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LOCATION: The chaparral biome is found in small sections of most continents, including the west coast of the United States, the west coast of South America, the Cape Town area of South Africa, the western tip of Australia and the coastal areas of the Mediterranean. In Europe it is called the maquis, Australia has the mallee, Chile the matorral, and South Africa calls it fynbos. It is also called the Mediterranean Forest, Woodland, and Scrub biome. The chaparral biome has many different types of terrain. Some examples are flat plains, rocky hills and mountain slopes.

WEATHER: The chaparral is characterized as being very hot and dry. The winter is very mild and is usually about 50°F (10&degC). Most of the rain in this biome comes in the winter. The summer is hot and dry at up to 100°F (37.5&degC). This makes fires and droughts very common.

PLANTS: Most chaparral plants have large, hard leaves, which hold moisture. The plants are also very well adapted to fires. Plants in the chaparral often have root systems designed to get as much water as possible. Shallow roots extend horizontally under the surface of the soils and are good at catching water when it falls as rain; taproots extend deep into the soil to capture groundwater. Some examples of plants in the chaparral are toyon, chamise, poison oak, scrub oak, Yucca and other shrubs, trees and cacti. The maquis contains plants such as myrtle, hawthorn, and broom. The Australian mallee is more open than these other types of chaparral and consists mainly of dwarf eucalyptus trees. The fynbos is also composed mainly of scrub and shrubs, such as heathers and protea plants.

ANIMALS: The animals are all mainly grassland and desert types adapted to hot, dry weather. A few examples from California are: coyotes, jack rabbits, mule deer, alligator lizards, horned toads, praying mantis, honey bees and ladybugs. In Europe one might find wild goats, sheep, cattle, mouflon, horses, lynx, wild boar, rabbits, vultures and eagles. There are also many small mammals, reptiles and insects, just like in California. The fynbos of South Africa also has many butterfly species that rely on this habitat.

PEOPLE AND THE CHAPARRAL: In California, a main concern associated with the chaparral is the large human populations that live in and around this biome. In Santa Barbara we live in the chaparral habitat. The hills surrounding the city are chaparral. The islands off the coast are chaparral. With people living in this dry biome, we have to be concerned about fire. Fire occurs naturally, but can also be caused by human activity. There are many endangered and sensitive species living in this region. Surrounding Santa Barbara, we have two National Parks to help protect the important chaparral habitat. The Los Padres National Forest stretches from the hills northward to Monterey County, and the Channel Islands National Park includes the five northern Channel Islands off the coast. Both of these parks contain many natural and cultural resources, including unique species and Native American artifacts.
LINKS:
General Biome Information

California Chaparral

Mediterranean Chaparral

Australian Mallee

Chilean Matorral

Back to Biomes Index

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LOCATION: The chaparral biome is found in small sections of most continents, including the west coast of the United States, the west coast of South America, the Cape Town area of South Africa, the western tip of Australia and the coastal areas of the Mediterranean.

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Californias most extensive, characteristic ecosystem. Present in every county in the state, chaparral represents California like none other.

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Chaparral has a wide variety of types from high elevation montane chaparral to coastal maritime chaparral. Each type contributes to Californias biodiversity.

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Territorial, smart, and feisty, chaparral creatures display a wide variety of talents to thrive in Californias native shrublands.

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The chaparral biome is found in a little bit of most of the continents - the west coast of the United States, the west coast of South America, the Cape Town area of South Africa, the western tip of Australia and the coastal areas of the Mediterranean.

Lay of the land: The chaparral biome has many different types of terrain. Some examples are flat plains, rocky hills and mountain slopes. It is sometimes used in movies for the "Wild West".

Chaparral is characterized as being very hot and dry. As for the temperature, the winter is very mild and is usually about 10 °C. Then there is the summer. It is so hot and dry at 40 °C that fires and droughts are very common.

Fortunately, the plants and animals are adapted to these conditions. Most of the plants have small, hard leaves which hold moisture. Some of these plants are poison oak, scrub oak, Yucca Wiple and other shrubs, trees and cacti.

The animals are all mainly grassland and desert types adapted to hot, dry weather. A few examples: coyotes, jack rabbits, mule deer, alligator lizards, horned toads, praying mantis, honey bee and ladybugs.

So, if you ever go somewhere that is like chaparral, make sure to bring some sunscreen and lots of water!

by Lucy M. 2000
Bibliography:
"Biomes". The World Book Encyclopedia. 1994 ed.

Ricciuti, Edward. Chaparral. Marshal Cavendish Corporation. 1996.

"Research/Project Results for Chaparral Biome", http://ncboard.ncboard.edu.on.ca/biome/chaparral.htm, (3 June 2000)

"Biomes of the World - Chaparral", http://www.snowcrest.net/geography/slides/biomes/chap.htm, (3 June 2000)

Silvia, Ben. "Summary of the Chaparral Biome", http://knight.noble-hs.sad60.k12.me.us/benbob/chaparral/summary.html, (3 June 2000)

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The chaparral biome is found in a little bit of most of the continents - the west coast of the United States, the west coast of South America, the Cape Town area of South Africa, the western tip of Australia and the coastal areas of the Mediterranean.

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Grassland Ecology - Plant Identification

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Chaparral Biome Facts

The chaparral biome is a part of each continent and consists of various types of terrain including mountains and plains. It is often confused with the desert biome because they share many similarities such as both being hot and dry. The chaparral biome receives more rainfall per year than the desert biome.

Parts of the chaparral biome exist in California, Oregon, South Africa, and Australia.

This biome is characterized by having both forests and grassland.

The summer season is very dry and can lasts up to five months.

The dry summer makes the chaparral biome sensitive to fires.

Occasional fires in the chaparral biome are helpful because they help balance out the living organisms and nonliving organisms.

The plants in the chaparral biome contain flammable material yet their barks resist fire.

Some plants have adapted to the summer fires in such a way that their seeds lie dormant until they are touched by fire.

The average rainfall is 10 to 17 inches a year.

During the winter, the temperature can get as low as 30° F and the summers can get up to 100° F.

The average temperature in the chaparral biome is 64° F.

Majority of the animals are nocturnal, sleeping during the day then coming out at night.

Animals living in the chaparral biome have to be able to survive on very little water. During the summer months there is usually a drought.

Many of the plants found in the chaparral biome are also found in the desert biome. This is because a chaparral biome normally borders a desert biome.

Some common animals of the chaparral biome are coyotes, mule deer, praying mantis, and ladybugs.

Shrubs are plentiful in the chaparral biome because they are able to survive on very little water. Chaparral comes from a Spanish word meaning shrub oak.

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The chaparral biome is a part of each continent and consists of various types of terrain including mountains and plains. It is often confused with the desert biome because they share many similarities such as both being hot and dry. The chaparral biome receives more rainfall per year than the desert biome.

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In this article we will take a look at Chaparral biomes that have been found in locations across the world. We will pay particular attention to those found in the US, South America, South Africa and a few other parts of the world. We will discuss these different biomes and help you better understand what they mean to the world as a whole.

Location

Small increments of the Chaparral biome can be found spread across all of the different continents and consists of various types of terrain including mountains and plains. This includes

US West Coast

South America's West Coast

South Africa's Cape Town

Australia's Western tip

Coast of the Mediterranean.

Some areas are more noticeable for the biome than others. You'll find a wide variety of terrain in the chaparral biome, including rocky hills, flat plains, and mountain slopes. A sample of the type of terrain is what you might see in the background of many movies set in the old west. Located from 30° to 50° N and 30° to 40° S latitudes, US residents may be most familiar with the chaparral climate of the central and southern coasts of California, which will be discussed later.

Chaparral biomes lay in mid-latitude climates in a belt of westerly winds, hence their location of the western end of the continents. There is an instrument known as Köppen's climate classification system. Under this system, chaparral biomes are classified as Cs. "C" refers to warm temperature climates - climates where the average temperature during the coldest month is 64° F. The "s" represent the dry season in the summer of the hemisphere where the biome is located.

Climate

The climate of the chaparral biome is very hot and dry.

Winters there tend to be very mild, with temperatures of about 50 °F. The winter climate is also known as the Mediterranean climate, which while not very rainy, is typically mild and moist.

Most of the precipitation occurring in the Biome occurs during the winter months. Summers, which tend to be hot and dry, run about 104 °F, but can range from 30° and 120° F.

Summers are unique in the biome because while it can get very hot, temperatures can also quickly dip down to nearly freezing. Fires and droughts in the chaparral are very common in the summer. Rain totals in the biome average between 10-17 inches for the year, with most of that occurring during the winter. It receives more rainfall per year than the desert biome.

The weather found in the biome is constantly changing. Conditions can change vastly from day to night, and the animals and plants that live in these areas must learn how to quickly adapt to these constant changes.

Plants of Chaparral Biome

Plants and animals found in the chaparral biome are uniquely adapted for this environment.

Many of the over 2,000 plant varieties are marked by their characteristic hard, small leaves that have an ability to hold significant amounts of moisture.

Some plants also have leaves with a hairy texture, also designed to hold onto and efficiently use water. Plants in chaparral biome have root systems designed to get as much water as possible.

Interestingly, plants in this biome have leaves that are made from highly flammable materials. Some plants in the biome have adapted to even withstand the intense heat of fires and then bloom. These plants have seeds which lay dormant during normal conditions, but in the event of a fire, their seed casing crack open and begin to sprout.

Common plants in the biome include poison oak, Yucca Wiple, shrubs, toyon, chamise, trees, and cacti. Oak trees, pines and mahogany trees also do well in the biome. The chaparral biome of Australia consists mainly of dwarf eucalyptus trees.

Animals of Chaparral Biome

The animals and over 100 types of birds are typically native to grassland and desert type environments, having adapted to hot, dry climates, and doing so very well. These animals survive with the use of very little water. The hot temperatures have become normal for them, so they've also learned how to adapt to the sometimes extreme temperatures. These animals are found active during the night as it is too hot for them to search for their prey during the day. Some examples of birds and animals that thrive in the challenging chaparral biome conditions include:

In Europe, one may findrabbits, vultures, sheep, cattle, mouflon, horses, lynx, wild boar and eagles.

Photo credit: USFWS

The Chaparral Biome of California

In further looking at the US chaparral biome in California, also known as the woodlands and grasslands of California, you'll find the biome in a section of the Sierra Nevada. The coastal range lays at 53° to 65º latitude on the coast and 32° to 60º North in the mountain range. The chaparral peaks at about 5,000 feet above sea level amidst steeply sloped mountains. Valleys and streams are widely spaced from one another, but will run very narrow.

In California's portion of the chaparral biome, temperatures usually range at temperatures of 53° to 65° F on the coast and 32° to 60° F in the mountain ranges.

It typically rains 12 to 40 inches per year in these areas, mostly in during the cold winter months, but some in the Fall and Spring as well.

Precipitation is usually higher at the higher elevations. There's little snow, and what does occur tends to melt quickly.

You'll find all four seasons in the biome, even though they are not marked by as significant temperatures swings as are found in some regions.

In this region, animals including Acorn Woodpeckers and Sonoma Chipmunk call the area home. Mahoganies, pines, and oak represent the type of plants that you will find in this very hot and humid area. Both the animals and the plants in the area have adapted to the higher than normal temperatures, and the many wildfires occurring in the state each year have also become quiet the norm. In fact, many of the lifeforms found in the area depend upon those fires to help with the regeneration process. Plants survive with little water needed. They use waxy leaves to conserve water.

Human interference in California's chaparral has been a mixed blessing. While birds and animals have been harmed by the harvesting of trees, some areas of the biome have been helped by the repairing of water sources and other areas that have been destroyed by animals and the diversion of water. It seems that so often humans come along, and while they feel they are helping, actually destroy the flow of things, the adaptations that have been made to survive in these areas.

Human interference prohibits the balance of the way of life. Just the fact that people build homes in these areas causes a threat to the population of animals and plants. Santa Barbara, CA, is a Biome area that is also a very popular place to call home.

People choose Biome areas because of their grandeur and beauty, unaware that they are affecting anything at all. This is just one area in California that has seen interference due to human contact.

Also a huge threat is the pollution in these areas. California is one of the worst places for air pollution. Pollution occurs in many different ways, including the growth of the industrial pollution, emissions from vehicles, and more.

Hunting is a final cause of trouble in the biome areas. When animals are hunted it definitely causes strain on the population of this particular type of species. Animal shortage hurts in many ways. In addition to hunting, some animals have also ventured out to areas other than their natural habitats. Some never return, also causing threats to the biome area.

Final Thoughts
The Chaparral biomes are closer to home than what you may have realized before. These areas are easy to identify due to their irregular temperatures that often bring hot and humid summers and wet winters. The California area biome is probably one that is most familiar to most of us. Every single day we have an up close and personal look at human interference with the biome, and the after effects of that interference. The Chaparral biomes found all across the continents provide us with a different outlook and a different atmosphere to enjoy.

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Chaparral Biome: Location, Climate, Plants and Animals - Conserve Energy Future

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In this article we will take a look at Chaparral biomes that have been found in locations across the world. We will pay particular attention to those found in the US, South America, South Africa and a few other parts of the world.

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The word chaparral comes from the Spanish word Chaparro, meaning scrub oak. Chaparral biome is a relatively small yet one of the most extensive biomes in the world. It's more extensive than the desert, the forests, and the sea shore. It's virtually everywhere. Chaparral is created when cool water from an ocean or sea merges with a high-temperature landmass. Plants and animals have developed extraordinary adaptation, which makes chaparral biome one of the most unique, sparse and diverse collections of ecosystems in the world.

Chaparral biome is a semi-arid, shrub-dominated collaboration of hard-leaved, woody plants shaped by Mediterranean climate (wet winters, hot, dry summers) and sporadic fires, consisting of summer-drought-tolerant plants and hard sclerophyllous evergreen leaves. The Chaparral Biome is also called the Mediterranean biome because it commonly occurs in the Mediterranean. When talking about Chaparral biome, most think of the rolling hills in the Mediterranean, but it also encompasses plains and mountains.

The chaparral biome is located in the Mediterranean climate zone, which means it experiences mild winter, as well as hot, dry summers, but not rainy. Summer temperatures can surpass 100 degrees. On average, chaparral biome winter temperatures range between 10-12 degrees Celsius (about 50 degrees Fahrenheit) to 30-40 degrees Celsius (about 86-104 degrees Fahrenheit). Droughts are prevalent here. Many fires occur in the chaparral due to the heat and dryness.

Precipitation

Chaparral biome receives approximately 10-17 inches of rainfall annually. Most of the rain occurs during winter. Lightning and thunderstorms are prevalent during the end of summer months. Due to long summer droughts, only hard-leaved plants are able to survive in this biome. Most plants also develop hairy leaves to harness moisture from the air and utilize it.

Chaparral biome only occurs in specific areas around the globe such as the Mediterranean, middle and southern California, Central Chile, Southern Australia and the southern tip of Africa. This is the biome in the world where most fires occur, and new suburbs spring up, making it one of the most controversial.

Chaparral biome has two seasons; summer and winter. The summer season is associated with hot, dry climate. Temperatures during summer range from 70 degrees Fahrenheit and may go well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

The summer season in the chaparral biome is the exact opposite of winter. Temperatures are fairly mild. Average temperatures stand at 50-70 degrees Fahrenheit, with average monthly precipitation of 3-7 inches.

Plants communities growing in the chaparral biome majorly consist of shrubland like that of the California's chaparral. Similar plant communities grow in other Mediterranean climates, for instance, the Matorral in Chile, Maquis in Mediterranean basin; Fynbos is South Africa, including western and southern Australia. The shrub land has various names depending on which country you are in. However, they share similar adaptations to deal with the heat and fire.

The primary producers in the Chaparral biome are the different plant species. The animal species here mainly feed on the plants or use them for shelter and are also well adapted to the fires and heat. Some typical species of plants in the chaparral biome include:
Olive Tree
Olive tree is the oldest known grown tree in the world. It played a significant role in the civilization of Mediterranean nations. The olive tree is evergreen, featuring grey-green leaves, including small white flowers. It grows in nutrient-deficient, but well-drained soils. It requires more sunlight for production of fruits. However, it also requires a little bit of chill to enable the fruits to set. It's able to survive in hot, dry climates and can grow up to 25-30 feet tall.
Blue Oak
This tree originates in California. It thrives in the valleys and lower slopes of the Coast Ranges. The tree is well adapted to live in drought and dry climates as it's able to survive in extreme temperatures of up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It characteristically produces leaves and acorns.
Coyote Brush
Coyote Brush is mostly found in California Chaparrals and exists in canyons below 2500 feet. It's populous in the chaparral biome as the pappus catches the wind and blows away assisting the Coyote Brush to spread its seeds. Another adaptation of the Coyote Brush is its large root system that spreads out to harness any rain water that may fall in its dry surrounding.
Common Sagebrush
Common Sagebrush also grows in dry environments where other plants don't. However, it likes well-drained soils occurring in sheltered areas.
French boom
French boom grows in dense stand, which crowds out the native plants. It's known to grow very quickly.
Fairy duster
Many chaparral and desert animals like to eat the Fairy Duster. It's also grown in homes to decorate shrubs in landscapes and gardens.
King Protea
King Protea is particularly unique since it can absorb moisture through the leaves, which is why it grows even where there isn't much precipitation.
Manzanita
This plant grows mainly in Mediterranean climates characterized by rainy winters and warm, dry summers. They can cope with a fair quantity of water during its first two years of growth. However, they will perish if overwatered when mature.
Mountain Mahogany
The mountain mahogany has taken up an interesting adaptation to survive in chaparral biome: Dwarfing. It becomes smaller to survive. It becomes small due to extreme droughts, climatic changes, as well as poor soil. The Mountain Mahogany is somewhat invincible since it cannot be brought down by an ax, cannot be exterminated by fire, which is why it is nicknamed ''hardtack."

The animals living in chaparral biome are chiefly desert and grassland kinds adapted to hot, dry climate. Some of the animal species in this biome include:
Grey Fox
A known solitary hunter that eats a wide variety of things, including insects, birds, rabbits, nuts, berries, as well as other rodents. In the chaparral biome, Grey Fox will eat a lot more plants and insects than Foxes existing farther east. It has remarkable climbing abilities, allowing it acquire foods that have not been eaten by the red fox.
Puma
This animal has developed impeccable characteristics to thrive in chaparral biome. It incredibly sneaks up on prey to easily catch it. Puma's main food is deer, but will also feed on mice, birds, and insects. When it wants to hide its dead prey for later use, the Puma scrapes leaves over it. It will stay in the vicinity to guard and feed on the hidden carcass for several days.
Black-tailed Jack Rabbit
Black-tailed Jack Rabbit has distinguishable huge ears. It leverages the huge ears to increase or decrease its blood flow in order to regulate its body temperature. This adaptation helps it survive in the chaparral biome.
Spotted Skunk
Spotted Skunks thrive in a wide range of climates. Other species of Skunk like the Western Spotted Skunk constructs a den from a hole in the ground and pampers it with leaves. On few instances, Spotted Skunks will live in hollow trees. They are so aggressive that they can prey on their predator.
Golden Jackal
The Golden Jackal is naturally a predator. It helps conserve the environment by keeping frog, rodent, bird, and gazelle population down. When winter sets in, the Golden Jackal grows thick coat of hair to insulate themselves from freezing temperatures. It has also learnt to eat insects when there is scarcity of food.
Bezoar Goat
The Bezoar goat grows thick wool to survive in the harsh mountain climate. It also has horns for defense and to fight females.

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Chaparral Biome: Climate, Precipitation, Location, Seasons, Plants, Animals | Earth Eclipse

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The word chaparral comes from the Spanish word Chaparro, meaning scrub oak. Chaparral biome is a relatively small yet one of the most extensive biomes in the world. It's more extensive than the desert, the forests, and the sea shore. It's virtually everywhere.

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Kids learn about the grasslands biome. Flat with few trees, these ecosystems feed much of the world.

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In
the United States and Canada there are three types of grasslands (or prairies):

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Grassland biomes are large, rolling terrains of grasses, flowers and herbs. Latitude, soil and local climates for the most part determine what kinds of plants grow in a particular grassland. A grassland is a region where the average annual precipitation is great enough to support grasses, and in some areas a few trees. The precipitation is so eratic that drought and fire prevent large forests from growing. Grasses can survive fires because they grow from the bottom instead of the top. Their stems can grow again after being burned off. The soil of most grasslands is also too thin and dry for trees to survive.

When the settlers of the United States moved westward, they found that the grasslands, or prairies as they called them, were more than just dry, flat areas. The prairies contained more than 80 species of animals and 300 species of birds, and hundreds of species of plants.

There are two different types of grasslands; tall-grass, which are humid and very wet, and short-grass, which are dry, with hotter summers and colder winters than the tall-grass prairie. The settlers found both on their journey west. When they crossed the Mississippi River they came into some very tall grass, some as high as 11 feet. Here it rained quite often and it was very humid. As they traveled further west and approached the Rocky Mountains, the grass became shorter. There was less rain in the summer and the winters got colder. These were the short-grass prairies.

Grassland biomes can be found in the middle latitudes, in the interiors of continents. They can have either moist continental climates or dry subtropical climates. In Argentina, South America, the grasslands are known as pampas. The climate there is humid and moist. Grasslands in the southern hemisphere tend to get more precipitation than those in the northern hemisphere, and the grass tends to be the tall-grass variety.

There is a large area of grassland that stretch from the Ukraine of Russia all the way to Siberia. This is a very cold and dry climate because there is no nearby ocean to get moisture from. Winds from the arctic aren't blocked by any mountains either. These are known as the Russian and Asian steppes.

In the winter, grassland temperatures can be as low as -40° F, and in the summer it can be as high 70° F. There are two real seasons: a growing season and a dormant season. The growing season is when there is no frost and plants can grow (which lasts from 100 to 175 days). During the dormant (not growing) season nothing can grow because its too cold.

In tropical and subtropical grasslands the length of the growing season is determined by how long the rainy season lasts. But in the temperate grasslands the length of the growing season is determined by temperature. Plants usually start growing when the daily temperature reached about 50° F.

In temperate grasslands the average rainfall per year ranges from 10-30 inches. In tropical and sub-tropical grasslands the average rainfall per year ranges from 25-60 inches per year The amount of rainfall is very important in determining which areas are grasslands because it's hard for trees to compete with grasses in places where the uppers layers of soil are moist during part of the year but where deeper layer of soil are always dry.

The most common types of plant life on the North American prairie are Buffalo Grass, Sunflower, Crazy Weed, Asters, Blazing Stars, Coneflowers, Goldenrods, Clover, and Wild Indigos.

Some common animals in the grasslands are Coyotes, Eagles, Bobcats, the Gray Wolf, Wild Turkey, Fly Catcher, Canadian Geese, Crickets, Dung Beetle, Bison, and Prairie Chicken.

by Sam M. 2000
Bibliography:
Living In The Environment: An Introduction To Environmental Science G. Tyler Miller--20th edition; Wadsworth Publishing, Belmont, California,

Encyclopedia Britannica, 20th Edition

"Temperate Grasslands" http://www.runet.edu/~swoodwar/CLASSES/GEOG235/biomes/tempgrass/tempgras.html, (Oct. 2000).

"Grasslands",
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/glossary/gloss5/biome/grasslan.html, (Oct. 2000).

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Grassland biomes are large, rolling terrains of grasses, flowers and herbs. Latitude, soil and local climates for the most part determine what kinds of plants grow in a particular grassland. A grassland is a region where the average annual precipitation is great enough to support grasses, and in some areas a few trees.

