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In physical geography, tundra (/ ˈ t ʌ n d r ə, ˈ t ʊ n-/) is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. There are three regions and associated types of tundra: Arctic tundra, [2] alpine tundra, [2] and Antarctic tundra.
The earliest vascular plants initially formed on the planet about 425 million years ago, in the Devonian period of the early Paleozoic era. About every feeding method an animal might employ to consume plants had already been well-developed by the time the first herbivorous insects started consuming ferns during the Carboniferous epoch. [5]
Herbivory is of extreme ecological importance and prevalence among insects.Perhaps one third (or 500,000) of all described species are herbivores. [4] Herbivorous insects are by far the most important animal pollinators, and constitute significant prey items for predatory animals, as well as acting as major parasites and predators of plants; parasitic species often induce the formation of galls.
Pollination has driven the coevolution of flowering plants and their animal pollinators for over 100 million years. See also: Pollination and Plant-pollinator interactions In pollination, pollinators including insects ( entomophily ), some birds ( ornithophily ), and some bats , transfer pollen from a male flower part to a female flower part ...
These complex interactions between plants, animals and abiotic factors in the tundra are held together by the permafrost layer, located 450 metres (1,480 ft) under the soil. [3] However climate change is causing this crucial layer of frozen soil to melt. As a result, tundra communities are becoming unstable and basic processes are breaking down.
An old castaway hut on the Antipodes Islands.. The islands constituting this ecoregion share a long history of isolation, both from other landmasses and each other. The isolation, combined with harsh climates characterised by low temperatures, strong westerly winds and few hours of sunlight in winter, have resulted in the evolution of many endemic plants and animals, though species richness is ...
An example of a topological food web (image courtesy of USDA) [1] The soil food web is the community of organisms living all or part of their lives in the soil. It describes a complex living system in the soil and how it interacts with the environment, plants, and animals. Food webs describe the transfer of energy between species in an ecosystem.
The Alaskan hare (Lepus othus), also known as the tundra hare, is a species of mammal in the family Leporidae. [2] They do not dig burrows and are found in the open tundra of western Alaska and the Alaska Peninsula in the United States. They are solitary for most of the year except during mating season, when they produce a single litter of up ...