Ecosystems - Tundra 7B

Describing what you can see Describe what you can see in the picture above. What can you not see? Arctic Tundra How do animals survive in the Arctic tundra? Give examples from the video The tundra ecosystem The name Tundra comes from the Finnish word tunturi which means treeless plain. For most of the year the Tundra is covered in snow, but in summer some of this will melt away. Because of the very harsh climate it is extremely difficult for anything to grow there. Plants and animals have to be well adapted to survive and both are very vulnerable to any slight changes in the environment. The foundation of the whole Tundra ecosystem rests on a layer of ground called the Permafrost. This permafrost is a frozen layer of soil and dead plant material that in some places extends to almost 450 metres under the surface. In much of the Arctic it is frozen all year round. In the southern regions, the surface layer above the permafrost melts during the summer and this forms bogs, marshes and shallow lakes that invite an explosion of animal life. Insects swarm around the bogs, and millions of migrating birds arrive to come and feed on them.Because of global warming, the autumn freeze comes later in the year and more of the permafrost is melting. Shrubs and spruce that previously couldn't take root on the permafrost now dot the landscape, potentially altering the habitat of the native animals.Another major concern is that the melting of the permafrost is actually contributing to global warming. It is estimated that about 14 percent of the Earth’s carbon is tied up in the permafrost. Until recently, the tundra acted as a carbon sink and captured huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as part of photosynthesis. This process helped keep the amount of this greenhouse gas from accumulating in the atmosphere.Today, however, as the permafrost melts and dead plant material decomposes it releases Carbon Dioxide (CO²) into the atmosphere. Why is there very little plant life in the Tundra? Why are there no Trees in the Tundra? (Think about how the Permafrost would stop trees growing) What problems are caused by the melting of the Permafrost? Tundra climate graph for Barrow, Alaska Plot the temperature as a LINE graph in RED and the rainfall as a Bar Graph in BLUE. What is the highest monthly temperature in Barrow? What month has the lowest temperature? What is the wettest month? What is the total rainfall for the whole year? Reflection What challenge did you face during the learning? Identify three items you learned and rank them in order of most important to least important, according to your opinion.