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The Steppe biome is a dry, cold, grassland that is found in all of the continents except Australia and Antarctica. It is mostly found in the USA, Mongolia, Siberia, Tibet and China. There isn't much humidity in the air because Steppe is located away from the ocean and close to mountain barriers.

The Steppe biome is usually found between the desert and the forest. If it got more rain, it would become a forest. If it got less rain, it would become a desert. The average rainfall is 10-30 inches per year. But in May, June, and August, the Steppe can get up to 4-5 inches a month.

There are many plants in Steppe. The main ones are different grasses. The grasses are separated into 3 different groups, depending on how much rain they get. The tall grasses grow up to 4 1/2 feet because they live closer to the forest. The short grasses can be less than 1 1/2 feet. They are closer to the dessert. 1 1/2 feet is a small amount, considering that people don't cut the grasses. The last group is the mixed grasses. They grow 2-3 feet high and get 15-20 inches of rain per year.

Very few people live in the Steppe climate because it's only grass and it has very few other traits. Farmers would have a hard time growing crops because the soil is so poor and its so cold. There is also a lot of wind in the Steppe because there are few trees.

Steppe has warm summers and really cold winters. There is often a lot of snow in the northern Steppes. All the Steppes experience long droughts and violent winds. Sometimes the summers are so hot that the grasses catch on fire. That is more dangerous then usual because the grass is so dry that it spreads quickly.

A lot of the animals that live in Steppe are grazing animals, such as rabbits, mice, antelopes, horses, etc. Smaller animals have little defense from predators. Since it is such an open environment and predators can find animals fast, they either form herds or make burrows. There are many endangered animals on the Steppe. More and more people are trying to protect them.

A true natural grassland is becoming harder and harder to find because people are taking them over. They are plowing the grass for farming and digging holes in search of oil. The Steppe biome is becoming endangered, just like the animals.

by Mary Elizabeth v.N. 2000

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The Steppe biome is a dry, cold, grassland that is found in all of the continents except Australia and Antarctica. It is mostly found in the USA, Mongolia, Siberia, Tibet and China. There isn't much humidity in the air because Steppe is located away from the ocean and close to mountain barriers.

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In the middle of North America is a huge area of land which was once covered with grasses and colorful wild flowers. The French called the rolling plains of grass "prairie", from the word for a meadow grazed by cattle. The prairies are a type of grassland dominated by herbaceous plants and grasses. Very few trees grow on the prairies and are usually widely scattered.

The prairies form a triangular area from Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba down through the Great Plains to southern Texas and Mexico, and approximately 1,000 miles from western Indiana westward to the Rocky Mountains. They cover about 1.4 million square miles.

As you move from east to west, the rainfall in the prairies decreases. Climates are more moist close to the mountains and to the east and north; they are driest in the central portions. This creates different types of prairies, with the tallgrass prairie, known as the true prairie, in the wetter parts. Grasses such as big bluestem, and Indian grass, and many species of flowers grow here. The plants can sometimes grow to be 10 feet tall. Mixed-grass prairies are found in the central Great Plains, and shortgrass prairie towards the rain shadow of the Rocky Mountains. The rain shadow causes Pacific ocean moisture to rise and cool, dropping as rain or snow on the western side of the mountains instead of on the prairies.

Precipitation in the prairies can reach from about 12.6 inches in the shortgrass prairie to 21.7 inches in the tallgrass prairies.

The prairies were maintained in their natural state by climate, grazing and fire. Rainfall varies from year to year in the prairies. There is usually a long dry period during the summer months. Every 30 years or so there is a long drought period which lasts for several years. The most famous drought was in the 1930s, when the prairies were called the "Dust Bowl".

The climate of the prairies is influenced by its mid-continental location, and the sheltering effect of the Rocky Mountains. Being located far from the moderating effects of oceans causes a wide range of temperatures, with hot summers and cold winters. Strong winds blow across the endless plains during both summer and winter.

Every one to five years fire would spread across any given area of land. These fires moved rapidly across the land and did not penetrate into the soil very far. They killed most saplings, and removed the thatch of dead grasses, allowing early flowering spring species to grow.

Prairie plants have adapted to fires by growing underground storage structures, and having their growth points slightly below ground surface. The soil under a prairie is a dense mat of tangled roots, rhizomes, bulbs, and rootstock. The plants die back every winter, but are kept alive from year to year by the underground root system. Roots of prairie plants can by longer than the plant is tall. The roots of big bluestem may be 7 feet long, and switchgrass roots can be 11 feet long. Two-thirds of most prairie plant are below the ground. Some roots die each year and decompose, adding lots of organic matter to the soil. That's why the soil of prairies is so fertile.

Before settlers moved west, the prairies were covered with herds of grazing animals, such as buffalo, elk, deer, and rabbits. These animals increased the growth in prairies by adding nitrogen to the soil through urine and feces, and creating open areas for plants that like to have the soil dug up. Prairie dogs dug huge underground tunnel systems which aerated the soil and allowed water to reach several feet below the surface.

Today very little of the original prairies survive, only one to two percent. Much of the land has been turned into agricultural uses, urban areas are moving in, and fires are being suppressed. The genetic and biological diversity of the plants are disappearing. The herds of thousands of buffalo were all but wiped out. There is a strong movement to educate people about prairies. Many states are rehabilitating what is left of their prairies and reintroducing the native wildlife and plants.

Please visit our image gallery of the prairies.
Bibliography:
"Prairie Portrait", http://www.ag.usask.ca/exhibits/walkway/plains/portrait.html, (June 2001).

"Prairie Climate", http://www.ag.usask.ca/exhibits/walkway/plains/climate.html, (June 2001).

"Prairie", http://www.IowaPrairieNetwork.org/what_is_prairie.htm, (June 2001).

"Tallgrass Prairies of Illinois", http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/~kenr/prairiebiodiversity.html, (June 2001).

"Prairie Grass Cultural Guide by Prairie Frontier and photos" , http://www.prairiefrontier.com/pages/prairegrs.htm, (June 2001).

"The Grassland Biome", http://www.richmond.edu/~ed344/webunits/biomes/grass.html, (June 2001).

"Grassclimate", http://www.richmond.edu/~ed344/webunits/biomes/gclimate.html, (June 2001).

"Tallgrass Prairies of Illinois", http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/~kenr/prairieintroduction.html, (June 2001).

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In the middle of North America is a huge area of land which was once covered with grasses and colorful wild flowers. The French called the rolling plains of grass "prairie", from the word for a meadow grazed by cattle. The prairies are a type of grassland dominated by herbaceous plants and grasses.

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Plants

Mulla Mulla Grasslands (Bush's Paddock) contains an extension of the Pinkerton Woodland, however there is a cleared paddock between the two areas. The majority of the vegetation on this 45ha paddock is native grasses and herbs.

It was acquired by Melton Council 1990's as a buffer to the proposed adjacent quarry. In 1999 a WWF grant was received by Council to restore the grassland. A Conservation Covenant was applied by Trust for Nature. PLEG has been co-jointly managing this grassland with Melton Council from this period.

The signature plant thriving in this paddock is Featherheads or Tall Mulla Mulla (Ptilotus macrocephalus)

Plant List for Bush's Paddock by Doug Frood
All Photos taken on-site by Colin Rowan & Cathy Powers

Bracteantha viscosa
(Sticky Everlasting)

Grasses

Chloris truncata (Windmill Grass).
New Shoots (Left),Mature heads (Right)

The Grassy Woodlands

General View - Grassy Woodland

Native Spear Grass

Tricoryne elatior

(Yellow Rush Lily)

An old rock wall on-site

General View

Walking in the tall grasses.

Einadia nutans
(Nodding Salt Bush)

Low growing,

Microlaeana stipodes
(Weeping Grass )

Convolvulus

(Twining flower)

Ripe Berries of the Salt Bush

Planting of Grassland species - Organised by Melton Shire

The initial planting of selected native plants were made using a special weed mat, which would hopefully reduce the incidence of weeds and promote the growth of native plants.
Four months later, the field grasses have grown (background) and the special plants in the weed mat have grown well.

Bracteantha viscosa

(Sticky Everlasting)

Helichrysium apiculatum

(Common Everlasting)

Wahlenbergia communis

(Tufted Bluebell)

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Plants Mulla Mulla Grasslands (Bush's Paddock) contains an extension of the Pinkerton Woodland, however there is a cleared paddock between the two areas. The majority of the vegetation on this 45ha paddock is native grasses and herbs. It was acquired by Melton Council 1990's as a buffer to the proposed adjacent quarry.

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:::: What's It Like Where You Live? ::::

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Did you know that the Arctic Tundra is the world’s youngest biome? It was formed 10,000 years ago. Located at latitudes 55° to 70° North, the tundra is a vast and treeless land which covers about 20% of the Earth’s surface, circumnavigating the North pole. It is usually…

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Arctic Indigenous Peoples - Arctic Centre, University of Lapland

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Arctic Indigenous Peoples - Arctic Centre, University of Lapland

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Arctic tundra animals do not enjoy the luxury of simply heading into thick forests to escape the biting wind. Instead, it is just them vs. vast expanses of treeless tundra. Some, like the Caribou, do head south to enjoy those forests at least part if the year. Animals in the tundra survive thanks to harboring multiple defenses against the paralyzing cold. Here are some examples of how arctic animals are often perfectly adapted to life in the cold:

Both the Collared Lemming and the Brown Lemming call the arctic tundra home. The former is more of a rocky dweller, while the latter prefers wetter areas.

Lemmings survive the cold primarily for two reasons. First, they are furry, very furry. In fact, from a distance, they can appear almost round in shape. Kind of gives new meaning to the term "fur ball." They look like you could pick them up and play catch with them. First, though, you'd have to catch one, and they are pretty elusive.

In the winter, they burrow down into the snow. The snow traps the air, and it becomes an excellent insulator. Sadly for the lemming, many arctic predators find these little guys to be tasty treats, all that long fur notwithstanding. As a result, time spent in snow tunnels also keeps them safe.

5. Arctic Hares

Few would compare the Arctic Hare to the Musk Ox in any way. However, they do share a common approach to surviving the arctic cold - they hang out in groups. In fact, the hares do so in a big way. There may be literally hundreds of them huddling together for both warmth and protection. When a noise is heard they act a little like crooks after a robbery; they scatter in all directions.

4. Arctic Ground Squirrels

These particular ground squirrels probably hang out in their dens laughing as they think about all those hares huddling out in the cold. Before the arctic winter arrives, they wisely line their burrows with great insulators like Musk Ox hair, leaves, and lichens. While they sleep, their body temperature drops to just a tad above freezing, and their heartbeat slows way down. This particular ground squirrel still does use insulators, including the ground itself. It also adapts to the cold by slipping into a virtually vegetative state. Rumpelstiltskin he's not, but the arctic ground squirrel does hibernate for a full seven months at a stretch.

The Musk Ox is one of the most distinct animals in the tundra. Unlike the snowy owl, arctic hare, article fox, and many other arctic animals that blend into the white snow, this massive beast could care less. His fur may be dark, but it is also warm, for a number of reasons:

Air is a wonderful insulator, and the hollow hairs of the Musk Ox keep the air warmed by body heat close by where it is needed. And, when it comes to this citizen of the tundra, there is a whole lot of that hair. It hangs almost to the ground, creating a tent of sorts. The area directly beneath the animal is kept warm. That layer of warm air adds to comfort. Finally, as is true of many arctic animals, the fur is very thick. Relatively warmer air is not only trapped inside the hollow hairs, but all around them as well.

Plus, there's power in numbers. During spells of extreme cold, they huddle together. Collectively, all the body heat they emit helps to warm the surrounding air just a little. Some of us run around in the cold to stay warm; it appears that the sedentary Musk Ox is not too keen on that idea. That huddling is for protection as well. Wolves are always on the prowl for smaller calves. Therefore, the adults form a circle around their young, with their prominent horns pointing outward for protection.

Like the Polar Bear, the Musk Ox has one defense after another against the arctic cold, helping them to maintain their core temperature.

2. Tundra and Arctic Wolves

Compared to other species of wolves, these inhabitants of the far north have evolved some rather interesting ways to minimize heat loss. Their legs are shorter, their ears are smaller and more rounded, and they have a shorter muzzle. Apparently, all of these smaller adjustments to the bitter cold add up to survival.

These wolves also deploy a double-barreled defense between the biting winds and their skin. They have both a fur coat and a thick undercoat. The overcoat is thick and long. Underneath, the soft fur near the skin creates another later of trapped air warmed by body heat.

1. Polar Bears

Dominant among all of the land-based arctic animals is the Polar Bear. They can handle just about anything the Arctic winters throw at them for a number of reasons:

Polar Bears look all soft and furry in pictures and at the zoo. In reality, the bear's fur coat is quite oily. This keeps the moisture at bay, even when they are frolicking in the water. Anyone who has been cold and wet realizes that it's far worse than just being cold.

Long, heavy fur essentially creates an insulating layer of moderated air between the bear and it's frosty surroundings. Body heat is not dissipated out into the cold. Rather, it is trapped in the fur where it adds a beneficial layer of insulating air.

Many of us are all-too-acquainted with the fact that fat insulates far better than muscle and other body tissue. The Polar Bear takes the insulating power of fat to a new level by battling the cold with a layer of blubber directly underneath the skin.

Ultimately, the famed Polar Bear has that layer of insulating fat working together with a layer of air trapped in its long fur. Finally, the oily coat keeps moisture away to keep this massive creature safe from the ravages of hypothermia.

Although the many ways that arctic tundra animals adapt to the cold seem very different, most of them survive because they effectively employ just a few basic principles:

Trapped air insulates

Body features retain heat

Fat insulates

Oil keeps the wet away

You'd think that many tundra animals would beat the cold by hibernating through it. However, only the arctic ground squirrel seems to take this "easy" way out. The rest of these arctic animals endure it all, including gale-driven blizzards howling across the treeless tundra.

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Tundra Animals: 6 Arctic Animals Perfectly Adapted For Life In The Cold

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Arctic tundra animals do not enjoy the luxury of simply heading into thick forests to escape the biting wind. Instead, it is just them vs. vast expanses of treeless tundra. Some, like the Caribou, do head south to enjoy those forests at least part if the year.

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tundra, a major zone of treeless level or rolling ground found in cold regions, mostly north of the Arctic Circle ( Arctic tundra) or above the timberline on high mountains (alpine tundra). Tundra is known for large stretches of bare ground and rock and for patchy mantles of low vegetation such as mosses, lichens, herbs, and small shrubs. This surface supports a meagre but unique variety of animals. The Finns called their treeless northern reaches the tunturi, but the concept of a vast frozen plain as a special ecological realm called tundra was developed by the Russians.

One constant factor shaping the tundra is alternate freezing and thawing of the ground. Along with the factors mentioned above, this freeze-thaw cycle sets the tundra apart from two ecosystems frequently found adjacent to it-the icy polar barrens on the one hand and the evergreen taiga on the other. Permafrost -perennially frozen ground-is a significant feature of the Arctic tundra; however, it does not typically occur in alpine regions.

Distribution

The global extent of the tundra biome is considerable, accounting for roughly 10 percent of Earth's surface. The southern limit of Arctic tundra follows the northern edge of the coniferous forest belt. In North America this line lies above latitude 60° N, while in Eurasia most of it occurs north of 70° N-except in eastern Siberia, where it extends southward to 60° N in Kamchatka. The northward bulge of forest in Eurasia is a result of the warmer summers that occur over that large contiguous landmass.

Alpine tundra covers approximately 3 percent of Earth's land surface, and it is mostly found in the Northern Hemisphere. This habitat can be found in mountainous areas worldwide, occurring at high elevations where temperatures are too low and winds are too strong for the growth of trees. The average elevation where alpine tundra occurs is generally higher near the Equator than at the poles.

Because nearly all of Antarctica is covered with ice, it lacks a well-developed tundra, though lichens, mosses, and at least three species of flowering plants occur in more favourable habitats there.

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Tundra | Definition, Climate, Animals, & Facts

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Tundra, a cold region of treeless level or rolling ground found mostly north of the Arctic Circle or above the timberline on mountains. Tundra is known for large stretches of bare ground and rock and for patchy mantles of low vegetation such as mosses, lichens, herbs, and small shrubs.

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Arctic Plants

In the Arctic, growing conditions for vegetation are very varied. In the southern reaches of the Arctic, plant communities can be vigorous, with small trees and stands of low growing shrubs. The further north one travels, the shorter and more sparse the ground cover becomes until in the high arctic, which is a true desert, the plants are scattered across rocky ground and the most numerous plants are the lichens. Here the carpets of flowers are only found below bird cliffs or other areas of high fertility.

During the winter months the plants need to rest under the blanket of snow and be ready for a quick getaway as soon as the temperature gets high enough. Nearly all arctic plants grow their flower buds in late summer, then they overwinter and are ready for an early start the next spring. In order to survive the low temperatures and cold winds the plants grow close to the ground and many of then have small leaves to stop evaporation. I was fascinated to see, on a summer visit to Franz Josef Land, how plants that I was familiar with further south, that had flowers on longish stems like the Alpine saxifrage, Saxifraga nivalis, in the very marginal conditions on Franz Josef Land the flower was nestled within the rosette of the leaves, there is safety in keeping your head down! By growing in clumps the plants are protected from the wind and the dark green foliage of some of the plants, warm up quickly and then the air within the canopy of the plant warms up, sometimes it is as much as 20C above the ambient air temperature, giving that plant an advantage.

Different plants have different coping strategies, Moss campion has a deep taproot and colonises ground, giving cover to less robust plants. The Arctic Willow in its many forms is found all over the Arctic, its stems, although not thick could be hundreds of years old. A forest less than 6 cm high. The bowl shaped flowers of the Arctic Avens and the Arctic Poppy follow the sun around the sky to optimize the warmth from it. They are a popular resting place for pollinating insects because of the warmth focused into the centre of the flower. Arctic bell heather thrives in hollows where a covering of snow protect it from sharp driving snow in winter, the price it pays for this blanket of snow is a shorter growing season, while it waits for the snow to melt. Mountain Sorrel can survive under snow patches for several years, during summers when some of the snow doesn't melt.
Grasses and rushes do well in the boggy tundra soils with cotton grass flowering conspicuously in the damp land close to streams and lakes, but a closer look will reveal that there are often sedges and Poa grasses growing alongside it

Plants in Thermal Underwear

The Wooly Lousewort and the Hairy Lousewort both protect their precious flowers with a lot of silvery hairs giving the impression of wearing thermal underwear but the plant with the most impressive thermal underwear is a large groundsel found in the subarctic. The Mastadon Flower, Senecio congestus grows to about 1m in height and is covered in long white fur.

Mosses and Lichens

Conditions do appear to favour the mosses and lichens and there are frequently areas with no sign of any vascular plants but with a wide variety of lichens and mosses. But these are slow growing and any damage to them takes many decades to regrow. Sometimes in the very far north the ground is covered in a coating of black lichen. The delicate Reindeer Moss, which is actually a lichen, grows best in the low arctic where it can cover the whole ground with its spongy light coloured threads. There are often bright orange sheets of lichen close to bird activity where generations of bird poo has fertilized the rock face. This is Elegant Orange, Xanthoria elegans. Another common lichen in the Arctic is Map Lichen, Rhizocarpon geographicum which has bright greenish yellow plates surrounded by a black line of spores. Map lichen is used by climatologists to determine the age of a rock deposit, by knowing the rate of growth, they can judge the age of the largest piece of lichen on a rock and assume that the rock was in place when the lichen started to grow.
Text © B & C Alexander

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In the Arctic, growing conditions for vegetation are very varied. In the southern reaches of the Arctic, plant communities can be vigorous, with small trees and stands of low growing shrubs.

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Tundra and Permafrost

Arctic Tundra occurs in the far north of the northern hemisphere, north of the Taiga. Characteristically the subsoil to tundra is usually Permafrost, or permanently frozen ground. Any ground remaining at or below 0 C for two or more years is permafrost, it can be from less than one metre to up to 1,000 metres thick. Some of the permafrost in unglaciated Alaska and Siberia is fossil ice, a remainder from when the temperatures were some 11C degrees colder on average than they are now during the great glaciations of the Pleistocene.

The freezing and thawing of the top layers of the tundra give rise to some spectacular land forms, with frost wedges and patterned ground of many types including polygons and stripes, and solifluction where the soil flows slowly over the underlying frozen ground. And then there are Pingos.

Tundra plants

Conditions on the tundra make it particularly hard for trees to grow there, so the vegetation is low growing and capable of managing on the short growing season and the shallow soil of the 'active layer'. There are tree species growing on tundra, but with the exception of Black Spruce which can tolerate the shallow soil and adverse conditions, they are mostly the dwarf forms of birch and willow. Because the tundra is often windy, the plants are low growing and by being perennial they have many years to build up a good tap root and have many summers to try to set seed, failure to do this in one season can be offset by success in the next. Cushion plants like the highly specialized Polar Poppy have dark green foliage and the temperature within the plant can be up to 20 degrees warmer than the surrounding air. The Arctic Avens has a flower that follows the sun, like a tiny parabolic reflector, ensuring that it makes the most of any sunlight available. The Saxifraga flagellaris doesn't set seed but sends out spectacularly red radiating stems with new rooting runners on the end.
Winters on the tundra are dark and fairly cold and the summers are above zero C which melts the top layer of the permafrost leaving boggy pools on the surface in some areas, where the water cannot drain away through the frozen ground and evaporation is slow. These pools make perfect breeding grounds for all the insects and the migratory birds arrive as soon as the snows have almost melted. The tundra has a low level of biodiversity, with large numbers of a few species. The soil is low in nutrients with the exception of where it has been fertilized by animal droppings, under bird cliffs or ancient sites used by indigenous hunters where the soil is fertilized with blood and oil from the kills.

Tundra in the future

As our climate warms, larger plants are colonizing the southern edges of the tundra. The tundra is a major carbon sink, it is believed that as much as 1,000 gigatons of carbon could be tied up as plant material in the world's permafrost, as the permafrost thaws with climate change, these plants will decompose, releasing the carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, that they are storing into the atmosphere.

Map of IPY tundra boreholes

Text © B & C Alexander

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Arctic Tundra occurs in the far north of the northern hemisphere, north of the Taiga. Characteristically the subsoil to tundra is usually Permafrost, or permanently frozen ground. Any ground remaining at or below 0 C for two or more years is permafrost, it can be from less than one metre to up to 1,000 metres thick.

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Picture the tundra: In all likelihood you're picturing a vast, frozen wasteland with snow everywhere and perhaps the occasional polar bear. There's actually more life in the tundra than you might realize, particularly during the summer when the long arctic days deliver a manic growing season. The fact that the tundra is home to a variety of plants and animals is reason enough to call the tundra important, but this region of the world has other characteristics vital to life as we know it.

Permafrost

Perhaps the most famous feature of the tundra is its ​ permafrost ​, referring to land that never thaws. While the surface layer of soil in the tundra does thaw during the summer - allowing plant and animal life to thrive - there is permanently frozen soil beneath this layer.

Permafrost can vary in thickness from one to 1,000 meters (that is, from roughly three to 3,300 feet.) This frozen ground has proven vital to tracking climate change through the centuries, as any temperature change leaves its mark on the permafrost. Permafrost has also alerted scientists to the rapid environmental changes happening since the industrial revolution.

Earth's Carbon Sink

The rainforest is often called "the earth's lungs," because the extremely high plant density is responsible for converting a lot of the world's carbon dioxide into oxygen. A similar claim can be made about the tundra - it is the earth's carbon sink.

