It is considered one of the coldest areas on the planet and they are located in areas closer to the poles. In this sense, the landscape that characterizes these areas is one covered by layers of snow that cover all or most of the ground.

This biome has a considerable extension since it covers a fifth of the earth’s surface and its location is in the area of ​​Alaska, Iceland, Siberia, southern Greenland, northern Russia, Scandinavia, northern Canada and Antarctica , summit areas between Chile and Argentina and several sub-Antarctic islands.

Types

It should be noted that due to its variety, there are various types of tundras, namely:

• Arctic tundra

It is located in the northern hemisphere under the Arctic ice sheets in both Canada and Alaska. Its temperature is generally below 70 degrees Celsius, in it there are no trees or shrubs but there are moss, grass, flowers and plants.

In this type of tundra, a greater diversity of animals can be observed compared to the alpine tundra thanks to the richness of its soil.

• Alpine Tundra

They are found on the top of the mountains. Due to its location and its steepness, the subsoil is not icy compared to other tundras. Temperatures vary between 5 and 7 degrees Celsius in summer periods while in winter it is -40 degrees Celsius.

• Antarctic Tundra

This type of biome is only found in the South Georgia, South Sandwich Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula. In this ecosystem we can find liver plants, various species of both aquatic and terrestrial algae and lichens.

Due to its remoteness from the rest of the continents in the world, the fauna in it is scarce.

Weather

The tundra has only two seasons a year , winter which is generally long and summer. Temperatures are mostly low during the year. Its climate is very cold, its rainfall is quite low and its winds are very strong.

Because the levels of precipitation in these areas are low, it is not considered a dry climate thanks to the low temperatures that characterize it, however, its soils are lacking in nutrients.

Fauna

The number of animals that inhabit the tundras are scarce, due to the rigorous temperatures, being that only animals that adapt to this type of climate can survive , with layers of fat under their skin, a lot of fur and everything. that is considered necessary to be able to live in this environment.

Most of the animals of this type of biome have white fur to camouflage themselves with the snow, in the same way they are characterized by their short legs and small ears, thus allowing the least amount of skin to be exposed to the weather.

Flora

The flora in this type of biome is very scarce due to the aggressiveness of the temperatures, so its structure is simple and low. What we can mostly observe are lichens, sedges, moss and ericaceae and it is likely that swampy areas can be found.

Despite the scarcity of the vegetation, it can be said that there are approximately 400 species of vegetation of which we can mention as the most outstanding the flowering grasses and the liver species.