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The tundra is an extremely harsh, cold, windy, and unique ecosystem found on the extreme north and south latitudes of our Earth. The soil consists mostly of frozen permafrost, which makes it difficult for extended root systems to grow, and water to drain and support a wide variety of plant life.
Marine life, sea life or ocean life is the collective ecological communities that encompass all aquatic animals, plants, algae, fungi, protists, single-celled microorganisms and associated viruses living in the saline water of marine habitats, either the sea water of marginal seas and oceans, or the brackish water of coastal wetlands, lagoons ...
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, [2] Alpine, [2] and Antarctic. [3] Tundra vegetation is composed of dwarf shrubs, sedges, grasses, mosses, and lichens ...
The water in this region is generally frozen and evaporation rates are very low. Species diversity, nutrient availability, precipitation, and average temperatures increase as the landscape progresses from the tundra to boreal forests and then to deciduous temperate ecosystems, which are found south of the Arctic biomes.
There is a strong evolutionary pressure for prey animals to avoid predators through camouflage, and for predators to be able to detect camouflaged prey. There can be a self-perpetuating coevolution, in the shape of an evolutionary arms race, between the perceptive abilities of animals attempting to detect the cryptic animal and the cryptic characteristics of the hiding species.
Many prey animals systematically migrate between refuges and predator-rich feeding grounds, in patterns that minimize their chances of being caught by the predators. The largest such migration by biomass is the oceans' diel vertical migration , in which vast quantities of organisms hide in the lightless depths of the open ocean, arising after ...
With prey capture times of down to 5 ms (shrimpfish Centriscus scutatus) this method is used by the fastest feeders in the animal kingdom. The secret of the speed of pivot feeding is in a locking mechanism , in which the hyoid arch is folded under the head and is aligned with the urohyal which connects to the shoulder girdle .
Species of fish living in cold or cool water can see a reduction in population of up to 50% in the majority of U.S. freshwater streams, according to most climate change models. [102] The increase in metabolic demands due to higher water temperatures, in combination with decreasing amounts of food will be the main contributors to their decline ...