Because a lot of otherwise fertile land is permafrost, the tundra contains a lot of carbon that would otherwise escape into the atmosphere. Scientists predict that if global temperatures continue to increase, much of this carbon actually will be released, creating a positive feedback cycle that could result in accelerating the increase in global temperatures.

Plants of the Tundra

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The tundra begins at the tree line. Imagine traveling north until you get to the point that there are no longer any trees at all - you've just passed the tree line. But just because there are no trees doesn't mean there are no plants at all: The tundra's long summer days mean a variety of plants that thrive during the summer.

In the summer months, tundras are teeming with grasses, wildflowers and rocks are covered in lichen. Lichen (which is not a plant but a complex organism consisting of an alga and a fungus) is particularly common in the northern extreme of the tundra, where little else can grow. Tundra plants all represent life thriving in one of the most extreme climates on earth.

Tundra Animal Species

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The caribou and the reindeer, technically a single species, are different in a few ways. Caribou and reindeer are spread across the entire tundra: Caribou dwell in North America and reindeer live on the Eurasian continent. Caribou tend to be larger than reindeer. Also, reindeer are domesticated by northerners in the far north of Europe and Russia while the caribou is largely wild.

Other creatures native to the tundra include Dall sheep, brown bears, polar bears and snow geese - all of which would lose their habitat were the tundra to disappear. Contrary to popular belief, there are no penguins in the tundra: Penguins live in Antarctica, the furthest place away from the tundra on the planet.

Threats to the Tundra

Unlike most ecosystems, development is not a threat to the tundra - scarcely anyone is itching to move to the frozen North. Oil and gas development, however, is widespread and without proper regulation can severely affect the arctic region's plants and animals.

The biggest threat to the tundra ecosystem, however, is climate change, which could significantly alter the ecosystem in the tundra. This would not only harm the species native to the region but potentially the entire planet, as otherwise stored carbon is released into the atmosphere, speeding the process of climate change.

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The tundra is home to a variety of plants and animals - but this region has other characteristics vital to life as we know it. There's actually more life in the tundra than you might realize, particularly during the summer when the long arctic days deliver a manic growing season.

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The animals that spend the entire year in the arctic tundra biome have a variety of adaptations to help them deal with the extreme conditions here.

In the case of mammals and birds, such as polar bears ( Ursus maritimus ), arctic foxes ( Vulpes lagopus ), muskoxen ( Ovibos moschatus ) and more, some of the strategies are the same. They have very round builds, which means less surface area to lose heat, short ears and tails, very thick insulating fur/feathers, feet that are wide (also with thick fur/feathers) that help them walk on the snow, and the ability to create fat stores in summer to help them last through, and stay warm during, the winter.

Another interesting characteristic of a few tundra animals is the changing of their fur coats between summer and winter. Arctic hares ( Lepus arcticus ), arctic foxes, and even rock ptarmigans ( Lagopus muta ) not only put on thicker fur for the winter, they also change the color from dark browns to white, and vice versa, to better help them camouflage, no matter the season.

Some animals, such as the arctic ground squirrel ( Spermophilus parryii ), hibernate through most of the winter in order to avoid it all together. Hibernation is the act of lowering body temperature and metabolism to stay asleep for long periods of time. The arctic ground squirrel in particular can hibernate for 7-8 months of the year. Surprisingly, arctic ground squirrels can actually super cool their body temperature to below 0 in order to stay asleep for longer periods and burn very little energy.
Interesting note: Listen to this podcast from The Wild on how these squirrels are being studied in order to look at helping humans "hibernate" during space travel.
Other rodents, such as voles (family Cricetidae) and lemmings (tribe Lemmini) stay awake during the winter. These animals are much more active and mainly reproduce in the summer, while in winter they make intricate burrows beneath the snow, where it is warmer, and live among the roots of the largely dormant vegetation. A curious fact about lemmings is that they have large cycles in their populations, over 3-4 years, where they experience large spikes and drops in the population. Since they are an important prey species of many tundra predators, foxes and birds of prey like the snowy owl ( Bubo scandiaca ) for example, the predators also experience these interesting cycles.

The resident animals have to make do with the little available food. Rock ptarmigans feed on buds and other exposed plant material, rodents on roots and other plant parts under the snow, while muskoxen and caribou ( Rangifer tarandus) use sharp powerful hooves to dig into snow and ice and feed on the buried grasses, shrubs and lichen.

The muskox is an incredible tundra animal that has actually been around since the time of the mammoth and has not changed! They have all the adaptations necessary to live here, short stout bodies, thick fur, sharp hooves for digging and key behavioral strategies, such as huddling for warmth or forming tight circles around their young to defend themselves from predators such as the arctic wolf ( ). They even have helical nasal cavities, which causes the air they breathe to warm up before it enters their body! Canis lupus Interested in Muskoxen and their conservation, click here or watch this video.

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Arctic Tundra | World Biomes | The Wild Classroom

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The animals that spend the entire year in the arctic tundra biome have a variety of adaptations to help them deal with the extreme conditions here. In the case of mammals and birds, such as polar bears ( Ursus maritimus ), arctic foxes ( Vulpes lagopus ), muskoxen ( Ovibos moschatus ) and more, some of the strategies are the same.

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The Polar bear are the most recognised animal of the Tundra. Here are a few adaptations that make them suitable to this biome: They have long stiff hair in between their feet that provide them...

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Plants of the Arctic and Antarctic - Polar Plants - Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears

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Approximately 1,700 species of plants live on the Arctic tundra, including flowering plants, dwarf shrubs, herbs, grasses, mosses, and lichens. The tundra is characterized by permafrost, a layer of soil and partially decomposed organic matter that is frozen year-round. Only a thin layer of soil, called the active layer, thaws and refreezes each year.

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(Image credit: Jeremy Potter NOAA/OAR/OER)

Large swaths of the Arctic tundra will be warm enough to support lush vegetation and trees by 2050, suggests a new study.

Higher temperatures will lessen snow cover, according to the study, which is detailed in the March 31 issue of the journal Nature Climate Change. That, in turn, will decrease the sunlight reflected back into the atmosphere and increase warming. About half the areas will see vegetation change, and areas currently populated by shrubs may find woody trees taking their place.

"Substitute the snowy surface with the darker surface of a coniferous tree, and the darker surface stores more heat," said study co-author Pieter Beck, a vegetative ecologist at the Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts. "It's going to exacerbate warming."
Warming Arctic
The Arctic climate affects the world: Changes in sea ice affect ocean circulation, which, in turn, affects atmospheric circulation that then impacts the globe, said Bruce Forbes, a geographer at the Arctic Center at the University of Lapland in Finland, who was not involved in the study. [ Images of Melt: Earth's Vanishing Ice]

Past research suggested that warming has already brought later winters and earlier springs to the Arctic. And fossil forests reveal the Arctic was once green as well.

To find out exactly how much greening Arctic warming would bring, the team used a model that projected how temperature changes would affect snow cover, vegetation, and the increased evaporation and transpiration from plants in the Arctic.
Transformed tundra
The team found that at least half of the tundra would see changes in the plant types it supported by 2050. In addition, they found more than a 50 percent increase in how much woody greenery - such as coniferous trees - would populate the Arctic. The tree line would also shift north, with coniferous forests sprouting where shrubs once grew.

Most of the greening was driven by the loss of reflectivity, or albedo, from snow cover. With less snow to reflect heat back into the atmosphere and more dark trees, the Earth gets warmer, "just like a dark car gets hotter in a warm parking lot than a light car does," Beck told LiveScience.

That warmth supports more tree and shrub growth, creating a positive feedback cycle to the warming, Beck said.
Real effect
The findings match forecasts for Arctic greening predicted by various other methods, and they foreshadow effects that will strike closer to home later, Forbes said.

"What's happening now in the Arctic is a faster version of what will be happening at lower latitudes," Forbes told LiveScience.

That could worsen extreme weather events like Hurricane Sandy in the future.

"The snowstorms in Washington, D.C., and New York, and the flooding and the freezing on the River Thames - the extreme weather will continue to be extreme but it won't be so uncommon," Forbes said.

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Arctic Going Green from Warming, Study Finds

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(Image credit: Jeremy Potter NOAA/OAR/OER) Large swaths of the Arctic tundra will be warm enough to support lush vegetation and trees by 2050, suggests a new study. Higher temperatures will lessen snow cover, according to the study, which is detailed in the March 31 issue of the journal Nature Climate Change.

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The tundra is the coldest of all the biomes with an annual average temperature of less than 5°C, and precipitation (mostly in the form of snow) less than 100 mm per year. The weather conditions at tundra are so harsh that only a handful of plants and animals can even survive there. The word tundra comes from the Finnish word 'tunturia' which means treeless plain.

The tundra is one of the least understood and most fascinating biomes on the planet. This incredibly difficult climate and the environment have both a bizarre and diverse range of animals that have learned to survive with the limited amounts of green plant life, sunlight and moisture. Due to extremely cold temperatures, the layer just below the surface remains permanently frozen. This frozen layer of ground is called 'permafrost.'

While the tundra biome is typically thought of as the "frozen tundra," it is, in fact, made up of variations in temperature, climate, and amounts of precipitation, depending on where it is located. Tundra is mostly known for its frost-molded landscapes, extremely low temperatures, little precipitation, poor nutrients, and short growing seasons. Tundra is broadly separated into two types: arctic tundra and alpine tundra.

Many climate scientists say their biggest fear is that warming could melt the Arctic permafrost - which stretches for thousands of miles across Alaska, Canada, and Siberia.

~ Michael Specter

Climate of the Tundra

Extreme cold temperatures define the typical climate of the tundra.

The arctic tundra, which is located in the northern hemisphere surrounding the North Pole, is characterized by extremely cold and dry conditions, similar to a frozen desert. Furthermore, during the winter months, periods without daylight can extend for weeks, with extremely cold temperatures being reached.

In summer months, the sun can shine almost around the clock, which is why so many plants and animals need this time for survival.

Alpine tundra, on the other hand, can be found on the tops of the world's highest mountains. Similar to the arctic tundra, these areas are defined by freezing temperatures and dry air, though they are located in higher elevations. Because of these heights, the alpine tundra is often subject to larger concentrations of sunlight at a time, because the air and atmosphere are thinner, thereby allowing rays to penetrate stronger.

The tundra climate offers a short growing season that encourages low species diversity. The animals and plants of the tundra biome have adapted to survive this kind of harsh climate.

Location of the Tundra

There are two main types of tundra biomes in the world, one at the Arctic Circle in the northern hemisphere, and the other that is found on the tops of the highest mountains in the world.

The Arctic Tundra: Located in the northern hemisphere, the arctic tundra is, quite literally, the world's North Pole. It spans almost 20% of the earth's surface, and is located at latitudes 55° to 70° N. It is extremely cold, and one of the world's least populous areas.

Alpine tundra: It is found on mountaintops that are too cold for trees to grow, particularly in the highest of elevations.

The Antarctic region is actually significantly colder than the arctic, so it is not technically considered tundra. There, overall the yearly average temperature can be as low as -70°F (-56°C), so it is characterized by entirely different ecosystems.

Temperature of the Tundra

The tundra is by far the coldest of all the world's biomes and is one of the world's areas that is least inhabited by man.

Tundra areas are also categorized as windy, with typical sustained wind gusts of around 30-60 mph. This occurs both on flatter arctic tundra regions as well as on high altitude mountaintops.

The arctic tundra has average winter temperatures of -34° C (-30° F) and average summer temperatures of 3° to 12° C (37°to 54° F).

The highest parts of the arctic tundra can have winter temperature averages of −28 °C (−18 °F), sometimes dipping as low as −50 °C (−58 °F). Obviously, most living creatures in the arctic tundra have the 50 to 60 day summer period with which they concentrate on growth and the search for nutrients to sustain the rest of the year when conditions are far too harsh.

Alpine tundra typically has a longer growing season each year - around 180 days - but temperatures in these areas typically have temperatures at night that are below freezing, and strong wind patterns often greatly affect the ability to sustain life. Temperatures are typically between -12 and 10° C (10° to 50° F) in the warmer months.

Precipitation of the Tundra

The extremely cold temperature of the tundra means that it does not receive a lot of precipitation, as it is literally too cold for precipitation to fall. Rainfall-wise, tundra is more similar to deserts in yearly amounts, which is why it is often referred to as the frozen desert.

However, because there is so much frozen ground and the air is so cold, plants and animals can survive on limited rainfall because the process of evaporation is nowhere near as efficient as in warmer regions. In the winter months, precipitation falls as snow, and in summer, it exists as either rain or fog. The permafrost and bogs store water in the tundra.

The arctic tundra receives approximately 15 to 25 cm (6 to 10 inches) of precipitation each year, which includes both rainfall/snowfall and melting snow and ice.

Alpine tundra typically receives slightly higher amounts of yearly precipitation, around 30 cm (almost 12 inches).

Plants of the Tundra

The name tundra itself is derived from tunturia, the Finnish word for "treeless plain," and tundar, the Russian word for "treeless mountain tract." Understandably, due to the harsh climate and fairly constant frozen ground cover, plants find it hard to exist in regions of severe cold with periods of little light.

However, research has shown that there are close to 1,700 different varieties of plants that call the tundra home. Nitrogen and phosphorous take the place of plant life as a basic form of sustenance, as they are nutrients released via the process of decomposition of dead organic matter.

The soil makeup in the arctic tundra is decidedly different from that in other regions of the world. The subsoil in the tundra is a permanent layer of frozen rocks and small material, called permafrost, which typically includes about 25 to 100 cm (10 inches to 3 feet) of depth.

In warmer months, melting snow will provide moisture accumulations in the soil above the permafrost, which allows for plants to grow.

In alpine tundra, the soil may be better drained, but the plant life in these areas is similar to those in the arctic tundra.

One of the amazing adaptations of plant life in the tundra biome is that no plants in the area have significant deep root systems, so as to remain in the wet topsoil. Lower plants and shrubs are much more common in the area than large trees since they do not require deep roots and can change easier with the cold and summer seasons.

Plants have low height and clump together to adapt to the savage cold and harsh wind. Fascinatingly, similar to animals, plants grow closer together in order to provide warmth to each other. The tundra's few trees remain stunted as an adaptation to the protective insulation of snow on the ground. Plants also photosynthesize even in the low light and cold temperatures.

In order to overcome issues with the lack of pollinating insects and birds, most plants in the tundra reproduce asexually rather than by flowering and pollination.

Common plants found in the tundra biome include:

Reindeer moss

Crowberry

Heath

Liverwort

Tussock grass

Willow grows as a low carpet cover in some areas

Over 400 different types of flowers

Lichen

Dwarf trees, including small birches

The tundra is one of Earth's three major carbon dioxide sinks, the biomass which takes in more carbon dioxide than it releases. During the short summer, tundra's plants take in carbon dioxide, sunlight and water in the process of photosynthesis. Plants normally give off carbon dioxide after they die and decompose.

However, because of the short, cool summer and freezing winter temperatures, plants can't decompose. Remains of plants thousands of years old have been found in the tundra permafrost. In this way, the tundra traps carbon dioxide and removes it from the atmosphere.

Animals of the Tundra

There are not a lot of animals in the tundra biome, but those that are there have some fascinating adaptations for survival in this harsh region. It is estimated that there are about 48 species of mammals that live in the tundra.

Animals residing in the tundra climate require special adaptations in order to survive. Animals tend toward large, stocky frames with thick insulation. Layers of fat and fur or feathers help protect animals from the bitter cold. Winter plumage and coats tend to be white like snow, whereas summer coloring tends toward brown.

Because of permafrost, few burrowing animals reside in the tundra climate. The shortage of winter food also discourages hibernation. Animals must, therefore, be active in winter or migrate, and most types of birds migrate to warmer weather.

Birds tend to boast long wingspans. There are essentially no cold-blooded vertebrates due to the extreme cold temperatures, but insects exist in the tundra ecosystem. Most insect species in the tundra tend to be aquatic.

While animal diversity trends lower in the tundra ecosystem, notable permanent and migratory species exist.

Land Animals

The huge herds of caribou are found in North America (known as reindeer in Eurasia), which feed on lichens and plants. The tundra draws migratory animals such as caribou and waterfowl, particularly for breeding seasons. When colder weather arrives, these animals return south to avoid the harshest conditions.

There are also smaller herds of musk-oxen. Wolves, wolverines, arctic foxes, and polar bears are the predators of the tundra. Smaller mammals are snowshoe rabbits and lemmings. The lemming represents the chief herbivore of the tundra. The snowy owl reigns as a partially migratory predator that responds to lemming population fluctuations.

The main types of animals that are found in the tundra are some that eat plants, and some that eat animals, fish, insects, and birds.

Plant-eating Animals (Herbivores)

Meat-eating Animals (Carnivores)

Aquatic Animals

The aquatic animals that ply the Arctic waters are:

Tundra fish species include:

There are few species of insects in the tundra, but black flies, deer flies, mosquitoes and "no-see-ums" (tiny biting midges) make the tundra a miserable place in the summer. Mosquitoes can replace the water in their bodies with a chemical called glycerol to keep themselves from freezing. It works like antifreeze and allows them to survive under the snow during the winter. Insects found are:

The migratory birds like the harlequin duck, sandpipers and plovers make marshy tundra a great place. Birds found are:

People in Tundra

People do live in certain parts of the tundra, but that is mainly for industry-specific work, such as working for oil rigs. While these settlements are typically small and far less populous than other man inhabited areas, the presence of humans can and does affect the delicate balance of the tundra ecosystem.

Native individuals who reside in tundra areas typically follow the patterns of a main source of survival; for instance, there are some tribes that exist on the entire bodies of reindeer in tundra areas.

Threats to Tundra

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. Today global warming, largely the result of pollution and greenhouse gases, is melting the permafrost of the tundra, and every year several feet of tundra are lost.

Due to overall warming temperatures in the world, as the tundra melts, the plant mass decomposes and returns carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, which is one of the greatest current threats to the arctic tundra.

More people moving to the tundra to work in the mines and oil rigs have created towns and more roads. The movements to traditional feeding and denning grounds of some animals have been disrupted by these obstacles. Many polar bears have starved.

Thousands of migrating birds come to the tundra because of the abundant insects. As pesticides have been used to control the hordes of insects, pesticides reach many of the animals through the food chain that lives on the tundra.

Pollution from mining and drilling for oil has polluted the air, lakes and rivers. The land around has become so polluted that the plants surrounding some nickel mines in Russia have died. When the sun hits the ruts, it causes the permafrost to melt. This causes erosion, and the ruts get bigger, eventually turning into gullies. Some tracks made during WW II are now lakes.

About Rinkesh

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Tundra Biome: Climate, Location, Temperature, Precipitation, Plants and Animals - Conserve Energy Future

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The tundra is the coldest of all the biomes with an annual average temperature of less than 5°C, and precipitation (mostly in the form of snow) less than 100 mm per year. The weather conditions at tundra are so harsh that only a handful of plants and animals can even survive there.

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:::: What's It Like Where You Live? ::::

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Location | Weather | Plants | Animals | People | Games | Links

LOCATION: Savannas are comprised mostly of grasses and a few scattered trees. They cover half the surface of Africa, large areas of Australia, South America, and India. That is a lot of the earth's surface! Savannas can result from climate changes, soil conditions, animal behavior, or agricultural practices. Humans create savannas by burning grasslands and cutting down trees so they can plant crops. Large animals, like elephants, can turn a forest into a savanna by knocking trees down, stripping the bark from the trees, and tramping on tree seedlings.

WEATHER: An important factor in the savanna is climate. The climate is usually warm and temperatures range from 68° to 86°F (20 to 30°C). Savannas exist in areas where there is a 6 - 8 month wet summer season, and a 4 - 6 month dry winter season. The annual rainfall is from 10 - 30 inches (25 - 75 cm) per year. During the dry season, lightning often strikes the ground, igniting the dry grasses that cover the savanna.

PLANTS: The savanna is dominated by grasses such as Rhodes grass, red oats grass, star grass, lemon grass, and some shrubs. Most savanna grass is coarse and grows in patches with interspersed areas of bare ground. You won't see many trees in the savanna because of little rainfall. Occasionally, you'll find individual trees or small groves of trees. These mostly live near streams and ponds. The Acacia tree is an interesting plant in the savanna. It has an umbrella shape, with branches and leaves high off the ground that giraffes like to eat. Baobab trees also live in the savanna. They deal with dry conditions by storing water between the bark and meat of the tree.

ANIMALS: There are many different types of animals that live in the savanna. The species found in savannas vary by the geographic location of the biome. Animals native to African savannas include African elephants, zebras, horses, and giraffes. Many animals in the savanna are herbivores, which means they eat plants, and there is plenty of grass in the savanna. During the rainy months animals thrive in the savanna, but the rainy season is only half the year. During the dry season, surface water from the rain is quickly absorbed into the ground by thirsty soils. The competition for water during the dry season is so intense that most birds and many of the large mammals migrate elsewhere in search of water. Depending on the severity of the drought, the migration may be to a place nearby, or far away. The dry season is often associated with fires. Many insects with short life spans die in these fires, but the birds and larger animals are usually able to fly or run to safety. Although small burrowing animals probably can't outrun the flames, they often survive the fire by digging deep into the ground and remaining there until the flames are gone. Some birds, such as the Fork-tailed Drongos, don't flee the fires; they actually fly to the fires. For these birds fire means dinner. They eat the fleeing or flame-roasted insects.

PEOPLE AND THE SAVANNA: Some environmental concerns with savannas include poaching or hunting, overgrazing, and destruction of land for commercial crops. Many animals in the savanna, such as the rhinoceros and zebra, are endangered and threatened with extinction due to hunting, poaching, and habitat loss. The savanna is often damaged when it is used as pastureland for non-native domestic cattle. Cattle grazing also limits the amount of food available for wildlife.
GAMES: LINKS: Blue Planet Biomes: Savanna Enchanted Learning: Savanna Animal Printouts Smithsonian National Zoological Park: African Savanna for Kids

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Location | Weather | Plants | Animals | People | Games | Links LOCATION: Savannas are comprised mostly of grasses and a few scattered trees. They cover half the surface of Africa, large areas of Australia, South America, and India. That is a lot of the earth's surface!

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A savanna is a rolling grassland scattered with shrubs and isolated trees, which can be found between a tropical rainforest and desert biome. Not enough rain falls on a savanna to support forests. Savannas are also known as tropical grasslands. They are found in a wide band on either side of the equator on the edges of tropical rainforests.

Savannas have warm temperature year round. There are actually two very different seasons in a savanna; a very long dry season (winter), and a very wet season (summer). In the dry season only an average of about 4 inches of rain falls. Between December and February no rain will fall at all. Oddly enough, it is actually a little cooler during this dry season. But don't expect sweater weather; it is still around 70° F.

In the summer there is lots of rain. In Africa the monsoon rains begin in May. An average of 15 to 25 inches of rain falls during this time. It gets hot and very humid during the rainy season. Every day the hot, humid air rises off the ground and collides with cooler air above and turns into rain. In the afternoons on the summer savanna the rains pour down for hours. African savannas have large herds of grazing and browsing hoofed animals. Each animal has a specialized eating habit that reduces compitition for food.

There are several different types of savannas around the world. The savannas we are most familiar with are the East African savannas covered with acacia trees. The Serengeti Plains of Tanzania are some of the most well known. Here animals like lions, zebras, elephants, and giraffes and many types of ungulates(animals with hooves) graze and hunt. Many large grass-eating mammals (herbivores) can survive here because they can move around and eat the plentiful grasses. There are also lots of carnivores (meat eaters) who eat them in turn.

