., 1988.
5.
Pill,
Virginia and Marjorie Furlong. Wild Edible: Fruits and Berries.
California: Naturegraph Publishers, 1974.
6.
Kalman,
Bobbie. The Arctic Land. Toronto: Crabtree Publishing Company, 1988.
7.
Mocking,
Anthony. The Yukon and The Northwest
Territories. Toronto: John Rae
Publishing Ltd., 1979.
8.
Hancock,
Lyn. Discover Canada. The Northwest Territories. Virginia: Grolier Ltd.
1993.
Teachers Comments: Good Intro. Well done! Very thorough and accurate! Solid Canadian Content. Excellent Work on Biotic Factors. Diagrams lacking. I am very pleased with your detail and level of accuracy. Keep it up! I hope you learned as much as I believe you did creating this piece of work! Useful and clear information is also present. Well done! 89%