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The flora of the alpine tundra is characterized by plants that grow close to the ground, including perennial grasses, sedges, forbs, cushion plants, mosses, and lichens. [28] The flora is adapted to the harsh conditions of the alpine environment, which include low temperatures, dryness, ultraviolet radiation, and a short growing season.
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 ...
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 ...
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.
Many prey animals, and to defend against seed predation also seeds of plants, [55] make use of poisonous chemicals for self-defence. [51] [56] These may be concentrated in surface structures such as spines or glands, giving an attacker a taste of the chemicals before it actually bites or swallows the prey animal: many toxins are bitter-tasting ...
The Baffin coastal tundra is a small ecoregion of the far north of North America, on the central north coast of Baffin Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut. This is permafrost tundra with an average annual temperature below freezing.
There are an estimated 55,000 species of animals and plants in terrestrial habitats in Sweden, this relatively low number is attributed to the cold climate; [7] These include 73 species of mammal, about 240 breeding bird species (and another 60 or so non-breeding species which can be seen rarely or annually), 6 species of reptile, 12 species of ...