South America also has savannas, but there are very few species that exist only on this savanna. In Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela, savannas occupy some 2.5 million square kilometers, an area about one-quarter the size of Canada. Animals from the neighboring biomes kind of spill into this savanna. The Llanos of the Orinoco basin of Venezuela and Columbia is flooded annually by the Orinoco River. Plants have adapted to growing for long periods in standing water. The capybara and marsh deer have adapted themselves to a semi-aquatic life.

Brazil's cerrado is an open woodland of short twisted trees. The diversity of animals is very great here, with several plants and animals that don't exist anywhere else on earth.

There is also a savanna in northern Australia. Eucalyptus trees take the place of acacias in the Australian savanna. There are many species of kangaroos in this savanna but not too much diversity of different animals

Plants of the savannas are highly specialized to grow in this environment of long periods of drought. They have long tap roots that can reach the deep water table, thick bark to resist annual fires, trunks that can store water, and leaves that drop of during the winter to conserve water. The grasses have adaptations that discourage animals from grazing on them; some grasses are too sharp or bitter tasting for some animals, but not others, to eat. The side benefit of this is that every species of animal has something to eat. Different species will also eat different parts of the grass. Many grasses grow from the bottom up, so that the growth tissue doesn't get damaged by grazers. Many plants of the savanna also have storage organs like bulbs and corms for making it though the dry season.

Most of the animals on the savanna have long legs or wings to be able to go on long migrations. Many burrow under ground to avoid the heat or raise their young. The savanna is a perfect place for birds of prey like hawks and buzzards. The wide, open plain provides them with a clear view of their prey, hot air updrafts keep them soaring, and there is the occasional tree to rest on or nest in. Animals don't sweat to lose body heat, so they lose it through panting or through large areas of exposed skin, or ears, like those of the elephant.

The savanna has a large range of highly specialized plants and animals. They all depend on the each other to keep the environment in balance. There are over 40 different species of hoofed mammals that live on the savannas of Africa. Up to 16 different species of browsers (those who eat leaves of trees) and grazers can coexist in one area. They do this by having their own food preferences, browsing/grazing at different heights, time of day or year to use a given area, and different places to go during the dry season.

These different herbivores provide a wide range of food for carnivores, like lions, leopards, cheetahs, jackals and hyenas. Each species has its own preference, making it possible to live side by side and not be in competition for food.

In many parts of the savannas of Africa people have started using it to graze their cattle and goats. They don't move around and soon the grasses are completely eaten up. With no vegetation, the savanna turns into a desert. Huge areas of savanna are lost to the Sahara desert every year because of overgrazing and farming.

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A savanna is a rolling grassland scattered with shrubs and isolated trees, which can be found between a tropical rainforest and desert biome. Not enough rain falls on a savanna to support forests. Savannas are also known as tropical grasslands. They are found in a wide band on either side of the equator on the edges of tropical rainforests.

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A home to many animals, the Australian tropical savanna is one of the world's largest tropical savannas. The world's other savannas cover two fifths of Africa and large amounts of India and South America. The Australian tropical savanna is an area of dense grass and scattered trees that stretches across northern Australia from Broome to Townsville.

A savanna is usually very flat and with few trees and shrubs, this is because the fires destroy most of the trees and shrubs which usually aren't fire resistant. This happens frequently during the summer. This is also because savannas across the world have a limited water supply and bigger vegetation such as trees are the first to die out. Most savannas are near the equator, but the Australian savanna is south of the equator, which causes this region to have summer while we are having fall. Savannas usually occur only in a climate that has both a rainy and dry season. Each of these different seasons is very extreme.

The dry seasons, or "the dry", of the Australian savanna can last up to five months, from May to October. With each dry season come forest fires. These forest fires occur often, and geographers believe that fire keeps the savanna healthy. The tropical rain forest trees, that would have otherwise grown in that climate, don't grow because they are destroyed by the fires. Though the fires don't destroy all of the underground grasses, the fires limit the growth of any vegetation that isn't fire resistant. Usually the temperatures are cooler, with clear skies and low humidity.

During this time, water is key. The rainy season, or "the wet", can be pretty bad too. Some savannas around the world get ten inches of rain, and some ten full feet. Some pools, ponds, lakes, rivers, and streams flood. Much of the Australian savanna rain falls in heavy bursts of thunderstorms and monsoons. During the wet, which lasts from December to March, it is hot and humid. Temperatures can get as high as 50°C but usually stays around 30s (°C).

Marsupials dominate among the animals in this area of Australia. Marsupial's are mammals whose young are born undeveloped. The premature marsupial baby spends most of its growing up attached to the mother's nipple in a pouch. Marsupials are different from other mammals because they give birth to such undeveloped offspring while other mammal's young are much more mature. The animals include the Echidna, Eastern Gray Kangaroo, the Koala Agile and Whiptale Wallabies, Walaroos, Possums, Gliders, the Northern Qoull, and the Golden Bandicoot. These animals live in or near the few trees in this area for shade, food, and water. In the other parts of the tropical savanna, the reptiles dominate. The saltwater Crocodile, which is found here, is the world's largest reptile. It can grow to be from 7 to 8 meters long.

The vegetation in Australia differs from that of other Savannas. The acacia, part of the 1,200 members of the pea family, is the most common tree in other savannas. The acacia tree does grow in Australia but only in tropical and subtropical areas so, it's not the most common. Acacia's produce a gum called gum arabic, this is used in drugs, foods and others. The acacia's flowers are yellow or white and they grow in bundles.

The most common tree in Australia is the eucalyptus. They are famous for their oil, gum, and timber. The eucalyptus grows in warm climates and they are the most important tree for timber in Australia. The bark of some of these trees furnishes tannin, which is used in medicine.

There are many threats to this biome. The foreign pests and weeds that have been brought to this biome, such as the wetland weed Mimosa, threaten the survival of the region's ecosystems and native species. The Australian government has sponsored programs to clear away brush for agricultural reasons. When some of the farmers took over land, they brought with them new systems that caused some species to become endangered. The Aboriginal people have been stripped of their homes so that the government can make more room for agriculture. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Australia is reacting to this destruction by working with the communities to stop the clearing programs.

This savanna is unique in many ways, including its climate, its animals, its vegetation, and its beauty. It's not quite like the other savannas of the world. It provides a home for the animals we don't have anywhere else in the world. Its vegetation is unique too. The area of the world it is in makes its climate extremely different from the others around the world. The entire planet would suffer greatly if we destroyed this biome.

Thanks to the WWF, this ecosystem may survive. Without such intervention, this world's savannas won't stand a chance.

by Alix C. 2001.
Bibliography:
Strahler, Arthur N. "Australian Savanna", Elements of Physical Geography, 3rd Edition

"Savanna" The World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia. 2000 ed.

"Tropical Savanna", http://www.wwf.org.au/tsavanna.htm (31 October, 2000)

"Reptiles give new slant on conservation", http://savanna.ntu.edu.au/publications/savanna_links5/reptile. html

"Savanna Guides - About Tropical Savannahs",

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A home to many animals, the Australian tropical savanna is one of the world's largest tropical savannas. The world's other savannas cover two fifths of Africa and large amounts of India and South America. The Australian tropical savanna is an area of dense grass and scattered trees that stretches across northern Australia from Broome to Townsville.

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The African Savanna biome is a tropical grassland in Africa between latitude 15° North and 30 degrees S and longitude 15 degrees W and 40° West. It covers Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote D'ivore, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, and South Africa.

Annual rainfall in the African Savanna is about the same as that of Wisconsin. During the rainy season, beginning in May and ending in November, they get fifteen to twenty-five inches of rain a month. In the dry season they only get about four inches of rain. The dry season occurs more then seven months of the year, from October to March in the southern hemisphere and April to September in the northern hemisphere. The dry season comes in the low sun period and the wet season comes in the high sun period. They have a wet-dry tropical climate.

A rolling grassland dotted with trees is one way to define the African Savanna. The African Savanna is a thornbush savanna, which has many different kinds of plants such as acacia Senegal, candelabra tree, jackalberry tree, umbrella thorn acacia, whistling thorn, Bermuda grass, baobabs, and elephant grass. The Serengeti Plains are a grass savanna that has very dry but nutrient-rich volcanic sand. Around 2 million large plant-eating mammals live in the savanna. There are 45 species of mammals, almost 500 species of birds, and 55 species of acacia in the Serengeti Plains. There are animals such as lions, African wildcats, klipspringer, steenbok, Burchell's zebra, African Savanna monitor, and puff adders. They have the largest diversity of hoofed animals in the world including antelopes, wildebeest, buffalos, zebras, and rhinoceros.

Both plants and animals have adapted very well to living where they live. Some animals are grazers, some are browsers, and some do a little of both. One herd of browsers nibbles at the trunk of a tree, another looks a little higher for food, a third eats even higher than the ones below them, and another herd browses at the very top. Many plants have developed long taproots to reach down to water. Some kinds of trees have thick fire resistant bark and trunks that can store water. Some animals migrate when it gets too hot or too cold for them, and others burrow in the ground. Some animals have tough cheek teeth so they can stand their diets, many animals cannot eat tough grasses like the animals of the African Savanna. Some animals have developed speed for hunting such as cheetahs others such as giraffes have developed long legs to become too high for a cheetah or other predators to get to. Naked mole rats feed on large underground tubers produced by plants, the secretary bird feeds on snakes so it has evolved to have long legs to walk through the grasses, and ostriches can run as fast as 31 miles per hour to escape predators. They can also have very thick skin to make it so predators cannot bite through their skin.

This biome has been helped, hurt, and changed by humans in many ways. For example people use the land for cattle grazing, which kills the grass and turns the savanna into a desert, they cause many fires that destroy the land, use of wood for fuel also causes problems to the environment, and people also poach (hunt the animals illegally) very often causing animals to become extinct. To repair damage people are creating controlled burning programs to keep worse fires from developing, they are creating nature preserves to keep the savanna natural, and they set up a biosphere reserve in South Africa to help protect the environment. The Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area together have been named a World Heritage site. The Serengeti is one of the most famous national parks in the world. It has the most grazing animals and their predators in Africa. Some of the greatest wildlife scenes ever seen take place there. The African Savanna takes up almost half of the continent, about 5 million square miles. If it weren't for the efforts that people made to preserve the savanna they may not have all the animals, plants, and other wonderful things they have now.

by Maya S. 2003
Bibliography:
Photo credit: http://mercury.bio.uaf.edu/courses/biol105/Lectures/Section1/photos/50-25bx-Savanna.jpg

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The African Savanna biome is a tropical grassland in Africa between latitude 15° North and 30 degrees S and longitude 15 degrees W and 40° West. It covers Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote D'ivore, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, and South Africa.

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Pressures on the ecosystem from rising human populations and effects of climate change could render the "endless plains" of Serengeti into history soon.

A large EU-funded research project is taking stock of the various pressures on the national park causing it to change quickly.

The iconic Serengeti National Park in Tanzania extends into Kenya towards the Mau Forest, where the Mara River originates to sustain the entire ecosystem of the national park.

"Everything we harvest from nature is provided by the ecosystem. These resources are deteriorating little by little, and what we see in the Serengeti is that the pressures on the ecosystem can become so large that that they are no longer sustainable. In the worst case, the Serengeti could disappear completely in a few decades," says says Eivin Røskaft, a professor of biology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), who is heading the entire EU project.

Some of the aspects of the pressures on the park being studied are climate change and population pressures. The Serengeti is especially vulnerable to human pressures as residents of the area live close to the park and are completely dependent on nature.

The warming climate turned the dry season longer and the rains more powerful, resulting in soil erosion and washouts. The wet season has also shifted. These changes create challenges for vegetation, animals and humans in the area.

In 1961 Tanzania had 8,000,000 inhabitants. Today the number is 50,000,000, and in 20 years it is estimated to double. Besides the need for food and firewood, wildlife hunting in the region has gone up in the Serengeti-Mara.

Livestock numbers have also increased, intensifying the pressure on pasture lands.

Demand for more firewood and building materials has seen parts of the unique Mara Forest being cut down. The expanding population is pushing people further into the national park.

Infrastructure development has seen roads being planned to run through the national park that will cross the wildebeest migration route.

Røskaft believes that "the most important thing is to strengthen expertise in Tanzania. My top goal and motivation are to build up good and safe professional expertise with Tanzanians. It's rewarding to see people gain confidence and faith in the job that they do".

Local expertise is expected to help in better management of the national park.

Nearly 100 scientists are involved in the research project entitled "Linking biodiversity, ecosystem functions and services in the Serengeti-Mara region, East Africa."

The researchers come from 13 different research institutions in Kenya, Tanzania, Denmark, Norway, Germany, Scotland and the Netherlands. Norway will lead the project.

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Serengeti could disappear under increasing pressures from climate and humans

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Pressures on the ecosystem from rising human populations and effects of climate change could render the "endless plains" of Serengeti into history soon. A large EU-funded research project is taking stock of the various pressures on the national park causing it to change quickly.

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The Savanna biomes are usually very hot so the plants that live there would have to have certain qualities about them so they are able to survive in a hot environment that has barely any rainfall...

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Savanna Animal Printouts

What is a Savanna? A savanna is a hot, seasonally dry grassland with scattered trees. This environment is intermediate between a grassland and a forest. Savannas are located in the dry tropics and the subtropics, often bordering a rainforest. Savannas have an extended dry season and a rainy season.

Animal Adaptations: The animals that live in savannas have adapted to a great deal of variability in the food supply throughout the year; there are times of plenty (during and after the wet season) and times of almost no food or water (during the dry season). Many savanna animals migrate to deal with this problem.

Where are Savannas? Savannas are located in Africa, Madagascar (an island off the east coast of Africa), Australia, South America, India, and the Myanmar-Thailand region of Southeast Asia.

Animals that Live in Savannas: Many animals live in savannas, from invertebrates (like grasshoppers, termites, and beetles) to large mammals (like lions and leopards). The different savannas of the world support different populations of animals.

Africa - aardvark, African elephant, African wild cat, antelopes, buffalo, Cape hunting dog, caracal, cheetah, eland, gerenuk, giraffe, gnu, Grant's gazelle, hippopotamus, hyena, impala, jackal, kudu, leopard, lion, meerkat, oryx, ostrich, red-billed oxpecker, rhinoceros, serval, waterbuck, vulture, zebra, purple-crested louries, grey louries, green pigeons, raptors, hornbills, shrikes, flycatchers, rollers

Australia - kangaroo, wallaby, pigeon, dove, parrot, finch, wombat

South America - rodents (like the capybara), rhea, and deer.

India - Asiatic water buffalo, Asian elephant, Indian rhinoceros, Indian wolf, tiger, savanna nightjar

Myanmar-Thailand - Asian elephant, Asiatic Water buffalo, pygmy hog, tiger

Printouts of Savanna Animals:

Mosquito
Mosquitos are flying insects that live in moist areas and can often carry diseases.

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savanna animal printouts tropical grasslands

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Savanna Animal Printouts - EnchantedLearning.com

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Advertisement. EnchantedLearning.com is a user-supported site. As a bonus, site members have access to a banner-ad-free version of the site, with print-friendly pages. Click here to learn more. (Already a member? Click here.) Savanna Animal Printouts What is a Savanna? A savanna is a hot, seasonally dry grassland with scattered trees.

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Tourism brings a positive impact to the ecosystem. Money from tourism not only brings fund to maintain the reserve but also raises awareness from the government and African communities to conserve the savanna because they can only attract tourism by maintaining the natural landscape and wildlife. Since the 1920s, the government has made laws to protect the Serengeti and later established this area as a National Park in 1951.

Human activities generate air pollution as they produce smoke and exhaust fumes. This releases CO2 into the air, making it increasingly harder to the animals to breathe. It also increases the temperature of biome, turning the savanna into a desert-like biome which many plants and animals are not adapted to.

Furthermore, the introduction of large factories with low regulation creates many chemical wastes that leek into the water system. Water is crucial to the survival of animal and plants. This will disrupt the balance of the ecosystem.

Humans have damaged the ecosystem as they settled in. When Europeans first settled in Africa, the animal population has disappeared by 1000s with every 100 increase in the human population. Humans have mined salt, coal and oil wells from the savanna. Humans have been transforming the natural landscape into agricultural land and for cattle raising. The popular agriculture practice is monoculture cropping which exhausts the soil of the Savanna. Large areas of the savanna in the South Africa have to been used for soybean cultivation. Over glazing has taken not only taken territory from wild animals but also depleted the land of water and grass for indigenous animals to feed on.

Another human practice that harms the ecosystem severely is hunting. This has driven many animal species to become extinct or endangered. Many mega faunas and large carnivores have been hunted ceaselessly for meat, fur and special animals parts and sold into black markets. 40,000 animal are killed annually illegally in the park. This practice has harmed the ecological balance of the African Savanna greatly through killing key native animals. When a critical member of the ecosystem disappears and no other animal can fill its niches, the ecosystem will change and impact the remaining animal and plants negatively.

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Tourism brings a positive impact to the ecosystem. Money from tourism not only brings fund to maintain the reserve but also raises awareness from the government and African communities to conserve the savanna because they can only attract tourism by maintaining the natural landscape and wildlife.

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Magpies are characterised by a bold black-and-white pattern, or "saddle," of colour on their bodies and long tails. Found in urban and rural areas of North America, magpies also inhabit the British Isles, Portugal, Korea, North Africa, Canada, Southeast Asia and Siberia. Although magpies are considered attractive birds due to their bold colour patterns, many people view them unfavourably because of their reputation as predators.

1

Differences in Appearance Between Male and Female Magpies

The most noticeable physical difference between male and female magpies is the colouration of the white hoods located on their necks and the backs of their heads. On male magpies, the hood is a vibrant white throughout; the hood on female magpies is greyish toward the bottom. When observed from a distance, especially if their heads are up, male and female magpies may appear indistinguishable. The colour of the hoods also differs in juvenile magpies: male juveniles have a brown/beige hood that is lighter in colour than the dark brown hood of a juvenile female.

The most noticeable physical difference between male and female magpies is the colouration of the white hoods located on their necks and the backs of their heads.

The colour of the hoods also differs in juvenile magpies: male juveniles have a brown/beige hood that is lighter in colour than the dark brown hood of a juvenile female.

2

Behavioural Differences

Magpie pairs remain together for life. Although both the male and female magpie work together to construct their nest, only the female incubates the eggs. It can take a pair of magpies up to 40 days to build a large nest, which usually takes the form of a dome made of mud, sticks and grass. The male provides food for the female while she incubates the eggs, and both share responsibility for the care and feeding of the baby birds.

Magpie pairs remain together for life.

The male provides food for the female while she incubates the eggs, and both share responsibility for the care and feeding of the baby birds.

There is no discernible difference between the diet of male and female magpies. Because magpies are omnivorous, they consume a wide variety of foods, including fruit, grain, mice, insects, acorns, snails and even other small birds. They have also been known to catch and feed on lizards, snakes, bats and frogs. Magpies are not very discerning in terms of what they eat; for this reason, they are sometimes regarded as unwelcome predators. In folklore, magpies are portrayed as having an affinity for shiny objects, such as rings and trinkets, which they swoop down on and steal.

There is no discernible difference between the diet of male and female magpies.

Magpies are not very discerning in terms of what they eat; for this reason, they are sometimes regarded as unwelcome predators.

Male and female magpies can survive in both rural and urban areas, although they prefer open fields with trees and woodlands. They are often found in grasslands, meadows, sagebrush and thickets, which offer shelter as well as areas for nest building. Although magpies have been known to inhabit highly populated places, they tend to become nervous around humans and fly quickly and quietly away if someone gets too close.

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The Difference Between Male & Female Magpies

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Magpies are characterised by a bold black-and-white pattern, or "saddle," of colour on their bodies and long tails. Found in urban and rural areas of North America, magpies also inhabit the British Isles, Portugal, Korea, North Africa, Canada, Southeast Asia and Siberia.

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WILDLIFE IN SERENGETI | Wild animals | Serengeti National Park

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Xerophytes are plants that have adapted to live in the dry, hot conditions of the desert. These plants have a waxy outer coating to help the plant retain moisture, along with other adaption of their seeds, roots and leaves to help them thrive and retain moisture for extended periods until water is available.

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Information About Desert Plants. Xerophytes are plants that have adapted to live in the dry, hot conditions of the desert. These plants have a waxy outer coating to help the plant retain moisture, along with other adaption of their seeds, roots and leaves to help them thrive and retain moisture for extended periods ...

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What is an adaptation? An adaptation is something that a plant or animal has developed over thousands of years to help it survive in its environment and compete with other plants or animals. Here's an example: The seeds of some desert plants have a hard coating on them that must be worn off before the seed can grow. In most cases the hard coating will only be worn off as the seed is tumbled around in the sand during a flash flood. This adaptation works because the plant willp grow only when there is also enough water to get it started.

Why are there so many thorns? The thorns on desert plants are an adaptation that serves several purposes. First of all, they protect the stem, the main part of the plant, and discourage animals from eating them! But some desert animals eat them anyway. In the case of cactus, the thorns also form a shield around the stem of the plant and give it some shade in the hot desert sun. This is important because it keeps the plant from drying out. Thorns also catch little drops of rain, when they fall, and channel all that water down to the base of the plant.

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A kids guide to the plants of Anza-Borrego

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What is an adaptation? An adaptation is something that a plant or animal has developed over thousands of years to help it survive in its environment and compete with other plants or animals. Here's an example: The seeds of some desert plants have a hard coating on them that must be worn off before the seed can grow.

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In this report you will learn about Hot and Dry Deserts and Cold Deserts. I hope you enjoy!

A Hot and Dry Desert is, as you can tell from the name, hot and dry. Most Hot and Dry Deserts don't have very many plants. They do have some low down plants though. The only animals they have that can survive have the ability to burrow under ground. This is because they would not be able to live in the hot sun and heat. They only come out in the night when it is a little cooler.

A cold desert is a desert that has snow in the winter instead of just dropping a few degrees in temperature like they would in a Hot and Dry Desert. It never gets warm enough for plants to grow. Just maybe a few grasses and mosses. The animals in Cold Deserts also have to burrow but in this case to keep warm, not cool. That is why you might find some of the same animals here as you would in the Hot and Dry Deserts.

Deserts cover about one fifth of the Earth's land surface. Most Hot and Dry Deserts are near the Tropic of Cancer or the Tropic of Capricorn. Cold Deserts are near the Arctic part of the world.

Hot and Dry Deserts temperature ranges from 20 to 25° C. The extreme maximum temperature for Hot Desert ranges from 43.5 to 49° C. Cold Deserts temperature in winter ranges from -2 to 4° C and in the summer 21 to 26° C a year

The precipitation in Hot and Dry Deserts and the precipitation in Cold Deserts is different. Hot and Dry Deserts usually have very little rainfall and/or concentrated rainfall in short periods between long rainless periods. This averages out to under 15 cm a year. Cold Deserts usually have lots of snow. They also have rain around spring. This averages out to 15 - 26 cm a year.

Hot and Dry Deserts are warm throughout the fall and spring seasons and very hot during the summer. the winters usually have very little if any rainfall. Cold Deserts have quite a bit of snow during winter. The summer and the beginning of the spring are barely warm enough for a few lichens, grasses and mosses to grow.

Hot and Dry Deserts vegetation is very rare. Plants are almost all ground-hugging shrubs and short woody trees. All of the leaves are replete (packed with nutrients). Some examples of these kinds of plant are Turpentine Bush, Prickly Pears, and Brittle Bush. For all of these plants to survive they have to have adaptations. Some of the adaptations in this case are the ability to store water for long periods of time and the ability to stand the hot weather.

