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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.
Arctic ecology is the scientific study of the relationships between biotic and abiotic factors in the arctic, the region north of the Arctic Circle (66° 33’N). [1] This region is characterized by two biomes: taiga (or boreal forest) and tundra. [2]
In 2022, the state was experiencing its most serious drought in 1,200 years, worsened by climate change. [31] Climate change affects many factors associated with droughts. These include how much rain falls and how fast the rain evaporates again. Warming over land increases the severity and frequency of droughts around much of the world.
An environmental gradient, or climate gradient, is a change in abiotic (non-living) factors through space (or time). Environmental gradients can be related to factors such as altitude, depth, temperature, soil humidity and precipitation.
Alpine tundra in the North Cascades of Washington, United States. Alpine tundra does not contain trees because the climate and soils at high altitude block tree growth. [26]: 51 The cold climate of the alpine tundra is caused by the low air temperatures, and is similar to polar climate. Alpine tundra is generally better drained than arctic ...
The amount of vegetation in the tundra consists on how much sun, or snow cover is in the area. The vegetation in this area may grow as tall as 50 cm (20 in). In the southern part of the Arctic, there tend to be more shrubs whereas the northern parts there is less plant cover. In wet areas of the tundra, there is tussock grasses and cotton grasses.
Papaver radicatum (arctic poppy), a flowering plant of the Arctic tundra follows the sun around the sky during the 24-hour daylight of summer north of the Arctic Circle. Changing climate conditions are amplified in polar regions and northern high-latitude areas are projected to warm at twice the rate of the global average. [1]
Mount Elbert rises through multiple biotic zones, with alpine tundra at its peak.. The Rocky Mountains range in latitude between the Liard River in British Columbia (at 59° N) and the Rio Grande in New Mexico (at 35° N), and in height up to the highest peak, Mount Elbert at 14,440 feet (4,400 m), taking in great valleys such as the Rocky Mountain Trench and San Luis Valley.