Tundra
Hannah A., Chase B., Kairi V.
Where is the ecosystem located?
•
North America, Europe, and Asia
•
Arctic Tundra covers about one fifth of Earth’s land
•
Canada, Alaska, Russia, Finland, Greenland, Iceland,
Denmark, Sweden, Norway are some examples of places
where the tundra is located
Describe the abiotic factors of
your ecosystem
 Averages -30 degrees Fahrenheit sometimes as cold as
-60 degrees Fahrenheit
 Daylight is on the tundra for most of the summer
 Winds blow up to 60 miles per hour
 Most summer days are less than 50 degrees Fahrenheit
 The sun never sets for about two months during arctic
tundra summer
Producer: Lichen. How does your
producer rely on other organisms in
the tundra to survive?
 Dead plants and animals give lichen nutrients
 Worms, bacteria, insects, and fungi – also give nutrients
 Lichens soak up water and chemicals from the air
How do other organisms of your
ecosystem rely on your producer to
survive?
 Springtails (tiny insects) live inside lichen polar plants
 Mantid (tiny insect) uses lichen for camouflage - has
colors and patterns that match lichen perfectly and helps
it match itself
 Musk oxen eat the lichen to get energy
How do humans affect your
ecosystem?
 People melt the permafrost and sea ice which kills plants
and animals
 Oil spills kill fish, animals, and plants
 Turn off lights, computers and TV’s when your not using
them-will help decrease global warming
Choose one biotic or abiotic factor in
your ecosystem & describe how a
change in one of these could affect your
ecosystem.
Change: take away lemmings
•
Without lemmings owl and jaeger population would drop
•
If there were no more lemmings the ermine, artic fox, and wolf
would become extinct
•
At each stage in the energy flow through the tundra
community some energy is lost in the form of heat
Other interesting facts:
•
In the North Pole the sun doesn’t set for six months
•
Arctic Terns migrate 22,000 miles between the North and South
Pole
•
To stay warm in the winter, nose bot flies go into reindeers’ noses
•
An adult polar bear’s stomach can hold 150 pounds of food
•
Polar bears can smell from 20 miles away
•
A polar bear’s paws are as big as dinner plates
•
Most years polar snowfall is less than 60 inches
•
Foot prints and tire tracks remain visible for many years
Sources Used
 Levy, Janey. Discovering Arctic Tundra. New York: Rosen
Publishing Group, 2008. Print.
 Owen, Ruth. Polar Bear Cubs. New York: Kenn Goin, 2011.
Print.
 Johansson, Philip. The Frozen Tundra. Berkeley Heights,
NJ: Enslow Publishers, 2004. Print.
 Slade, Suzanne. What If There Were No Lemmings? North
Mankato, MN: Picture Window Books, 2011. Print
 Welch, Catherine A. Polar Plants. Norman, OK: University
of Oklahoma, 2006. Print.