Cold Desert's plants are scattered. In areas with little shade,about 10 percent of the ground is covered with plants. In some areas of sagebrush it reaches 85 percent. The height of scrub varies from 15 cm to 122 cm. All plants are either deciduous and more or less contain spiny leaves.

Hot and Dry Deserts animals include small nocturnal (only active at night) carnivores. There are also insects, arachnids, reptiles, and birds. Some examples of these animals are Borrowers, Mourning Wheatears, and Horned Vipers. Cold Deserts have animals like Antelope, Ground Squirrels, Jack Rabbits, and Kangaroo Rats.

Stetson N. 2000
Bibliography:
Lambert, Wayne, "Deserts", The World Book Encyclopedia, 1994 ed.

Critchfield, Howard J., "Deserts", The New Book of Knowledge, 1998 ed.

"Deserts". http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/glossary/gloss5/deserts.html, (5/30/00)

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In this report you will learn about Hot and Dry Deserts and Cold Deserts. I hope you enjoy! A Hot and Dry Desert is, as you can tell from the name, hot and dry. Most Hot and Dry Deserts don't have very many plants. They do have some low down plants though.

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The Mojave or Mohave Desert, is the smallest of the four North American deserts. It lies in South Eastern California at 35° to 36° latitude North and 115° to 117° longitude East. The Mojave Desert is situated between the Great Basin Desert to the north (a cold desert) and the Sonoran desert to the south (a hot desert). The Colorado River runs through the east of it, and the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the west.

The Mojave Desert is special because it has a little bit of everything. People refer to the Mojave Desert as a "high desert" because it has an elevation of 2,000 to 5,000 feet. It changes from a cold desert in the northern section and a hot desert in the southern section. The Mojave Desert covers 25,000 square miles. There are some fascinating features to be found in this desert, especially the Kelso Dunes. The Kelso Dunes are the largest of the Mojave dune fields, reaching 500 to 600 feet in height. When you run down these dunes you can hear an unusual "barking" sound. It is not entirely understood yet but some people believe that grains of quartz and feldspar rubbing against each other cause it.

It is a desert filled with desert scrub like the Brittlebush, Creosote Bush, Joshua Tree, and the Sagebrush. The Joshua tree is found in no other place in the world, except in some places in the Mojave Desert.

The Mojave Desert lies in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The hot, moist air from the Pacific Ocean goes up the Sierra Nevadas and is turned back by the cold air in the mountains. Although some of the rain goes over the mountains, most of it is evaporated by the hot air of the desert before it can reach the ground. The Mojave Desert is considered a dry desert because of the rain shadow effect. Rainfall in the Mojave is very changeable from day to night, and can range from 2.23 to 2.5 inches a year. A large amount of rain that the Mojave gets is in the winter season from October to March.

Animals of the Mojave have light colored feathers and fur to reflect the light of the sun. Desert tortoises have a good adaptation for the desert. They can store up to one quart of water in their bladder. They feed on plants in the spring so that they have enough water to last them the rest of the year.

Plants have adaptations also, such as shallow root systems, spines, and thorns. Shallow root systems can easily absorb rain because they are so close to the surface. Spines store water by expanding like an accordion. In addition, thorns protect the plants from danger.

The Mojave Desert is jeopardized by large cities, such as Los Angeles, which are spreading rapidly through the desert. Military bases are moving in, and farms are developing along the Colorado River. Off-road vehicles are ruining the desert by churning up sand and destroying the shallow root systems. Due to wells and agriculture, the underground water tables are dropping to very low levels. In spite of all these dangers, half of the desert remains in it original condition.

Christopher R. 2001
Bibliography:
"Mojave Desert." Academic American Encyclopedia. Grolier Inc.

"Mojave Desert, California, Nevada, and Utah." http://freespace.virgin.net/john.cletheroe/usa_can/ca/mojave.htm

"One World Magazine: Deserts." (Rev. 1996). http://www.oneworldmagazine.org/focus/deserts/toced.htm

Adams, J., Holland, B., and Orians, G. "Welcome to the High Desert." (Rev. 1999). http://www.islandpress.com/

Alonso, Alejandro "The Mojave Desert Field Study." (Rev. 1994). http://www.bcf.edu/~aaloso/Academic/mojave.html

Royo, A.R. "The Mojave Desert." http://www.desertusa.com/du_mojave.html

Royo, A.R. "The North American Deserts." (Rev. 2001). http://www.desertusa.com/glossary.html

Woodward, Susan L. "Desert Scrub." (Rev. 1997). http://www.runet.edu/~swoodward/CLASSES/GEOG235/biomes/desert/desert.html

Woodward, Susan L. "North American Deserts." (Rev. 1996). http://www.runet.edu/~swoodward/CLASSES/GEOG235/biomes/desert/namdesrt.html

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The Mojave or Mohave Desert, is the smallest of the four North American deserts. It lies in South Eastern California at 35° to 36° latitude North and 115° to 117° longitude East. The Mojave Desert is situated between the Great Basin Desert to the north (a cold desert) and the Sonoran desert to the south (a hot desert).

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The Sonoran Desert is a big desert in the southwestern part of North America and people might just think deserts have not a living thing in sight, just hills of sand, well that is not true

The Sonoran Desert is located in North America and covers the southwestern parts of the state of Arizona, southeastern parts of the state of California in the United States and the state of Sonora in Mexico. The Sonoran Desert's location is at latitude 25° to 33° North and longitude 105° to 118° West.

The key to the Sonoran Desert's climate is the amount of rainfall which falls. More rain falls on the Sonoran Desert than any other desert. When it does get rain, the desert is damp, and the air is cool. When it has no rain the desert is really dry and really hot. When the desert is windy, the sand gets picked up and tossed around which creates a sand storm or if the wind is blowing in a certain kind of way, it creates a whirlwind or dust devil. These mini-tornados move across the desert floor and they most often occur in hot weather. The desert valley is hot while up in the mountains it is cool and some mountains are even snow covered.

The seasons are like any other. Spring is a time when flowers bloom if the winter and fall had enough rain that year. There is summer and in the summer it rains the most and that helps summer flowers grow. Then fall comes with a cooler breeze, which lets the deserts summer heat wear away. Winter brings snow to the mountains and cold air to the desert valley.

Precipitation in the desert is probably less then any other North American state, but it is still a lot for a desert. The Sonoran Desert receives 10 or less inches a year; the eastern part of the Sonora desert, in Baja California, receives 10-12 inches because Baja is by the ocean. The ocean storms brew up more often producing more rain, while the western part of the desert only gets about 2 inches and in the mountains they receive 25 inches.

The geography in the Sonoran desert is quite interesting. The Sonoran Desert is located in two states, Arizona and California, and two countries, Mexico and United States. The rivers that flow through the desert are the Colorado River and the Gila River. The Salton Sea, the Gulf of California and the Pacific Ocean are bodies of water next to the Sonoran desert. The mountains in the Sonoran Desert are Mount Kofa and Mount Catalina; Mount Catalina receives most of the snow.

The Sonoran Desert is a hot place to be. It is sandy with a lot of cactuses, but there are forests on the mountains and it is a lot cooler in the forests. The Indians that lived at the edge of the desert carved designs into the walls or rocks. The plants in the Sonoran desert are very interesting, such as fairy duster, jimson weed (poisonous), tumble weed, night blooming cereus, devils claw, ghost flower, hedgehog cactus and showy four o clock. There are some other plants with out really interesting names: The desert Christmas cactus, prickly pear cactus, desert willow, western wildflower, cave primrose and desert lupine. These desert plants adapt to their climate by seeking coolness. Their roots collect water when it rains. The saguaro cactus has shallow root systems allowing the cactus to store up to 160 liters of rainwater allowing it to live for weeks at a time without water. The other adaptations of the desert plants are that they live in the mountains where shade and coolness is found.

The Sonoran Desert animals fit in to the environment perfectly. Some of the animals in the desert are the Mexican gray wolf (el lobo), the mountain lion (cougar or puma), the great horned owl (Bubo virinus), the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) and the rattlesnake. The Sonoran desert is also the home to the Mexican jumping beans. Mexican jumping beans are fruits of a shrub. The movement of the moth larva in the bean makes them jump. The adaptations of the desert animals to the desert home are quit simple. The animals or reptiles can find little hideouts were the sun cannot get to them. Other animals live in the mountains were coolness and shade is found with green forests but the animals have another talent. They sleep in the daytime and the heat does not bother them. Most of the animals are nocturnal, which means they hunt at night when no heat of the day is found.

The Sonoran Desert is changed. We humans have been turning the land from the desert into tourist attractions. These parks have spread for miles taking up the land that belongs to the wild life. Then these creatures are pushed out of their natural habitat. Ranches have also been taking up the desert land and with our livestock. People plant crops and some of the seeds have been picked up by the wind or have been picked up by a bird and the seeds start to grow were they land. This cycle begins again and after awhile the desert starts to have plants that do not belong in the desert.

The Sonoran Desert is a wonderful place but you would never want to be stranded there. The desert has wonderful plants and animals and really beautiful sunsets that fade away on the deserts horizon.

By Elora P. 2003
Bibliography:
Cheek L. W. Arizona 1995, Odors Trove Publications, Inc.

Olin, G. House in the sun, a Natural History of the Sonoran Desert .1994 Southwest Parks and Monuments Association, Tucson Arizona

"Wildlife of Baja California ", Card 38, Wildlife Explorer, International Masters Publishers. USA.

"Wildlife of the Sonoran Desert", Card 54, Wildlife Explorer 1999, International Masters Publishers. USA.

The Sonoran Desert is one of North America's most interesting deserts, with more plant and animal types than any other desert in the world. It is the wettest and the warmest desert on the North American continent. The Sonoran Desert is located in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. In the United States it reaches from southeastern California to the western two-thirds of southern Arizona. In Mexico it includes much of the state of Sonora and the eastern shore of Baja California. It covers an area of approximately 120,000 square miles. There are some mountainous areas where frost occurs, but most of the desert is frost-free. The Colorado, Yaqui, Salt, Verde and Gila Rivers pass through this desert.

The boundaries of the Sonoran Desert are determined by the plants and animals that live in the regions. The Arizona Upland region is located in south-central Arizona and northern Sonora. It has more mountain ranges than other areas of the Sonoran Desert and is the highest and coldest region. The valleys are very narrow. Saguaro cacti are found everywhere except on the valley floors. It is the only region of the Sonoran Desert that experiences frequent hard frosts. Succulent cacti, drought resistant and thorny shrubs are common. On mountainous slopes towards the north, these plants mix with chaparral type vegetation of dense thickets and fire adapted plants

The Lower Colorado Valley is the largest, hottest and driest region of the desert, and is known for its beautiful wildflowers displays. Drought deciduous trees and shrubs are common here. Many are very thorny to discourage browsers. Toward the south the Sonoran Desert gradually merges into the Tropical Dry Thorn Forest of southern Sonora and Sinaloa.

The Sonoran Desert on the Baja peninsula is also known as the Vizcaino desert. Off-shore islands located in the Gulf of California are also part of the Sonoran Desert. The summers aren't quite as hot as the rest of the Sonoran Desert. A high mountain range shields the desert from Pacific storms and accounts for the small amount of rain that falls in the winter. Moisture and fog from the Gulf of California can be considerable, allowing epiphytes to grow on the desert plants. Many different species of succulents like agaves and yuccas grow here.

The Sonoran Desert is known for its beauty and for the amazing cacti and succulents. Some 2,500 plant species grow in the harsh conditions of the Sonoran Desert. More than 160 plant species depend on other plants, like the nitrogen fixing desert ironwood, mesquite, and palo verde trees, to germinate and grow into mature plants. These trees provide plants and animals with a habitat, food and shelter necessary for their survival. Found on the Sonoran coastal plain region, the desert ironwood is the oldest desert tree. The ocotillo has adapted to the severe climate by remaining leafless during the coldest or driest months. They grow new leaves with every rainfall, only to drop them a few weeks after the rainy spell is over. During severe drought, they even drop some of their branches. The most recognizable cactus in the Sonoran Desert is the saguaro cactus. The chain fruit cholla and teddybear chollas, pipe organ, barrel cactus, and jojoba are some other cacti found here.

Between late February and mid April beautiful carpets of annuals like poppies, lupines and owl clover cover the desert floor. These flowers depend on rainfall and this display of flowers occurs only about once in a decade. Locally a good bloom can occur every three years or so. Winters need to come earlier and be wetter than normal. Seeds of summer poppy and devil's claw germinate soon after the first rain and begin flowering only 3 weeks later. Chinchweed has adapted well to all conditions, and ranges from New Mexico into the central Mojave desert.

Herbaceous perennials and shrubs like penstemon, brittlebush, and fairy duster are less sensitive to the timing of rainfall and are more dependable bloomers than the annuals. These plants grow in small patches and don't carpet the ground with color like the annuals do however. Most herbaceous plants flower opportunistically with enough rain, and sometimes more than once. The desert zinnia will flower in both rainy seasons. Ocotillo will grow and shed its leaves three weeks later after every rain.

The Sonoran Desert, like many other deserts, was considered by people in the past to be a wasteland. Now more and more people are attracted to, and moving into the Sonoran Desert. They come to enjoy the large open spaces the desert can give them, to camp and experience the desert in their all-terrain vehicles. Unfortunately, the lifestyles of people, and the needs of wild life are often conflicting. Urbanization is spreading further into the desert every year around Tucson, Arizona. Roads bisect territories, and many animals become road-kill as they attempt to cross. Many species won't cross roads and become isolated in smaller and smaller pockets. This reduces their ability to find mates and reproduce, resulting in the extinction of that species in that particular area of the desert.

Large parts of the Sonoran Desert are still intact due to careful planning and conservation. The Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection was responsible for getting The Ironwood Forest National Monument designated on June 9, 2000. Located northwest of Tucson this 129,000 acre area contains large stands of ironwood trees and an amazing diversity of birds and animals.

Many areas are already managed by the federal government. Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is run by the National Park Services, Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range by the Department of Defense. All together these parks cover more than three million acres west of Tucson, Arizona. The National Parks Conservation Association proposes the establishment of a Sonoran Desert National Park and Preserve. Legislation to authorize a study of management options for the parks is pending in the US Senate.
Bibliography:
"Protect the Sonoran Desert", http://www.sonorandesert.org

"Sonoran", http://www.npca.org/explore_the_parks/new_parks/sonoran.asp

"Sonoran Desert", http://www.azstarnet.com/~desertd/sonorn.html

"Sonoran Desert &endash; DesertUSA", http://www.desertusa.com/du_sonoran.html

"Sonoran Desert Naturalist Homepage", http://arizonensis.org/sonoran/index.html

Dimmitt, Mark. "Flowering Season in the Sonoran Desert", http://desertmuseum.org/desert/exh_flowering.html

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The Sonoran Desert is a big desert in the southwestern part of North America and people might just think deserts have not a living thing in sight, just hills of sand, well that is not true The Sonoran Desert is located in North America and covers the southwestern parts of the state of Arizona, southeastern parts of the state of California in the United States and the state of Sonora in Mexico.

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Desert Tree Has Suprising Way of Surviving | David Attenborough | BBC Studios

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Meerkats... Read More ...and Horned Lizards... Read More ...At DesertAnimals.Net Read More Desert Animals Mammals Black-Tailed Jackrabbit Caracal Fennec Fox ...

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The Sahara Desert: Wildlife, Plants, People and Cultures, Interesting Facts - DesertUSA

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The Sahara Desert, Wildlife, Plants, People and Cultures, Interesting Facts, pictures and more information.

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Location | Weather | Plants | Animals | People | Links

LOCATION: Although few animals and plants are adapted to the extremely dry desert life, the desert is a vital biome. The desert is important because it covers about a fifth of the earth's surface! There are both hot and cold deserts. Antarctica is the largest desert in the world, while the Sahara in Africa is the largest of the hot deserts. There are also deserts close to Santa Barbara, such as the Mojave the Colorado Desert which encompass parts of Southern California. In North America, there are four major hot, dry deserts, including the Mojave and the Great Basin. Outside the U.S. hot, dry deserts are found in the Southern Asian realm, South and Central America, Ethiopia and Australia.

Another type of desert is the coastal desert, for example, the Atacama Desert in Chile of South America. And then there are cold deserts. That sounds pretty silly! If deserts are supposed to be hot, how can there possibly be a cold desert? Well these deserts are in places like Antarctica and Greenland where vegetation is sparce, just like the more commonly known hot, dry deserts.

WEATHER: Weather is not the same in all deserts. The seasons in hot and dry deserts are usually very hot during the summer and warm during the rest of the year. During winter these deserts get little rainfall. Rain is often light, or in short concentrated bursts. Most of the time evaporation rates are faster than rainfall rates. Sometimes the rain evaporates before even hitting the ground. This is the reason for the dry characteristic of this type of desert. Coastal deserts are in moderately cool to warm areas. Coastal deserts usually have cool winters followed by fairly long, warm summers. The temperature in the winters is generally 41°F (5&degC) or below. In the summer the weather heats up to between 55° and 75°F (12 and 24&degC). Average rainfall is usually 3 - 5 inches (8 - 13 cm). The Atacama is the Earth's driest desert. In the Atacama 1 millimeter or more of rain falls every 5-20 years. Cold deserts have short, moist and moderately warm summers, and long cold winters like one could expect in Antarctica. The winter temperature ranges from -5°F to -110°F (-20.5 to -79&degC), and in the summer it can be a nice, balmy, 32°F (0&degC). The coldest day recorded in Antarctica was -113°F (-80.5&degC)!

PLANTS: Deserts plants have many adaptations to survive in such a dry environment. They are good at storing and finding water. Some plants have seeds that can stay dormant in the sand for a long time, until there is enough rain for them to grow. In hot deserts, you'll often find Cacti. Cacti are great at storing water. With their waxy coating, water can't escape and their spines protect them from being desert dinner. Their roots are shallow, and widely spread so that any rain can be absorbed immediately! Some other plants you might find in the hot desert are creosote bush, sagebrush, and ocotillo. Coastal deserts house a variety of plants. These plants must adapt to minimal rainfall by having extensive root systems that come up to the surface to absorb any possible rainfall, and go far down to absorb any water saturated in the ground. These plants also have very thick leaves that can absorb and store water whenever it is available. The plants that live in coastal deserts include salt bush, rice grass, black sage and chrysothamnus. Plants can even live in cold deserts, but you won't find as many here as in other types of deserts. Plants in cold deserts include algae, grasses, and plants with spiny thin leaves. Usually these plants grow only in the summer.

ANIMALS: Deserts are a very important biome. No, not because of all the sand! Mostly because of all the plants and animals that call the desert "home". Some animals that live in the hot desert are cold-blooded, like snakes, insects, and lizards. Mammals that live in the desert are usually small, such as the kangaroo rat and kit fox. Sometimes it's hard to survive in the desert. Some mice build their home out of fallen cactus spines to protect themselves from predators like coyotes and hawks. In the Eritrean coastal desert in Djibouti, Africa, animals like gazelles, skinks, geckos and dikdiks roam the desert. Fewer animals live in the cold desert. In Antarctica, most of the animals live near the ocean shore. Because of their ice home, seals, penguins, and other birds rely on fish, squid and other sea creatures for their food.

PEOPLE AND THE DESERT: People have a variety of uses for deserts. The desert is popular for tourism and recreation. Often people visit to see the beautiful sand colors and rock formations. Many people enjoy visiting the desert because it is a quiet place to get away from the business and noise of cities and spend time in the open land. The desert offers many types of recreation, for example, rock climbing, hiking and dirt biking. Mining, grazing, road building, and utility projects take place in the desert. Because of desert sensitivity, it is important that desert uses be managed properly to protect the wildlife and habitat.
LINKS: The Deserts in the American Southwest Deserts Environment Geography for Kids: Deserts Cool Planet: Deserts Biomes of the World: Desert
Back to Biomes Index

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Location | Weather | Plants | Animals | People | Links LOCATION: Although few animals and plants are adapted to the extremely dry desert life, the desert is a vital biome. The desert is important because it covers about a fifth of the earth's surface! There are both hot and cold deserts.

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Plant Growth of Tropical Flowers in the Desert | David Attenborough | BBC Studios

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What animals live in the desert? How do animals survive in the desert? Learn about mammals, reptiles, birds, fish and amphibians that have adapted to the harsh desert ecosystems.

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As the summer temperatures continue to climb, you may find yourself spending more and more time indoors enjoying the comforts of central air conditioning. But without the benefit of modern technology, animals that make their home in the heat have had to come up with their own ways of staying cool and hydrated. We caught up with San Diego Zoo Ambassador and Zookeeper Rick Schwartz between television appearances in New York City to talk about the incredible ways that some creatures have adapted to survive in the desert.

In the Australian Outback, pooled water can be extremely hard to come by. To deal with this issue, the thorny devil has developed skin that can absorb water like blotter paper (called "capillary action"). According to Schwartz, "the way the scales on the body are structured, it collects dew and channels it down to the corners of the mouth," where the lizard drinks it. You can actually watch the lizard's skin darken as it soaks up whatever liquid remains from even the muckiest of puddles.

Schwartz says it was previously believed that these animals died off during every dry season, but what was actually happening was far more interesting. When the rainy season ends on the African savannah, the second largest frog in the world burrows 6 to 8 inches underground and seals itself in a mucus membrane that "essentially hardens into a cocoon." The frog can "hibernate" in this sac for up to seven years waiting for rain, which, when it comes, causes the mucus sac to soften, signaling to the frog that it's time to wake up. The South African lungfish benefits from a similar method of hibernation.

This unusual method of locomotion is used by two species of venomous snake-the Mojave Desert sidewinder in the southwestern United States and the Namib Desert viper in Africa. Not only does it help the serpents keep traction on shifting sands, but it ensures that only two points of the animals' bodies are touching the hot ground at any given time.

When facing a predator, this large lizard will scurry under a rock crevice and inflate the loose folds of skin along its body, making it difficult to pull from its hiding place-a perfect escape plan in the rocky deserts of the U.S. and northern Mexico that the chuckwalla calls home.

The fennec fox of North Africa has large ears which Schwartz points out "serve a dual purpose": they are great for listening for bugs to eat that may be moving around underground, but they are also loaded with blood vessels, allowing the animals to dissipate excess body heat. Schwartz points out that while big ears are wonderful radiators during hot days, the fox's thick fur coat also acts as insulation during cold desert nights.

Native to the driest areas of southern Africa, this borrowing rodent can actually use its bushy tail as a sort of parasol-a function I think we all envy from time to time.

No discussion of desert survival is complete without a mention of the camel. You know that the hump stores fat, which can be used as both a food and water source for the animal when the going gets tough. But Schwartz points out that camels also have thick hairs in their ears for keeping out sand, and the same can be said of their eyelashes-"there's not a model out there that wouldn't want eyelashes like that," Schwartz says. Camels also sport closable nostrils, a nictitating eye membrane, and wide feet that act like snowshoes in the sand.

The Gila Monster-one of only two venomous lizards in the world-spends most of its life underground and can go months between meals by living off of fat stored in its tail. This is a handy little survival trick during the dry season in their Sonoran Desert habitat.

The peccary, or javelina, has a tough mouth and specialized digestive system which enables it to chomp down on prickly pear cactus pads (one of their favorite foods) without feeling the effects of the plant's thousands of tiny spines. "I can't imagine biting into the paddle of a cactus, but these animals definitely have found ways to do that," Schwartz says. As an added bonus, using cactus as a food source is a great way to supplement water intake as the spiny succulents are absolutely loaded with the stuff.

