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The biodiversity of tundra is low: 1,700 species of vascular plants and only 48 species of land mammals can be found, although millions of birds migrate there each year for the marshes. [9] There are also a few fish species.
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]
Alpine tundra occurs at high enough altitude at any latitude.Portions of montane grasslands and shrublands ecoregions worldwide include alpine tundra. Large regions of alpine tundra occur in the North American Cordillera and parts of the northern Appalachian Mountains in North America, the Alps and Pyrenees of Europe, the Himalaya and Karakoram of Asia, the Andes of South America, the Eastern ...
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.
Alpine plants occur in a tundra: a type of natural region or biome that does not contain trees. Alpine tundra occurs in mountains worldwide. It transitions to subalpine forests below the tree line; stunted forests occurring at the forest-tundra ecotone are known as Krummholz.
The cushion plant form is not endemic to any single area or plant family. About 338 species worldwide in 78 genera in areas ranging from Tasmania , New Zealand , and Tierra del Fuego to the arctic tundra of Svalbard have convergently evolved the same plant form in response to similar environmental conditions.
Many flowering plants of the alpine tundra have dense hairs on stems and leaves to provide wind protection or red-colored pigments capable of converting the sun's light rays into heat. Some plants take two or more years to form flower buds, which survive the winter below the surface and then open and produce fruit with seeds in the few weeks of ...
Plant species supported by tundra are generally short, lacking stems due to threats posed to vascular structure by frozen temperatures, and much of their growing matter is found below the soil. [44] They are composed mainly of perennial forbs, dwarf shrubs, grasses, lichens, and mosses. [42] [45]