Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Polar ecology is the relationship between plants and animals in a polar environment. Polar environments are in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Arctic regions are in the Northern Hemisphere , and it contains land and the islands that surrounds it.
Most of the interior of Antarctica is polar desert, despite the thick ice cover. Conversely, the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, although they have had no ice for thousands of years due to katabatic wind but contain ephemeral streams and hypersaline lakes characteristic of extreme non-polar deserts, are not necessarily polar desert ...
Arctic vegetation is largely controlled by the mean temperature in July, the warmest month. Arctic vegetation occurs in the tundra climate, where trees cannot grow.Tundra climate has two boundaries: the snow line, where permanent year-round snow and ice are on the ground, and the tree line, where the climate becomes warm enough for trees to grow. [7]
Notable animals include reindeer (caribou), musk ox, Arctic hare, Arctic fox, snowy owl, ptarmigan, northern red-backed voles, lemmings, the mosquito, [11] and even polar bears near the ocean. [10] [12] Tundra is largely devoid of poikilotherms such as frogs or lizards.
Many desert animals (and plants) show especially clear evolutionary adaptations for water conservation or heat tolerance and so are often studied in comparative physiology, ecophysiology, and evolutionary physiology. One well-studied example is the specializations of mammalian kidneys shown by desert-inhabiting species. [81]
Many animals obtain energy by eating the surrounding vegetation, however, desert plants are much more difficult for organisms to consume. [10] To avoid intense temperatures, the majority of small desert mammals are nocturnal, living in burrows to avoid the intense desert sun during the daytime.
An Arctic–alpine taxon is one whose natural distribution includes the Arctic and more southerly mountain ranges, particularly the Alps. [1] The presence of identical or similar taxa in both the tundra of the far north, and high mountain ranges much further south is testament to the similar environmental conditions found in the two locations.
The Arctic region is a unique area among Earth's ecosystems. The cultures in the region and the Arctic indigenous peoples have adapted to its cold and extreme conditions. Life in the Arctic includes zooplankton and phytoplankton, fish and marine mammals, birds, land animals, plants and human societies. [3] Arctic land is bordered by the subarctic.