This bird, found mainly in the deserts of Asia and North Africa, has specialized feathers on its belly that are able to soak up small quantities of water. Males of the species will use these feathers like a sponge to carry water back to their nests, which they then share with their female counterparts and offspring.

Though they will drink water when it is available, this small species of North African antelope can get all of the water it needs from the food in its diet. When water is unavailable, the Dorcas gazelle can concentrate its urine into uric acid, which Schwartz describes as "a white pellet" instead of the hydraulically expensive liquid waste. "That's water conservation," he says, "and they need to hold on to whatever they get."

The Namib Desert in Africa has very little fresh water to speak of, but due to its proximity to the sea, it receives a daily dose of fog in the cool hours of the early morning. Fogstand beetles have learned to stand still in order to let the fog condense on their bodies in the form of water droplets, which they then drink.

As Schwartz points out, the metabolic processes of the body all have outputs which often occur in the form of mineral build up. "Animals that live in an environment where water is readily available will just [get rid of those minerals] through their urine," he says. "When you have animals that live in these extreme environments where they don't want to excrete any fluids, the body will find other ways to get rid of those minerals." The greater roadrunner of North America, which like the Dorcas gazelle can survive its whole life without drinking water, has developed a unique way of dealing with this problem: it secretes excess salt from a gland near its eye.

Not only are these animals able to close any wounds through a special process of contraction, but the exceptionally weak skin of these mice means it is also much easier to regenerate, allowing wounded spiny mice to heal from superficial wounds much faster than other species-a process which minimizes blood loss.

With subspecies in Africa, Asia, and Australia, this freaky legless lizard has developed an ingenious method of dealing with high desert surface temperatures-simply staying out of them. Blind skinks have lost their legs and eyes through evolution and, like the sandworms from Beetlejuice, prefer to stay hidden underground where they can tunnel in search of creepy crawlies to munch on.

Scorpions are able to go up to a year without eating thanks to their specialized metabolisms. Unlike other animals that experience a seasonal hibernation, though, a scorpion is still able to react to the presence of prey with lightning quickness even while in this state of nearly suspended animation.

To survive the harsh Australian summers, kangaroos will cool off by licking their forelegs. A special network of blood vessels in the legs allows the animals to reduce their body temperatures quickly through the evaporation of saliva since kangaroos lack regular sweat glands.

The black circles around the eyes of these social African mammals is often compared to a natural pair of sunglasses, though Schwartz says that the pattern actually functions by "absorbing the sun and preventing it from reflecting back into the eyes." This means that the pattern works more like the eye black used by professional athletes than actual lenses. Still, says Schwartz, it allows them "to see more clearly" while awake during the day, compared to nocturnal predators such as lions, whose eyes have no special markings whatsoever.

Another creature native to the Sahara Desert, the Addax antelope rarely if ever needs to drink water to survive. To cope with the unforgiving desert sun, the Addax sports a white coat in the summer which reflects sunlight, but in the winter the coat turns brownish-gray so as to better absorb heat.

What better way is there to silence your competition than by eating them? The common kingsnake is so specialized to that end that not only do they hunt by clamping down on a snake's jaws before constricting it to death, they have also developed an immunity to rattlesnake venom, making the vipers one of their favorite food sources.

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20 Amazing Animal Adaptations for Living in the Desert

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Without the benefit of modern technology, animals that make their home in the heat have had to come up with their own ways of staying cool and hydrated.

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:::: What's It Like Where You Live? ::::

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1. Home

2. Ecosystems

3. Poles

4. The Arctic and The Antarctic

Travel to the ends of the earth-literally-and discover the polar ocean basins. Both the Arctic Ocean and the Southern Ocean are defined by ice and dramatic shifts between endless day and endless night. The environments at the poles are some of the harshest on Earth-yet animals have found ways to survive there against the odds.

Although both are icy and frigid, the poles are actually more different than you might expect. In the northern polar region, the water and ice of the Arctic Ocean are surrounded by land. Depending on the season, much or all of the Arctic Ocean is covered by a layer of sea ice, ranging in thickness from a few inches to over six feet, which is always shifting as it floats on the ocean's surface. On the adjacent land, communities of native peoples have thrived for thousands of years by adapting to life along the edge of the ice.

Meanwhile, the southern polar region has the opposite geography, with the huge landmass of Antarctica surrounded by the turbulent Southern Ocean. All but one or two percent of Antarctic land is covered by glaciers, some of which are more than 15,000 feet (4,700 meters) thick. In the Antarctic, the only human residents are scientists and technicians at isolated research stations whose food must be shipped in by boat.

Arctic Ocean

The symbol of the Arctic is often the polar bear, the pole's cute yet fearsome top predator. These large marine mammals, who move easily between ice, water and land, are part of the diverse fauna of the Arctic Ocean.

What keeps this marine ecosystem going are organisms you can't see with the naked eye: microscopic phytoplankton and ice algae. Come March, the sun rises low in the Arctic horizon, and it won't set until six months later in September. During this bright period, Arctic algae and phytoplankton kick into overdrive, using photosynthesis to use the 24-hour sunlight to make food.

This explosion of life supports the entire food web for the whole year-from soft corals on the seafloor to the arctic foxes on the ice. The blooms of algae and phytoplankton feed zooplankton and larger predators, which are themselves in turn eaten, and so on up the food chain. When uneaten organisms die, they sink to the seafloor, feeding fish, seastars, soft corals, and other organisms in deeper water.

The sun-fed plankton are also important for the indigenous peoples of the Arctic who get food and clothing both from the sea (walrus, narwhals, beluga, other whales, polar bear, and fish) and the land (caribou, reindeer and musk-ox). Without phytoplankton and algae, the large marine animals would not have food to eat.

Southern Ocean

(© John Weller)

Antarctica is the coldest, driest, and windiest of Earth's seven continents, and 98 percent of the continent is covered by ice with no tundra, trees or bushes. Even in the southern summer, the average temperature is -17.5°F (-27.5°C), although along the coast it is warmer.

Antarctica is isolated from the rest of the continents by the Circumpolar Current, which swirls clockwise around the landmass. This current pulls up cold, nutrient-rich waters from the deep sea to the surface, a process known as upwelling. The nutrients cultivate blooms of phytoplankton and ice-algae, which feed a super-abundant supply of Antarctic krill, small shrimp-like crustaceans. Large animals, like penguins, whales, and seals all feast on the krill.

Unlike the Arctic, there are no indigenous communities based in Antarctica. The people that live here are mostly scientists and technicians engaged in research.

Polar Ice

(The Wales Inupiaq Sea Ice Dictionary, courtesy of Igor Krupnik (NMNH))

Many different types of ice can be found in the Arctic and Antarctic. Ice can be classified by age, whether it is made from fresh or salt water, or by its ever-changing forms. From giant glaciers to thin pack ice, each has distinctive characteristics, and those who have spent time in the Poles, from native people to sailors, have hundreds of names for the different kinds of ice.

Sea-Ice

Sea ice is by definition made from frozen seawater, which gives it different properties than ice made of freshwater. Its formation begins in very cold water surrounded by thicker sea ice or land with a slushy mix of water and ice crystals on the sea surface, called frazil ice. Then a film of ice forms, called grease ice, named for its close resemblance to the look of an oil slick on water. From this thin layer, the ice becomes thicker and stronger, forming pack ice. Pack ice is also referred to as drift ice because it is not attached to a shoreline and can be moved by the wind and ocean currents. The sea-ice closer to land and attached to the shoreline is called fast ice (short for fastened).

When salt water becomes ice, some of the salt is left behind in the water, making the water directly below sea ice saltier and denser than most seawater. This dense, salty water sinks and travels towards warmer tropical waters along the seafloor, forming part of the ocean's great circulating "conveyer belt". In 2011 a BBC crew filmed a never-before-seen phenomenon of the salt water sinking below newly formed ice and the water around it slowly freezing. This "brinicle," as it is called, eventually reaches the sea floor where it covers the animals living there (like sea stars and urchins) in a layer of deadly ice.

Sea ice forms during the winter, more than doubling the size of the Antarctic continent, and then melts in the spring and summer. In the Arctic, some of the sea ice stays throughout the year, called multi-year ice.

Learning From Ice

To study ice, sometimes you have to break it. The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy is a ship with a primary mission to serve as a research platform in the Arctic. Even in the twenty-four-hour light of summer, the multi-year sea ice can be nearly 2 meters thick and the ship's job is to cut right through the ice, no matter its thickness. Scientists also use ice cores to gain insight into the Earth's ancient atmosphere. The ice has trapped bubbles, salts, and sediments that can help tell the story of how the climate has changed. This is especially important now that humans are emitting carbon dioxide at an unprecedented rate (see Threats to the Poles section).

Arctic Ocean

Polar Bears

Imagine it being 40 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit and Celsius are equal at this temperature!) and not shivering. You could do that if you were a polar bear. Polar bears have two layers of fur, plus a layer of blubber to keep them warm in the coldest weather, and black skin to absorb the heat. They have hollow guard hairs that keep fur from matting when it gets wet. In fact, polar bears are more concerned about overheating than about getting cold. Because they are such strong swimmers, polar bears earned the species name of Ursus maritimus -bears of the sea. They can swim for miles and stay submerged for two minutes at a time.

Walrus

A thick layer of blubber keeps walruses warm in the Arctic. Both male and female walruses have strong long tusks that they use to help pull themselves out of the water. They can also use their tusks to break through the ice to create breathing holes. Walruses forage on the seafloor, diving to depths up to 180 meters (590 feet) for clams, cockles, and mussels. They use highly sensitive whiskers on their snouts to locate food. Then they dig out their prey using the tough edges of their noses, similar to how pigs root around in dirt and grass.

Narwhals

Unicorns may be creatures of the imagination, but narwhals are the real deal. There are roughly 172,000 of them swimming in the Arctic today. A large portion of narwhals lives in Baffin Bay, which is the body of water between the northeastern coast of Canada and Greenland. Smaller populations live off the eastern coast of Greenland as well. In the winter narwhals live offshore among the ice floes, but in the summer, when the ice melts, they migrate towards the shore and congregate in summering grounds. They live and travel in pods that range in size from a few narwhals to several hundred individuals, but in the summertime, the congregations can be in the thousands. Females, young, and immature males live together and adult males live in their own pods.

A narwhal is a toothed whale and is closely related to dolphins, porpoises, and orcas. The famous tusk is actually a specialized tooth that protrudes out of the left lip, and in rare cases, a narwhal can have two. The longest tusks can reach over eight feet long (2.4 meters). While all males have a tusk, only 15 percent of females have a tusk, leading scientists to believe it has a role in sexual selection. Understanding the function of the tusk is an ongoing area of investigation.

Diving is one of the narwhal's special talents. They are some of the deepest diving whales with a record dive around 5,900 feet (1,800 meters)-over a mile deep! Traveling at such depths where there is intense pressure requires a few special adaptations, including a compressible rib cage and streamlined body. They are also excellent at conserving oxygen-their muscles are built to minimize oxygen use and simultaneously can carry large amounts of oxygen. During the deepest dives, a narwhal can shut off oxygen flow to unessential organs and instead divert it to where it is needed most.

Arctic Cod

(E. Siddon, UAF, Hidden Ocean 2005, NOAA.)

Arctic Cod can live in water that is cooler than the freezing point of blood. Like the Antarctic ice fish, they have an antifreeze protein that keeps their blood flowing. Arctic Cod are critical players in the Arctic food web. They eat small crustaceans, such as amphipods and copepods. And in turn, Arctic Cod are food for seabirds and many marine mammals.

Southern Ocean

Icefish

In oxygen-rich Antarctic waters, ice fish can withstand temperatures that would freeze the cells of other fish. They have no hemoglobin-the oxygen-carrying protein that makes red blood cells red. In the absence of hemoglobin the gills of ice fish appear white. The ice fish instead have special blood that contains proteins that act like antifreeze. The fish actually have ice crystals inside their bodies and the special proteins ensure that the crystals don't grow in size. But researchers have also found that the ice crystals don't go away during the warmer summer months-one of the implications of living below the ice. This protein is also found in a group of more than 120 fish that live in the Southern Ocean.

Weddell Seals

Weddell Seals live year round in the frigid waters of the Southern Ocean. They inhabit the "fast ice"-sea ice that is attached to the shore. These seals do not migrate and are commonly found within a few miles of their birthplace. When sleeping and resting, Weddell seals may remain in the same spot for hours, melting a hollow in the ice underneath them with their own body heat. Swimming under the ice they can dive as deep as 700 meters (2296 feet) and attack prey, such as small fish, from below. The fish above are backlit by the ice above and easily spotted in silhouette. Weddell seals are very vocal and have a large repertoire of sounds. Recent studies in the Ross Sea suggest the loud vocalizations may be used to stun prey.

Pole to Pole: Shared Species?

More than 11,000 kilometers (6835 miles) separate the Arctic from the Southern Ocean. So scientists thought only a few species would live in both places until researchers taking part in the Census of Marine Life found over 200 species that appeared to live in both polar seas, including cold-water worms, crustaceans, sea cucumbers and pteropod snails. But, further genetic testing proved that they were in fact, not the same species and that the miles between do make a difference. Some animals make fantastically long migrations, moving from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back again every year, living an endless polar summer.

Orcas

Orcas, also known as killer whales, can be found in both the Arctic and the Southern Oceans. Orcas stay put in their distinctive ecosystems, and there are different characteristics of the groups (or pods) in various locations. All orcas are currently considered to be the same species, although there is some thought that they might be different species among the pods in Antarctica, or at least subspecies (pdf). They are the largest of the dolphins, and powerful predators. Orcas travel in pods of up to 40 related individuals. These pods act like wolf packs - working together to take down prey, including seals and larger whales. Orcas communicate through a wide range of sounds, and each pod has an audio signature that members can recognize from far away.

Krill and Copepods

(R. Hopcroft, UAF, Hidden Ocean 2005 NOAA.)

At both poles, tiny animals, called zooplankton, are near the base of the food chain. They eat the photosynthesizing phytoplankton and in turn are food for fish, seabirds and marine mammals. In the Southern Ocean, Antarctic krill swim in dense schools of 20,000 animals per cubic yard (540,000 cubic feet). In an amazing feat of synchronized swimming, they use a staggered formation so that no krill swims directly in another's wake. That way they avoid turbulence. In the Arctic Ocean, different species of copepods have different life cycles and eating patterns and they are important sources of food for larger organisms. Scientists are just beginning to understand who eats whom in the polar oceans.

Climate Change

(National Snow and Ice Data Center)

Among the biggest threats to the poles is rapid climate change. Atmospheric carbon dioxide has been rising for more than a century, with large contributions from the fossil fuels used to power our homes, businesses, and cars. These increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases are trapping heat and taking a toll on the planet, especially at the poles where the largest increases in temperature will occur. Global temperatures have increased since the 1800s, and sea ice has been decreasing in extent and thickness.

While details concerning the extent of future impacts of climate change are the subject of debate, the Arctic is experiencing those changes today. It's warming at twice the rate of the rest of the planet. From 1979 to 2005, sea ice cover declined by about 20 percent. Scientists have discovered that the ratio of thick to thin sea ice is changing. In years past, thicker ice was about 40 percent of total ice cover. Now it's down to just 10 percent and the Arctic may have ice-free summers by the end of the 21st century. The amount of multi-year ice that remains from year to year has been declining since the 1980s due to warming temperatures, leaving mostly newer, thinner ice on the surface. Some areas of the Arctic Ocean, like the Barent Sea north of Scandinavia, are warming so quickly that they are being taken over by Atlantic waters. The Arctic Ocean is characterized by a layer of cold, fresh water at its surface, a product of the floating ice. Since the ice has disappeared the warmer, saltier Atlantic water is able to move northward.

Because of these massive changes, the whole Arctic Ocean ecosystem will see impacts, from microscopic algae to massive polar bears to the people who call the Arctic home. Exactly how climate change will affect the Arctic is hard to predict. Polar bears, who rely on sea ice to reach seals for their winter meals, will have less time to reach their food source as the ice declines and breaks up earlier in the season. For people who live in the Arctic, weather and hunting grounds are becoming more unpredictable. Knowledge of the environment that has served generations is being defied by a changing climate. Many northern communities have also observed coastal erosion and watched the permafrost-ground that used to be frozen all year-melting and buckling under their homes and roads.

An ice-free Arctic could mean a new trade route-a Northwest Passage connecting Europe to Asia - bypassing both the Panama and Suez canals. An ice-free Arctic also opens up possibilities for drilling for oil and gas. Russia has already staked a claim, using submarines to plant a flag on the Arctic Ocean floor. Unlike the Antarctic, which is governed in part by a multinational treaty, there is no treaty currently for the Arctic polar region.

In certain regions of the Antarctic, sea ice cover is actually growing. But, overall the land- and fresh-water based ice continues to shrink. A 2018 study found that 10.7 percent of Antarctica's coastal glaciers are in retreat. Another study published in the same year found that the rate of Antarctic ice melt has tripled in the last five years. Crabs that have stayed out of Antarctic waters for millions of years because of the cold may invade and prey on animals that have no defense against their strong claws. And it is not just temperatures that are changing due to the increases in carbon dioxide. Small shelled creatures, like pteropods, which are important food sources for fish and larger animals, are already losing their shells in the Antarctic due to ocean acidification.

Overfishing

Arctic

Indigenous Cultures

One of the biggest differences between the poles has to do with people that reside there. Antarctica is a continent devoid of human settlement, except for the over 50 research stations built there by 27 different countries. But the Arctic region is home to more than 4 million people, many of which are indigenous people, native to the area. The indigenous people of the region encircling the North Pole are known by many names-Inuit, Eskimo, Kalaadit. Today their lands are part of four different nations-the United States, Canada, Denmark (Greenland) and Russia. For thousands of years, the people in the Arctic have adapted to living in an ice-bound environment. Key to survival is the skill with which they hunt arctic marine animals like seals and whales.

Friend Acting Strangely

" The ocean is eating up our land," says Esther Iyatunguk. Esther lives in the Alaskan coastal village of Shishmaref. From Shishmaref to Sachs Harbour, Canada, Arctic communities are on the frontlines of climate change. Sea ice used to provide protection from powerful ocean waves but now that sea ice is melting, the shoreline is eroding rapidly. Warmer temperatures also cause sea level to rise and melt the permafrost, or frozen soil. Land is being lost, along with animals that provide food for the people living in the Arctic. The mainstay of the Shishmaref diet is the bearded seal. Without sea ice, hunting has become significantly harder. Right now, residents of Shishmaref are working with the U.S. Government to relocate the entire village at a cost of $180 million.

Antarctic

McMurdo Station

McMurdo Station is the hub of the U.S. Antarctic Program. Since 1955, scientists have been coming to McMurdo primarily in the southern 'summer' months of October to February. Amidst the penguins and the seals, researchers look at everything from ecosystems underwater to ozone holes in the atmosphere. The Southern Ocean has also become a draw for ecotourists who seek to visit places where humans are far outnumbered by penguins. Ironically, the ships that bring nature-loving tourists may also unwittingly be bringing invasive species, such as plant spores and rodents that could damage the fragile Antarctic ecosystem.

Polar Science at the Smithsonian

Arctic Studies Center

The Smithsonian's Arctic Studies Center, established in 1988, is the only U.S. government program with a special focus on northern cultural research and education. In keeping with this mandate, the Arctic Studies Center specifically studies northern peoples, exploring history, archaeology, social change and human lifestyles across the circumpolar world. The Smithsonian possesses one of the world's finest anthropological collections from arctic and sub-arctic regions. The Arctic Studies Center seeks to bring its researchers together with community scholars in the collaborative exploration of the cultural heritage represented in these impressive collections.

Smithsonian Alaska Native Collections

(Screenshot from Smithsonian Alaska Native Collections)

The Iñupiaq have lived in the northern section of Alaska for thousands of years. Subsistence hunting of bowhead whales formed the basis for Iñupiaq social and spiritual life. The Iñupiaq developed sophisticated survival skills for understanding animal migrations, weather patterns, ocean currents, and more. The collection at the Smithsonian preserves thousands of artifacts from the Iñupiaq culture, including parkas made from caribou, a mask worn by a woman dancer, and an ice-scratcher used by hunters to lure seals.

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Home Ecosystems Poles The Arctic and The Antarctic Travel to the ends of the earth-literally-and discover the polar ocean basins. Both the Arctic Ocean and the Southern Ocean are defined by ice and dramatic shifts between endless day and endless night.

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The Arctic and Antarctica are the world’s two polar deserts.

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

Mike Toillion/NASA Astrobiology

Feature Story

Ice, desiccation, and limited nutrients

Written by Daniella Scalice Source NASA Astrobiology

Hot enough for you here in the Northern Hemisphere? Let's cool off with a trip to Earth's polar deserts, places where astrobiologists study life's adaptation to some of the driest and coldest conditions on our planet. Many of Earth's coldest deserts are found in the Arctic or Antarctic regions of the planet. This includes places like the Dry Valleys of Antarctica or sites on islands in the extreme north, like Greenland and Svalbard. However, there are also extremely cold deserts can also be found away from the poles at elevation, such as high up in the Andes Mountains in South America.

Polar deserts are characterized by extremely low temperatures and arid conditions. They receive very little precipitation, the main forms of which are snow and fog. Most water in these extremely cold landscapes is frozen solid. With such little precipitation, it's not easy for anything to live in a polar desert... but there is life! In some of the coldest desert there are lichens and plants that have adapted to the extreme conditions. And of course, diverse populations of microorganisms also call these places home.

Deserts and Astrobiology
Astrobiologists are very interested in studying life in polar deserts here on Earth. One reason is that some of the conditions are similar to what we see on Mars. The study of life in polar deserts is almost as old as NASA itself. Many researchers involved in NASA's Viking missions to Mars in the 1970s worked in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica to both test instruments and consider the potential for life in freezing and extremely dry conditions. Since then, cold deserts in places like Alaska, Greenland, Svalbard, and Iceland have become important research sites for astrobiologists. Science instruments for missions like the Mars Exploration Rovers, the Curiosity Mars rover, and the Perseverance Mars rover were developed and tested in cold desert locations.

In terms of studying life, polar deserts are particularly important for examining psychrophiles. These organisms don't just tolerate the cold; true psychrophiles require temperatures to be well below freezing. To live in such icy temperatures, many have special adaptations and mechanisms - such as producing proteins that act as anti-freezing agents. Psychrophiles can be found in many environments, including the deep sea and snow packs, but many call polar deserts home.

Oftentimes, microorganisms are found lying dormant for incredibly long periods of time. These organisms aren't always actively 'eating' or reproducing. In a sense, they're hibernating as they wait for environmental conditions to get better.

Permanently frozen areas on Earth can preserve organisms for tens of thousands of years. Antarctic mosses have been regrown from samples that were a thousand years old and covered by ice. Nematodes in Siberia were revived from samples tens of thousands of years old. Recently, microscopic multicellular animals known as bdelloid rotifers were reported to have survived in Siberian permafrost dated to around 24,000 years old (Shmakova et al. 2021).

In Greenland, astrobiologists even identified an ultra-small microbe living inside a glacier. The bacterium is called Chryseobacterium greenlandensis, and has survived for up to 120,000 years within the ice.

