SUB-ARTIC TUNDRA

             A Whole Different Ecosystem

In spring, the tundra is vibrant with life when more than 400 species of native plants burst into a rainbow of color; a magnificent sight after a long gloomy dreary winter! By fall, the tundra is covered with scarlet bearberries and yellow willow shrubs. Interspersed among the color, one may find downy white fluffs of arctic birds. The dark winters and the harsh Arctic climate produce a poverty of the soil, and a hostility to life.  We were told that bugs and black flies are really terrible for about six weeks in the summer.

Less than ten species of birds live year round in the Arctic, however, about 100 bird species breed there, but head south for the winter. Of the 30,000 species of fish less than 100 live in the northern seas. There are no reptiles.

BIG trees on the tundra

By fall all Arctic life prepares for winter.  Urged on by special hormones, birds feed incessantly to build fat reserves, for the long flight south. Ground squirrels, who have already doubled their weight, stock dens with a food supply. Arctic foxes also cache a winter’s food supply. Caribou have produced 1/5 of their body weight as fat. Plants store lipids in their roots and rhizomes to await spring. Insects produce a glycerol-like anti-freeze, efficient enough to survive temperatures of 70 degrees below, and spend the winter in a suspended animation.

I never visualized water on the tundra, but we saw many frozen ponds, some as small as a 10 X10 foot puddle, but many were quite large.     The frozen water areas are called thermal karst. In summer they are all liquid water in a soggy tundra, and in winter a frozen pond.

Both the federal and provincial governments strictly regulate the tundra. Running over the tundra like a wild off-road vehicle is strictly prohibited.

An esker is a narrow raised area on the tundra that has long been the highway of the tundra.  The permafrost of the tundra is only 6-12” below the surface. 

Taiga (tee ga)  means small sticks, and the area has long been known as the land of small sticks.  Because of the permafrost and shallow growing area, trees send up shoots vs. digging the roots deep. It’s easy to find north, as there are no branches or foliage on the north side of the trees. The trunks are small.

The low stuff growing was willow. It grows in fair abundance, is 18”-48” tall, and has yellow blooms in the fall.  Other small plants in various colors also grow on the tundra. Their blooms are also small. Lichen, which grows very slowly, can be seen in black, yellow, or orange growing on many of the rocks.

The tundra is an interesting ecosystem and I enjoyed learning about it, especially since we were riding over it each day in a tundra buggy!