Alpine Tundra Food Web

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Plants in the Alpine Tundra

Due to the harsh climate, poor soil conditions, and the high altitude, trees are unable to grow in the alpine tundra.

Most plant life are shrubby or small leafy plants such as the alpine bluegrass.

Alpine Bluegrass:

• cold tolerant
• common in mountain meadows, bogs, and wet places
• Food to a variety of grazing animals such as bighorn sheep and mountain goats
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Alpine Tundra Soil – Order Gelisols

Gelisols refers to the soil order with a layer of permafrost within 2 meters of the surface that is usually found in cold climates. Due to the harsh conditions in which it exists, gelisols only supports about 0.4% of the world’s population – the lowest percentage of any of the soil orders.

Gelisols occupies around 9.1% of the Earth’s ice-free area. Since the soil temperature is low, soil-forming processes such as decomposition (of organic material) may take a long time. Because of this, Gelisols soil stores large amounts of organic carbon.

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Animal Life in Alpine Tundras

Pika (also known as rock rabbits or coneys)-

• Order: Lagomorpha
• Family: Ochotonidae
• Small, round, egg-shaped herbivores, rodent like creature that feeds on green plants.
• There are two types of pikas: those that occupy rocks or piles of talus and those that live in meadow or steppe environments and construct burrows.
• Rock-dwelling pikas are asocial and usually live alone or in pairs. On the other hand, pikas that live in meadows are extremely social and they live in family burrow system territories.
• Pikas spend most of their day sitting on top of a prominent rock while surveying their area. When they do patrol the area, they rub their cheek glands on rocks to mark their territory.
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Ptarmigan-

• Class: Aves
• Order: Galliformes
• Family: Tetraonidae
• Genus: Lagopus
• A medium-sized bird in the grouse family.
• It is camouflaged according to the season. Its feathers are white in the winter but they shed to a brown color during spring or summer.
• They normally feed on birch, willow buds, and catkins. The young may feed on inscests.
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Elk (Cervus canadensis)

• second largest species of deer in the world
• feeds on grasses, plants, leaves and bark
• Males have antlers which shed each year
• during the mating season, males particiapte in antler wrestling and bugling (a long series of screams that establishes dominance over other males)
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The Alpine Tundra Biome

The alpine tundra is a treeless plain located on the mountain tops throughout the world (tundra is derived from the Finnish word tunturi– which means ‘treeless plain’; ‘alpes‘ is the latin word for ‘high mountains’). Being one of the coldest biomes on Earth, the plains are often covered with frost and the tundra experiences low precipitation levels, poor nutrients, and short growing seasons. Due to its harsh climate, there is a small range of biotic diveristy and the plant structures are often very simple and most of the nutrients come from dead organic material.

World Locations:

• Located on high mountain tops throughout the world.
• Along the mountains on the West coast of North America and South America. As well as the mountains in Asia and Europe.

Climate: Coldest biome.

• •Temperature range= –34°C in the winter to 12°C in the summer months.
• •Annual rainfall: 6-10 inches (most come in the form of snow)
• •Growing season: 50-60 days
• The soil in alpine tundras are very poor because dead plants do not decompose very quickly in the harsh cold weather. Most of the soil is rocky, sandy, and dry.