Astrobiologists also find microorganisms living under or even inside rocks in cold deserts all over the world. The rocks can let some sunlight through as well as create spaces of relatively higher moisture. The microbes miraculously access whatever scant moisture is available and are able to photosynthesize to create their own food. Organisms that live inside the pores of rocks are known as endoliths. If Mars were home to past (or present) life, could Martian organisms use strategies like this to survive on its cold, dry surface?
Life in the Extreme: Resources:
Life in the Extremes: Astrobiology Extremophile Trading Cards
Astrobiology Graphic History Issue #5: Astrobiology and the Earth
Life in the Extreme: Terrestrial Hot Springs
Life in the Extreme: Polar Deserts
Life in the Extreme: Hydrothermal Vents

Related:
NASA Participates in the Arctic Mars Analogue Svalbard Expedition (AMASE) 2009
On the Ground in Greenland
New Instrument May Aid Search for Extraterrestrial Life
References:
Bishop et al. (2013) Coordinated analyses of Antarctic sediments as Mars analog materials using reflectance spectroscopy and current flight-like instruments for CheMin, SAM and MOMA . Icarus 224(2)

Loveland-Curtze et al. (2009) Herminiimonas glaciei sp. nov., a novel ultramicrobacterium from 3042 m deep Greenland glacial ice. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, 59(6).

Loveland-Curtze et al. (2010) Novel ultramicrobacterial isolates from a deep Greenland ice core represent a proposed new species, Chryseobacterium greenlandense sp. nov.. Extremophiles, 14.

Malaska et al. (2020) Subsurface In Situ Detection of Microbes and Diverse Organic Matter Hotspots in the Greenland Ice Sheet. Astrobiology, 20(10).

Murray et al. (2012) Microbial life at −13 °C in the brine of an ice-sealed Antarctic lake PNAS, 109 (50).

Schmakova et al (2021) A living bdelloid rotifer from 24,000-year-old Arctic permafrost. Current Biology, 31(11).

Starke et al. (2013) Microbial community composition and endolith colonization at an Arctic thermal spring are driven by calcite precipitation. Environmental Biology Reports, 5(5).

Stern et al. (2013) Isotopic and geochemical investigation of two distinct Mars analog environments using evolved gas techniques in Svalbard, Norway. Icarus, 224(2).

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 Mike Toillion/NASA Astrobiology Feature Story Written by Daniella Scalice Source NASA Astrobiology Hot enough for you here in the Northern Hemisphere? Let's cool off with a trip to Earth's polar deserts, places where astrobiologists study life's adaptation to some of the driest and coldest conditions on our planet.

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The term " desert" was once confined to hot, arid regions of the tropics and subtropics. However, the central place given to the absence or sparsity of vegetation in many definitions of the term has led to the development of the concept of the "cold desert"-a terrain in which low temperatures and physiological drought drastically inhibit plant growth. Such conditions are, of course, most typically found in the earth's polar regions- the Arctic and Antarctica -leading to the concept of the "polar desert."

True polar desert is surprisingly rare in the Arctic. Most of the central north polar region comprises the Arctic Sea; the Arctic's land area is made up of the northernmost parts of the North American and Asian continents as well as of a large number of islands, notably Greenland, the Canadian Arctic Archipeiago, and the SvaJbard group, Lack of snowfall and relatively moderate temperatures, created especially where Arctic climates are tempered by maritime currents, also mean that less than two-fifths of this land is permanently covered with ice.

More typical of the Arctic is the low-lying scrubland that lies beyond the tree line-usually known as tundra, but in its American incarnation often known as the Barren Grounds. However, a few areas, such as the heavily glaciated inland of Greenland and its arid northern coast, resemble hot deserts in that plant life is minimal. However, as in the hot desert environment, some plants have evolved strategies to survive not only the bitter cold but also the long winter nights and long summer days. Many Arctic plants reproduce asexually, and many have a swift life cycle-growing, blooming, and seeding in a few weeks during the brief Arctic summer. Exposed rocks are home to numerous species of lichen, while even permanent ice supports algae.

Animals have adapted less well to Arctic conditions, perhaps because the relative swiftness of glaciation in the region meant that there was little time for adaption to take place. In the Arctic and Subarctic just a few species-such as the polar bear and fox, snowy owl, and gyrfalcon-tend to exist In relatively large numbers, In contrast to the Arctic, Antarctica is a continent all of its own and is almost entirely covered with ice; indeed, the Antarctic ice sheet accounts for some 90 percent of the earth's ice. This is the so-called White Desert, where winter temperatures can fall as low as ?89.2°C (?128.6°F), far colder than even the Arctic. The continent is also subject to fierce blizzards, as cold winds sweep down from the interior highlands and sweep up the loose snow-just as hot desert winds whip up sands into blinding dust storms. Moreover, despite the presence of vast quantities of water in the form of ice, there is little precipitation in Antarctica-the equivalent of only about 50 millimeters rainfall.

Extreme cold, high winds and blizzards, and the scarcity of moisture mean that little plant or animal life can survive on Antarctica, although, by contrast, the surrounding seas are home to a rich variety of flora and fauna. Cold-adapted life tends to congregate around the more hospitable microclimates created where high altitudes combine with northerly, coastal latitudes to attract a higher degree of solar radiation. In total, there are only about 800 plant species in Antarctica, of which almost half are lichens, which are able to remain dormant during the long winter months. Animal life is still rarer. Apart from tiny arthropods such as mites and lice, the principal Antarctic animals are birds, most notably Adelie and emperor penguins, whose immense rookeries are crammed along the coastline. Other Antarctic species include petrels, albatrosses, and cormorants. With the exception of the great emperor penguin, all these birds migrate northward with the growth of the winter ice.

Hot deserts are remarkably stable environments. Their polar counterparts, by contrast, have proved much more susceptible to human interference. The development of whaling stations in the past and today's scientific stations and tourism have introduced many alien species of plants and even animals; on some subarctic islands rabbits and sheep have decimated local plant species. Of more concern is the threat of global warming and the melting of both Arctic and Antarctic glaciers, although as yet no clear environmental trends are discernible. Antarctica's probable great mineral wealth is a great temptation for the world's nations. At present, however, international treaties protect the White Desert from mineral exploitation, and there are plans afoot to make the continent a vast "world park."

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The term “desert” was once confined to hot, arid regions of the tropics and subtropics. However, the central place given to the absence or sparsity of

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Polar deserts are peculiar places. They're covered in ice sheets, essentially frozen water, so they're very different from their sizzling, sandy cousins. But with less than 250 mm of rain a year, they're also incredibly dry. There are two places on Earth where we can find polar deserts: the Arctic and the Antarctic. But very few realise how vital these seemingly lifeless landscapes really are to, well, the entire world. How many of these fascinating facts about polar deserts are news to you?

1. Life underneath the ice

Polar deserts may seem like they are devoid of any life, but don't be fooled by the 'barren' icy landscape. Sure, you won't see any trees or animals, except from some incidental moss and a very rare polar fox in the Arctic. But right below the ice caps, you'll find one of the richest microbial ecosystems on Earth. You'll need microscopic vision to see over half of the creatures in the Arctic and Antarctic. Still, besides the plankton, algae and krill, there are also populations of squid, octopuses, seals, fish, and whales that thrive underneath the ice. Even groups of king penguins can survive in certain parts of the polar desert in Antarctica by looking for food below the surface.

2. Ancient fossils, hidden in the desert valleys

In the Antarctic polar deserts, there are certain 'dry' valleys in-between the mountains. Surprisingly, these valleys receive almost no rain or snowfall whatsoever. Especially from above, it's a curious sight: right in the middle of a seemingly endless sea of ice, there are rocky valleys of naked stone. Paleontologists sometimes call these valleys 'fossil oases', because they are the perfect environments to look for traces of ancient life. These areas are almost never visited by humans, so nobody can damage or destroy the ancient traces. But most importantly; the lack of ice exposes layers of prehistoric soil that we normally never see.

3. Even dryer than the Sahara desert

It's one of the most unlikely facts about polar deserts: some inland areas of the Antarctic polar desert can be so incredibly dry, that even the Sahara desert experiences more precipitation in one year. The most extreme regions in Antarctica only receive about 60 mm annual rain or snowfall. Since the low temperatures prevent any evaporation, the ice sheets remain. This means today's ice sheets are a build-up of thousands of years of occasional rain and snow.

4. 90% of all of the ice on Earth

The Antarctic polar deserts, as well as its surrounding areas, are home to about 90% of all the ice on planet Earth. About 97% of the surface of Antarctica itself consists of ice, although climate change is causing temperatures to rise. Although most of us may not be very aware of their existence, the polar deserts form a vital ecosystem that protects the global balance in climate zones. If all of the ice in Antarctica would melt, it would cause the oceans to rise up to 60 metres.

5. The largest deserts on Earth?

If we stick to the less than 250 mm of rainfall rule, the polar deserts are actually the two largest deserts on Earth. It hasn't been this way for millions of years, however: much of the polar deserts were formed during the recent ice ages, so they are really quite young. The Antarctic Polar Desert is the largest of all, followed by the Arctic Polar Desert. The largest non-polar desert is the Sahara.

Curious to discover more fascinating facts about the most unusual places on the planet? Then you might want to have a look at the other articles we have published so far.

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5 Fascinating Facts about Polar Deserts * Globonaut

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Polar deserts are peculiar places. They're covered in ice sheets, essentially frozen water, so they're very different from their sizzling, sandy cousins. But with less than 250 mm of rain a year, they're also incredibly dry. There are two places on Earth where we can find polar deserts: the Arctic and the Antarctic.

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When most people imagine Antarctica they think of a cold continent covered in ice. And they're right. In fact, 90% of the world's freshwater is locked up in Antarctica's permanent ice sheet. By contrast, the idea of the desert usually conjures images of rippled sand dunes and the shimmering heat of the Sahara. So how is it possible that a cold, ice-covered continent like Antarctica is a desert?

Why is Antarctica a desert?

A desert is defined by the amount of precipitation (rain, snow, mist and fog) in an area. A region that receives very little precipitation (the exact amount depends on who you ask) is classified as a desert. There are many types of deserts, including subtropical, coastal and polar deserts. What they all have in common is a barren, windswept landscape, which makes it difficult for plants and animals alike to gain a foothold on land. This all certainly applies to Antarctica.

The average yearly rainfall at the South Pole over the past 30 years was a tiny 10 mm (0.4 in). Most of the continent is covered by ice fields carved by the wind, and craggy mountains covered in glaciers. While Antarctica is home to wonderful forests of low-lying mosses and lichens, there are only two flowering plants that can survive the harsh conditions. And most of the animals we encounter - penguins, seals, whales and seabirds - rely on seafood for sustenance.

Is there a desert in Antarctica, or is Antarctica a desert?

While most deserts only cover part of a continent, the Antarctic Polar Desert spans the whole of Antarctica. It snows and rains on the coastal Antarctic Peninsula, but in the McMurdo Dry Valleys in East Antarctica, it never rains. In fact, scientists believe that in some parts of the Dry Valleys it hasn't snowed or rained for 14 million years! So although the coast sees some precipitation, the average across the continent is low enough to classify all of Antarctica as a polar desert.

How much of Antarctica is covered in ice?

Approximately 98% of the Antarctic continent is covered by a permanent ice sheet. This beautiful and wild expanse of ice covers an incredible 14 million km² (5.4 million square miles). That's about the same area as the United States and Mexico combined!

At its deepest, Antarctica's ice is 4.5km (2.7 miles) thick. If it melted, global sea levels would rise about 60 m (200 ft). That's a lot of ice. And due to Antarctica's desert conditions, it has taken an impressive 45 million years for it to grow to its current thickness.

How much precipitation does Antarctica receive annually?

The interior is very dry and rarely sees clouds. Here, the annual precipitation averages around 50 mm (1.9 in), and most of this falls as snow or ice crystals. This gives rise to some of the most ethereal weather conditions you can see on earth including frost flowers, solar haloes and polar stratospheric clouds.

By contrast, the coast has a maritime climate influenced by the ocean and it's quite common to see low clouds and mist clinging to the craggy mountains. The Antarctic coastline can receive more than 200 mm (7.8 in) of precipitation each year.

On the Antarctic Peninsula, which travellers can visit in the summer months, it's quite possible to see snow, rain and sunshine in one day. Some northern parts of the Antarctic Peninsula receive 500 mm (19.7 in) between October and March, and on nearby subantarctic islands this can double, with 1000 mm (39.4 in) each year! That's why we make sure that everyone on our voyages has a top notch, complimentary polar expedition jacket. These jackets are water and wind-resistant, so you'll be protected from the elements whatever the weather.

Which is bigger: Antarctica or the Sahara Desert?

Antarctica is the largest desert on earth, almost twice the size of the Sahara Desert. How does Antarctica compare to other deserts on earth?

The 5 largest deserts on earth

1. Antarctic Polar Desert: 14 million km² (5.4 million square miles).

2. Arctic Polar Desert: 13.7 million km² (5.3 million square miles).

3. Sahara Desert: 9.2 million km² (3.5 million square miles).

4. Arabian Desert: 2.3 million km² (800,000 square miles).

5. Gobi Desert: 1.295 million km² (500,000 square miles).

Tundra or desert: What's the difference?

Tundra and desert biomes share some features. They both:

Receive very little rainfall

Support limited vegetation

However, they differ in a few key ways. While deserts can be either hot or cold, tundra is characterised by cold temperatures between -40°C and 18°C (-40°F and 64°F). Tundra is often found in cool subarctic and subantarctic regions and alpine areas. Deserts, on the other hand, can be found at any latitude, from sea level to high altitudes.

The defining feature of tundra is permafrost, a thick layer of soil that stays frozen all year. In tundra biomes a thin, surface layer of soil thaws in the summer allowing lichens, mosses and small shrubs to grow, while the soil beneath never thaws.

While Antarctica is classified as a desert, many of the nearby islands are considered tundra, including the South Shetland Islands, South Georgia and the Falkland Islands.

Take the first step towards your Antarctic adventure today

Antarctica may be a desert, but it's surrounded by iridescent blue icebergs, an endless expanse of ocean and a dome of polar sky. If you'd like to find out how you can join a small ship expedition cruise to Antarctica, please take a look at our upcoming voyages here. And if you'd like to keep learning about Antarctica, this article with 10 fun Antarctic facts is a good place to continue reading.

If you're interested in learning more about Antarctica or seeing for yourself what it's all about, contact our expedition experts today.

Words by Nina Gallo, Aurora Expeditions' historian and certified PTGA polar guide.

Nina has been drawn to the polar regions since her first otherworldly experience of the midnight sun in 2002. Since then she has spent time in far northern Canada, the Himalayas, the Alps and deserts in America and Australia, always seeking out quiet, wild corners to explore. She feels immensely privileged to travel to these places and shares her passions for the natural world, human stories and adventure with all the wonderful people she meets. Nina is the author of Antarctica, published by Australian Geographic in September 2020.

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Is Antarctica a desert? YES. Find out why | Aurora Expeditions

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When most people imagine Antarctica they think of a cold continent covered in ice. And they're right. In fact, 90% of the world's freshwater is locked up in Antarctica's permanent ice sheet. By contrast, the idea of the desert usually conjures images of rippled sand dunes and the shimmering heat of the Sahara.

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polar ecosystem, complex of living organisms in polar regions such as polar barrens and tundra. Polar barrens and tundra are found at high latitudes on land surfaces not covered by perpetual ice and snow. These areas lying beyond the tree line comprise more than 10 percent of the Earth’s land surf…

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The is the northernmost region of Earth. Most scientists define the Arctic as the area within the Arctic Circle, a line of latitude about 66.5° north of the Equator. Within this circle are the Arctic ocean basin and the northern parts of Scandinavia, Russia, Canada, Greenland, and the U.S. state of Alaska. The Arctic is almost entirely covered by water, much of it frozen. Some frozen features, such as glaciers and icebergs, are frozen freshwater. In fact, the glaciers and icebergs in the Arctic make up about 20% of Earth's supply of freshwater. Most of the Arctic, however, is the liquid saltwater of the Arctic ocean basin. Some parts of the ocean's surface remain frozen all or most of the year. This frozen seawater is called sea ice. Often, sea ice is covered with a thick blanket of snow. Sea ice helps determine Earth's climate. Sea ice has a very bright surface, or albedo. This albedo means about 80% of sunlight that strikes sea ice is reflected back to space. The dark surface of the liquid ocean, however, absorbs about 90% of solar radiation. Due to thermohaline circulation, the Arctic's thick, reflective sea ice moderates ocean temperatures around the world. The Arctic experiences the extremes of solar radiation. During the Northern Hemisphere's winter months, the Arctic is one of the coldest and darkest places on Earth. Following sunset on the September equinox, the Earth's tilted axis and its revolution around the sun reduce the light and heat reaching the Arctic until no sunlight penetrates the darkness at all. The sun rises again during the March equinox, and increases the light and heat reaching the Arctic. By the June solstice, the Arctic experiences 24-hour sunshine. Life in the Arctic evaporation and huge influxes of freshwater from rivers and glaciers. River mouths, calving glaciers, and constantly moving ocean currents contribute to a vibrant marine ecosystem in the Arctic. The cold, circulating water is rich in nutrients, as well as the microscopic organisms (such as phytoplankton and algae) that need them to grow. Marine animals thrive in the Arctic. Primary consumers such as jellies and shrimp consume plankton, the basis of the Arctic marine food web. Secondary consumers include fish, seabirds (such as gulls and puffins), and a wide variety of baleen whales, including giant blue whales and bowhead whales. Tertiary consumers, animals that prey mostly on other carnivores, include toothed whales and dolphins (such as orcas and narwhals) and pinnipeds such as seals, sea lions, and walruses. Scavengers (including some sharks and crabs) and Marine EcosystemThe Arctic ocean basin is the shallowest of the five ocean basins on Earth. It is also the least salty, due to low decomposers such as marine worms and algae break down dead and decaying materials. Organic nutrients are thus recycled into the marine ecosystem of the Arctic. Terrestrial EcosystemsThe varied landscapes of the Arctic provide for a variety of ecosystems. The Arctic includes the peaks of the Brooks mountain range in western North America, the enormous Greenland ice sheet, the isolated islands of the Svalbard archipelago, the fjords of northern Scandinavia, and the grassland plateaus and rich river valleys of northern Siberia. Although some forests lie near the Arctic Circle, plant life is mostly limited to grasses, sedges, and tundra vegetation such as mosses and lichens. These autotrophs have the ability to survive despite being covered in snow and ice for much of the year. Insects such as mosquitoes and moths are common, especially as icemelt creates ponds during spring and summer. Insects and insect larvae provide a crucial diet for birds, such as wrens and sandpipers, and freshwater fish. Primary consumers across the region range from tiny lemmings to enormous muskoxen. One of the most familiar Arctic herbivores is the caribou, often known as the reindeer in Europe and Asia. Secondary consumers include Arctic foxes, and raptors such as owls and eagles. The polar bear, the iconic apex predator of the Arctic, is equally able to hunt on land and around ice floes. Like the polar bear, many other animals of the Arctic are white: beluga whales, snowy owls, juvenile harp seals. This coloring helps camouflage them in heavy snow and ice. Many Arctic animals even change their coloration seasonally. Species of Arctic fox and Arctic hare, for example, are snowy white in winter but molt and grow a brownish or greyish fur coat during the summer months. Even fluffy white baby seals will ultimately grow up to a dark brown-better to blend in with the dark Arctic ocean waters instead of blinding white ice floes. People in the Arctic Indigenous Cultures People established communities and cultures in the Arctic thousands of years ago, and continue to thrive today. They have all developed smart, innovative ways to adapt to the unique challenges posed by the region's severe climate. Housing or other shelter, for example, poses unusual challenges for Arctic peoples. Thick blankets of seasonal snow and lack of abundant trees for lumber historically limited the development of wood or stone structures common in subarctic climates. Inuit bands in Canada and Greenland, for example, engineered "snow houses"-more commonly known as igloos. Igloos were circular structures made of stacked ice (often sea ice), insulated with snow. The rectangular blocks were stacked in tight spiral pattern, giving the igloo a domed shape. Igloos could hold as few as two and as many as 20 people. Igloos were just one type of Inuit dwelling. Inuit communities also built tents with poles crafted from driftwood and whale bones or baleen. Animal hides covered these poles, and snow provided excellent insulation. The historically nomadic Sami (an indigenous people of Scandinavia and northwestern Russia) also built temporary tent-like structures, called lavvu﻿. Instead of relying on driftwood, however, Sami communities had access to the rich taiga, or boreal forests, of the European subarctic. More permanent Sami structures included storehouses, where foods, textiles, and other valuables could be stored for later use or trade. These storehouses, which resemble log cabins, are notable for being elevated on stilts, centimeters or even meters from the ground. Elevation protected the valuables from excess rot due to snow or water seeping into the storehouse, as well as vermin such as mice or rats. Today, Arctic cultures such as the Inuit and Sami have access to high-quality building materials and sophisticated structural engineering plans. Still, buildings throughout the Arctic are reliant on efficient insulation and weatherization. (Weatherization is the process of protecting a dwelling from extreme temperature changes, precipitation, and wind.) Challenges of Indigenous CulturesRights to land and natural resources are an important part of contemporary culture and survival of indigenous peoples in the Arctic. Indigenous Arctic communities face tremendous challenges, often the result of colonization and exploitation of land and energy resources. For hundreds of years, for instance, European and Asian explorers interacted with Inuit communities in the Canadian Arctic, searching for the North Pole and the elusive "Northwest Passage." (The Northwest Passage is a sea route connecting the North Pacific and North Atlantic ocean basins.) Increased contact with Europeans and European Americans often came with conflict. Inuit social structure, schools, and language were replaced with Western traditions. Starting in the late 20th century, regional, national, and international organizations increasingly recognized the political and cultural sovereignty of Arctic peoples. Rights to land and natural resources are an important part of this sovereignty. An agreement between the government of Canada and Inuit bands, for instance, ultimately resulted in the creation of the territory of Nunavut in 1999. Nunavut, Canada's largest territory, stretches far into the central Canadian Arctic. More than half the population of Nunavut identifies as Inuit, and Inuktitut is the most-spoken language. Viking settlement of northern Scandinavia and Iceland in the 900s. Russian explorers navigated the "Northern Sea Route" of the Northeast Passage and the Siberian Arctic, eventually crossing the Bering Strait in the 1600s. The pursuit of the Northwest Passage, which would save untold time and money in trade between Europe and Asia, drove Arctic exploration during the Age of Discovery. Explorers such as John Cabot, Martin Frobisher, and Henry Hudson all failed to find an open-water route. The Northwest Passage was not completely navigated until 1906, when legendary Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his crew made the voyage from Greenland to Alaska. Shifting sea ice made the trip hazardous; it took about three years, and required a relatively small ship (a converted fishing vessel). Resources in the Arctic The Arctic has enormous deposits of oil and natural gas. In Alaska, many oil companies work with indigenous groups known as "native corporations" to drill and export millions of barrels of oil every year. Alaska's North Slope contains 6% of the largest oil fields in the United States and one of the 100 largest natural gas fields. Engineers and geographers estimate that oil and gas deposits in the Arctic make up 13% of the world's undiscovered petroleum resources, and 30% of undiscovered natural gas resources. The Arctic is also rich in minerals, such as nickel and copper ore. Mineral resources also include gemstones and rare earth elements, which are used in batteries, magnets, and scanners. Some of these mineral deposits are underground, while others are buried beneath the Arctic Ocean. Mines and drilling operations are often dependent on the weather. In the winter, machinery can freeze, and the frozen ground becomes too hard to drill. In warmer weather, the Arctic permafrost can thaw and machinery can become unstable and damage the environment. Race for the ArcticAlmost all Arctic nations are scrambling to assert authority over the rich resources of the Arctic. This diplomatic conflict has been nicknamed the "New Cold War" or simply the "Race for the Arctic." The exclusive economic zones of Russia, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland, Canada, and the United States extend to 200 nautical miles off their coasts. A country can explore and exploit all resources within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ). However, some Arctic nations are claiming territory on their continental shelves, not just their coastlines. Russia, Greenland, Denmark, and Canada, for instance, all claim the Lomonosov Ridge. The Lomonosov Ridge is an undersea mountain chain that stretches from the Canadian Arctic, through the North Pole, all the way to the waters off Siberia. Changing Climate in the Arctic Climate change is radically redefining the geography, biodiversity, and political units of the Arctic. The extent of sea ice in the Arctic is shrinking. The 21st century has marked record lows in both the winter maximum and summer minimum extent of sea ice. Most climatologists estimate that by the year 2100, most Arctic sea ice will melt every summer. The "twilight of the Arctic ice" would devastate many habitats. The plight of polar bears, for example, has become a symbol of global warming in the Arctic due to the cascading impacts of sea ice loss. Without sea ice, polar bears cannot catch enough seals to survive their annual winter fast. Polar bears that do survive are less likely to produce healthy offspring, reducing the population over generations. Scarcer food sources also drive polar bears into more contact with human populations, often relying on trash heaps for nutrition. This food sources impacts the health of polar bears and increases the incidents of conflict with human communities in the Arctic. The species range of the polar bear is also altered by climate change. Logic might indicate that polar bears would migrate further north as their traditional range heats up. Currents carry sea ice south, however, as it breaks up. Polar bears follow the sea ice habitat, and so their range has actually drifted south. This has brought polar bears into even closer contact with human populations, as well as prey species that have not adapted to the bears' predatory behavior. The increasingly shrinking Arctic sea ice provides clear shipping routes for trade and travel. The Northwest Passage is still the most lucrative shipping lane in the Arctic. Experts estimate that shipping time may be cut by 40% if the Northwest and Northeast passages were ice-free all year. These deep-water shipping lanes also allow for larger, heavier ships than the Panama Canal, which would increase trade and profit even further. The tourism industry could also benefit from shrinking sea ice. In 2016, a luxury cruise ship traveled through the Northwest Passage for the first time. The ship, filled with more than 1,500 tourists, made the journey in three weeks. Exploration European and Asian exploration of the Arctic began with

Fast Fact

Balmy Arctic
The Arctic is mostly an ocean surrounded by land. The Antarctic is mostly land surrounded by water. Because the Arctic Ocean absorbs so much more solar radiation than the Antarctic ice sheet, the Arctic is much, much, much warmer than the Antarctic. In fact, the Arctic is not even the coldest place in the Northern Hemisphere. (The icy, subarctic interior of Siberia, in eastern Russia, holds that record.)

