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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]
The flora of the alpine tundra is characterized by plants that grow close to the ground, including perennial grasses, sedges, forbs, cushion plants, mosses, and lichens. [28] The flora is adapted to the harsh conditions of the alpine environment, which include low temperatures, dryness, ultraviolet radiation, and a short growing season.
Alpine plants can exist at very high elevations, from 300 to 6,000 metres (1,000 to 20,000 ft), depending on location. [8] [9] For example, there is a moss that grows at 6,480 m (21,260 ft) on Mount Everest. [9] Arenaria bryophylla is the highest flowering plant in the world, occurring as high as 6,180 m (20,280 ft). [10]
Tundra soil can be anywhere from 10 to 40 inches deep (25 to 100 cm)! The antlers of reindeer are used to scrape away snow and burrow through the soil in search of food.
It grows in both hot and cold climates in well-drained, open environments. Found primarily in areas of alpine tundra, it is extremely cold-hardy. Other common names include reindeer moss, deer moss, and caribou moss, but these names can be misleading since it is, though somewhat moss-like in appearance, not a moss.
The adversity of soil and climatic conditions proves to low production levels, as well as little biomass accumulation due to slow rates of nutrient release in cold and wet soils, specifically as a result of limited nitrogen and phosphorus (Nadelhoffer et al. 1996) Additionally, there are low temperatures and strong winds in the tundra causing most vegetation to be dominated by woody plants ...
These phenomena contribute to plant diversity by introducing new flora and favoring adaptations, both of new species and the dispersal of pre-existing species. [12] Though tundra covers only a minority of the Earth's surface (17-20%), the biodiversity of plant species is important to human nutrition. Of the 20 plant species that make up 80% of ...
A pine forest is an example of a temperate coniferous forest Forest communities dominated by huge trees (e.g., giant sequoia, Sequoiadendron gigantea ; redwood, Sequoia sempervirens ), unusual ecological phenomena, occur in western North America, southwestern South America, as well as in the Australasian region in such areas as southeastern ...