Fast Fact

Icebreakers
Travel in the Arctic is still dependent on icebreakers. An icebreaker is a very powerful ship capable of breaking up kilometers of sea ice, sometimes several meters thick. Icebreakers are most often powered by nuclear fuel, but can also run on gas and steam. They can be uncomfortable to travel in, as their shape allows them to roll back and forth more easily than other heavy ships. Russia manufactures the most powerful icebreakers.

Fast Fact

Oil in ANWR
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), situated on Alaska's northeastern coast, is the largest protected wilderness in the United States. Extractive activities are allowed in the refuge, as long as the U.S. Congress approves. Some geologists estimate that there may be between five billion and 16 billion barrels of oil and natural gas beneath the coastal plain of the refuge. People have debated since the 1970s about whether to develop this pristine area, but Congress has not given any approval to drill or mine there.

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The Arctic is the northernmost region of the Earth

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The Arctic is a region of extremes: extreme cold, extreme seasonal changes in daylight, and extreme winds. It sits at the top of world, covered in sea ice-a seemingly unwelcome place for life. Yet the Arctic is actually teeming with wildlife, from large mammals like walruses and polar bears to birds, fish, small plants, and even tiny ocean organisms called plankton.

The Arctic region covers much of Earth's northern pole. The outer edge of the Arctic-which includes areas of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Russia-is made up of glaciers and tundra (treeless plains with frozen ground called permafrost). The central part of the Arctic (around the North Pole) is surrounded with large areas of sea ice.

Because of its polar location and the tilt of the Earth, the Arctic does not have the normal seasons that we are used to in the continental United States. An Arctic winter has days without sunlight, and the summer has days where the sun never sets (which is why it's called the "land of the midnight sun").

Throughout the year, temperatures can span a wide range. Average lows reach -40 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter and average highs reach 50 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer. A short growing season, permafrost, and long, dark winters of extreme cold and strong winds mean the Arctic is nearly treeless and only small plants can grow.

People

Although the Arctic is gaining popularity worldwide as a tourism and wildlife-watching destination, the region has always been vital to the identity, culture, and survival of its indigenous people. Tribes, such as the Gwich'in people of northeast Alaska and Canada's northern Yukon and Northwest Territories, depend on the migratory caribou herds and the Arctic fisheries for food. The Yu'pik, Iñupiat, and Athabascan are also native groups to Alaska's Arctic region. To adapt to the harsh climate, they developed warm dwellings and protective clothing. Many Arctic people now live with modern homes and appliances, however, there's still a desire to pass on traditional knowledge and skills-such as hunting, fishing, herding, and native languages-to younger generations.

Wildlife

The Arctic is a unique ecosystem with a complex food web made up of organisms adapted to its extreme conditions. It is one of the most biologically productive ecosystems in the world, supporting many large fisheries and huge populations of migratory birds that come to the Arctic in the summer to breed.

Arctic wildlife have special adaptations that enable them to survive in their icy and changeable environment. Arctic foxes, polar bears, and caribou have hollow hair that traps air, providing them with insulation. Polar bears also have black skin to soak up as much of the sun's rays as possible. Their fur is almost transparent, but appears white due to the reflection of sunlight. Other animals change color with the seasons to blend in with the changing tundra ground cover, like arctic foxes and ptarmigans that go from brown in summer to white in winter. Some fish that live in or under the ice have antifreeze compounds in their blood, while seals, whales, and walruses have a thick layer of fat, called blubber, that helps insulate them from the cold. Migratory birds use the Arctic to feed, nest, and raise their young. Many of these birds migrate to and from all 50 states and across six continents.

A large portion of the Arctic region includes the Arctic Ocean, which is home to an amazing array of wildlife, including endangered bowhead whales, endangered polar bears, beluga whales, endangered ringed seals, and Pacific walruses.

America's Arctic includes the 19.6-million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Located in the northeast corner of Alaska, this protected area is home to more than 200 bird species, which migrate to the refuge to breed in the summer. As many as 300,000 snow geese visit the coastal plain each fall to feed on the tundra. Other wildlife travelers on the Arctic Refuge include the 130,000-member porcupine caribou herd. Each spring, the herd migrates more than 1,400 miles (2,200 kilometers) across Canada and Alaska to calve in the refuge's coastal plain. It's estimated that an individual caribou may travel more than 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers) over the course of a single year.

Most of northwestern Alaska consists of the 23-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPRA), the largest single tract of public land in the country. The Indiana-sized reserve provides critical habitat for an incredible array of migratory waterfowl that use the four major U.S. flyways to reach all 50 states in addition to many other countries. Canada geese, tundra swans, white-fronted geese, pintail ducks, and brant are among the hundreds of species of migratory birds that nest, feed, and molt in the NPRA each year. The reserve is also home to spectacular terrestrial and marine mammals, including grizzly bears, polar bears, caribou, wolves, and wolverines, as well as beluga whales, bowhead whales, walruses, and several species of seals. The 490,000-animal Western Arctic caribou herd is the state's largest, and the Teshekpuk Lake caribou herd, numbering about 67,000 animals, is a primary source of subsistence for thousands of Alaska Native residents.

Threats & Conservation

Oil and Gas Development
The Arctic contains abundant oil and gas reserves underneath its icy exterior. While exploring and extracting these natural resources is both challenging and expensive, further development is likely to continue due to improvements in technology and shifting energy policies in Arctic countries. Alaska is home to several reserves of oil and gas, some of which are already being developed, while others remain untapped.

The National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPRA) is managed by the Bureau of Land Management for both the protection of high fish and wildlife values and development of oil and gas. The National Wildlife Federation is working to protect the key habitats that support the remarkable fish and wildlife that flourish in the reserve. Thanks to this work, the Bureau of Land Management finalized a management plan that takes a balanced approach to identify the most important wildlife habitat while providing for oil and gas development where it can be done responsibly.

However, government pressures to open more of the Arctic to oil and gas development threatens the wildlife and people who live there. Oil and gas companies consistently pressure politicians to open the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling-which would put the wildlife who live in this largest refuge in the United States at risk. The coastal plain provides critical habitat for the polar bear. Furthermore, the indigenous Gwich'in people rely on the resources of the coastal plain, especially the porcupine caribou. Protecting the coastal plain is necessary to preserving the culture and lifestyle of the Gwich'in Nation.

The stated mission of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is to "preserve unique wildlife, wilderness and recreational values; to conserve caribou herds, polar bears, grizzly bears, muskox, Dall sheep, wolves, wolverines, snow geese, peregrine falcons, other migratory birds, Dolly Varden, and grayling; to provide opportunities for subsistence uses; and to ensure necessary water quantity and quality." Only Congress can designate an area as wilderness, so it is up to our elected officials in the Senate and House of Representatives to pass a bill to permanently protect this sensitive landscape for future generations.

Climate Change and the Loss of Sea Ice
Average temperatures in the Arctic are rising almost twice as fast as the rest of the world and are changing the Arctic ecosystem in profound ways-especially the rapid melting of sea ice.

The majority of the Arctic near the North Pole is covered in sea ice. The ice pack is in constant motion, drifting with ocean currents and prevailing winds. Ice is present year-round in the Arctic, expanding during the winter and retreating during the summer. Sea ice is a special feature of the Arctic, and most wildlife there depend on it in some way. Polar bears use the ice as platforms when feeding on seals. Walruses use the ice as a place to rest. There's even algae that live in the ice.

Arctic sea ice is melting much faster than previously predicted. The region is on track to become an essentially ice-free environment in summer, with a much-reduced ice freeze-up occurring in winter. Already much of the "fast ice," or ice shelves attached to land, have broken up, including the 300-mile (480-kilometer) Ellesmere Ice Shelf along Ellesmere Island in northern Canada.

There is concern that melting Arctic glaciers and sea ice may raise sea levels around the globe, and that, if enough freshwater is introduced to the North Atlantic, there could be a shift in ocean currents.

Arctic permafrost is also melting, changing tundra to wetlands and shrublands. All of these changes have profound effects on wildlife and the human communities that depend on wildlife for their survival. More oil drilling will only exacerbate the challenges brought on by climate change in this region.

The National Wildlife Federation is working to stop Arctic drilling and combat climate change to stop the loss of tundra and sea ice in the Arctic.

Sources
Arctic Centre, University of Lapland
National Snow and Ice Data Center
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

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The Arctic | National Wildlife Federation

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The Arctic is a region of extremes: extreme cold, extreme seasonal changes in daylight, and extreme winds. It sits at the top of world, covered in sea ice-a seemingly unwelcome place for life. Yet the Arctic is actually teeming with wildlife, from large mammals like walruses and polar bears to birds, fish, small plants, and even tiny ocean organisms called plankton.

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coastal and marine research from across the usgs

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Life in Total Darkness-Investigating Underwater Cave Ecosystems

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For more than 30 years, scientists have known that remarkably complex ecosystems thrive within underwater coastal caves, habitats that naturally contain no light and very little food or oxygen. Yet, almost nothing is known about the ecology of these systems.

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Click on elements of the model or select from the tabs below

Subterranean wetlands include all underground areas containing water, including caves and aquifers. Subterranean cave systems are groundwater dependent ecosystems. Subterranean cave systems with large void sizes are part of 'karst landscapes' often characterised by sinkholes and springs. Karst landscapes are commonly found in regions where carbonate rocks are abundant. Carbonate rock may be fractured and/or dissolved by mechanical weathering and chemical weathering from contract with water (e.g. rain and soil water naturally containing weak acids). Subterranean cave ecosystems can be divided into four zones (shown as focal circles in the conceptual model):

Entrance zone - this is where the surface and subterranean environments connect.

Twilight zone - in this zone light from the surface progressively diminishes. Flora (e.g. ferns, mosses and algae) can grow in areas of this zone where light from the surface is able to penetrate.

Transition zone - in this zone light is unable to penetrate from the surface. However other surface environmental conditions, including temperature fluctuations and moisture content, influence the conditions in the transition zone.

Deep zone - in this zone light is unable to penetrate from the surface. Relative humidity is high and evaporation is low. Temperature is relatively constant throughout the year. Fauna found in the deep zone (i.e. stygofauna and troglofauna) are adapted to the subterranean environment.

Subterranean cave systems may store and transmit groundwater through the void spaces created through the interaction of carbonate rocks and water over time. Groundwater in these subterranean cave systems may support plant and/or animal communities, ecological processes and delivery of ecosystem services. Subterranean cave systems may support stygofauna (aquatic fauna that depend on groundwater for all or some of their life cycle) and troglofauna (terrestrial, air-breathing fauna for which groundwater provides a humid environment and transmits nutrients from the surface environment).
The discharge of groundwater from cave systems may also support:

Palustrine (e.g. swamps), lacustrine (e.g. lakes) and riverine (e.g. streams and rivers) wetlands located near springs fed by groundwater in cave systems.

Terrestrial vegetation accessing groundwater from cave systems through their root zone.

Aquifer ecosystems by recharging overlying aquifers.

Estuarine ecosystems located at or down-gradient of springs fed by groundwater in cave systems.

Near-shore marine ecosystems located at or down-gradient of submarine springs fed by groundwater in cave systems, although this is less common in Queensland landscapes.

Pictorial conceptual model PDF

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Click on elements of the model or select from the tabs below Subterranean wetlands include all underground areas containing water, including caves and aquifers. Subterranean cave systems are groundwater dependent ecosystems. Subterranean cave systems with large void sizes are part of 'karst landscapes' often characterised by sinkholes and springs.

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Cave Life - Great Basin National Park (U.S. National Park Service)

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Learning About Cave Life Life in most caves has been poorly studied by scientists. At Great Basin National Park resource managers and scientists from around the country participate in ongoing surveys and studies of cave life. Several previously unknown species have been documented in the last decade alone.

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Cave Ecology - Cave of the Winds Mountain Park

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Cave ecology Among the most fragile ecosystems on the planet, caves are a non-renewable resources that take many millions of years to form. Keeping our ecosystems healthy Protecting our cave Ecology is best defined as the branch of biology that deals with how organisms interact with each other and with their environment.

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How have animals living only in caves adapted? : Ocean Exploration Facts: NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research

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Animals living only in marine caves have adapted to environments with low light and often low levels of oxygen.

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Caves with the National Natural Landmark (NNL) designation are some of the most fascinating of the thousands of caves around the world, and each one is unique. Caves' special features are the product of various types of rock, their geologic setting, local climate, and time. This diversity in cave environments provides unique habitats for many different species of plants, animals, and other types of organisms. Each organism has developed specialized adaptations to survive in these cave environments.

Cave-dwelling animals, called Troglofauna, thrive in dark environments. Troglofauna are further subdivided into more categories according to how the cave is used. Troglobites ( troglo: cave, and bios: life) live their whole lives in caves, while others spend just a part of their lives in caves and are called Trogloxene ( troglo: cave, and xenos: guest).

Full-time cave dwellers have adaptations to their environments, such as being eyeless, blind, or colorless. Cave salamanders in NNL Marvel Cave in Missouri and cave crayfish in NNL Shelta Cave in Alabama are white and blind. These troglobites live in darkness. NNL Onondaga Cave in Missouri is home to grotto salamanders. When young, their brown and yellow flecked coloring blends with the environment near cave entrances where they live. As adults, they move deep into caves, becoming blind and losing most of their coloration. Mexican free-tailed bats sleep in caves like NNL Devil's Sinkhole Natural Area in Texas all day, emerging at dusk. Hunting in darkness, they use echolocation to find insect prey.

In this activity, students will explore their creativity and critical thinking while they imagine a cave environment and create an organism that lives in their cave. Their cave will be one of the types mentioned in the preceding pages, but their organisms will be of their own imagination.

Materials

* 2 sheets of blank paper
* Coloring utensils
* Computer with internet connection

Procedure

1. On one sheet of paper, create a cave setting. Before drawing, discuss geologic and environmental conditions of cave environments:

* How do different types of caves - solution, lava, sea, talus- form?
* What types of geologic features are found in each type of cave?
* What is the climate of your cave- hot or cold, wet or dry?
* How big is the cave?
* How much water is in the cave? Does it flow? Or is it still?
* How dark does the cave get?
* Is the entrance large or small? A hole in the ground or on the side of a cliff or hill?

2. On another sheet of paper, create an organism that is adapted to live in that cave. Before drawing, discuss:

* Is the organism an animal, plant, or bacteria? If an animal, is it a reptile, fish, mammal, or other?
* How big is it?
* How does it get its nutrients?
* How does it defend itself?
* How does it move?
* How does it behave?

3. Describe to the members of the group or your class why your organism is well-suited to live in your cave. Consider:

* What would happen to your caves or organisms if there was an environmental change? What if the temperature rose due to climate change? What if there were an earthquake, flood, or drought?
* How does learning about the interesting traits and adaptations of cave critters inspire you?
* What adaptations and traits do people have to allow them to survive in our environment?

Compare your cave and organism with those of other students.
Discuss:

* How would your organism survive- or not - in your classmate's cave? What elements of that cave would be helpful or harmful to your organism?
* How would your organism and your classmate's organism interact with each other? Would they likely eat each other, fight, or get along? Are they competitors?

NGSS Connections

Science and Engineering Practices

- Asking questions and defining problems

- Engaging in argument from evidence

- Developing and using models

- Life Science:
* Interdependent relationships in ecosystems
* Adaptation
* Natural Selection
- Earth and Space Science

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Caves with the National Natural Landmark (NNL) designation are some of the most fascinating of the thousands of caves around the world, and each one is unique. Caves' special features are the product of various types of rock, their geologic setting, local climate, and time.

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Mexican tetra (Astyanax mexicanus), also known as the blind cave fish.

Cave-dwelling animals have developed special characteristics that have adapted them to the dark environment in the caves. These subterranean animals are grouped into two broad categories based on their life history, and they are troglofauna and stygofauna.

Troglofauna

Troglofauna refers to terrestrial or air-breathing animals living underground in the caves and other spaces filled with air below the ground. Troglofauna are found in caves and other caverns that have been developed by weathering or fracture of any type of rock such as limestone, pisolite, basalt, dolomite, calcrete, granite, sandstone, and colluvium among others. Some of the troglofauna include species of arachnids and spiders, beetles, millipedes, cockroaches, crickets, and several other invertebrates. Some of these troglofauna are particularly adapted to life in underground habitats in complete darkness, and they are referred to as troglobites.

Stygofauna

Stygofauna refers to aquatic animals that live in underground water, and they inhabit different types of underground water habitats. Most of the stygofauna are mainly invertebrates of crustacean species, but there are also snails, worms, water mites, fish, and diving beetles. These are also animals that have developed special adaptations enabling them to survive in complete darkness. These aquatic stygofauna that live permanently in the dark are known as stygobites.

Loss Of sight

Deep caves are characterized by permanent darkness. Animals that have colonized such habitats have unique adaptations. Caves have limited availability of food because of the absence of local photosynthesis. Food availability in the caves is unscheduled, episodic, or seasonal. With food being scarce in such an ecosystem, the cave-dwellers are forced to save and conserve energy. The absence of eyes is a significant boost in saving energy by the cave dwellers. According to scientists from Lund University in Sweden, there is energy cost associated with eyes, and this was established through the calculation of oxygen consumed on eyes and other vision-related regions of the brain. The scientists discovered that the cost of energy for sight in a non-cave dwelling fish was approximately 15% less if they were blind. Vision is costly as a result of the energy requirement of photoreceptive neurons and cells. Typically, underground caves are poorly supplied with oxygen and food, and therefore, the animals with reduced visual perception are better adapted to such a harsh environment. Permanent cave-dwelling fish such as the Astyanax mexicanus also have considerably reduced midbrain, which is the region that is responsible for vision. Since animals require food energy for eye maintenance, troglobites can survive for long with less food compared to animals with eyes. Eyes are also prone to injury, and therefore, these animals have developed this unique trait to diminish such injuries by losing their eyes. Another theory, which has been used to explain the loss of sight on the cave dwellers, is the expensive tissue hypothesis, although it has not been tested scientifically.

Loss of body pigmentation

The troglobites have also developed a unique adaptation to the dark caves by losing their body pigmentation, and most of these animals appear like albinos. This unique adaptation has led these animals to degenerate organs, which are not needed while enhancing those organs that help them to survive. In the dark caves, the animals do not need pigmentation that helps their counterparts to escape predators or to ensnare prey. Similarly, these animals do not need pigmentation to protect their bodies from sunlight since the habitat is perpetually dark.

Enhanced sensory mechanisms

Whatever the troglobites have lost, they have more than compensated for by the development of other organs that enhance their survival. Some of the features which have evolved for the troglobites to enhance their survival in completely dark habitats include the changes in the sensory organs and their brain. In some animals such as cavefish, they have an enhanced olfactory sensitivity, which helps them to smell better, and understand their environment while some can detect vibrations and pressure of water in their habitats. These types of fish have a lateral line that detects vibrations, which is an adaptation unique to the aquatic vertebrates that help them in movement. With this unique adaptation, the animals have an enhanced ability to conserve energy while at the same time increasing their ability to store metabolic products because of food scarcity.

Other morphological adaptations

Some cave-dwelling animals have also developed unique and bizarre adaptations to cope with the harsh environment. Some such features include strange mouthparts, legs which have been turned into silk secreting organs, and nozzles that can squirt defensive chemicals.

Source of food for the cave dwellers

Since caves lack sunlight and therefore have no plants growing in them, these unique ecosystems have a different source of energy. Leaves that are washed or brought in by other organisms that wander out of the caves often form the base of the cave ecosystem food chain. The washed litter becomes the food for the fungi and bacteria which grow on these materials, and millipedes and other small bugs feed on fungi and bacteria, and other larger animals feed on these tiny animals, and this creates a vibrant ecosystem of interdependence. The droppings of animals also feed the bacteria and fungi that form the base of the food chain in the cave system.

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3. What Are The Adaptations In Cave-dwelling Animals?

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What Are The Adaptations In Cave-dwelling Animals?

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Cave-dwelling animals have developed special characteristics that have adapted them to the dark environment in the caves. These subterranean animals are grouped into two broad categories based on their life history, and they are troglofauna and stygofauna. Troglofauna refers to terrestrial or air-breathing animals living underground in the caves and other spaces filled with air below the ground.

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The Biology of Caves - Ozark National Scenic Riverways (U.S. National Park Service)

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Unlike the surface environment that is very changeable, cave environments are constant. It is a world of total darkness, constant temperature and high humidity. The animals that live in caves must not only adapt to these conditions, they must live in an environment where there is very little to eat.

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There are caves all over the planet, but only a few have been explored. These dark spaces are sheltered from the weather and provide a steady temperature, making them ideal homes for an enormous diversity of life.

Animals that are adapted to live in caves are known as troglofauna. Some - such as bats, bears and swiftlets - use caves on a temporary basis. Others reside there permanently, living out their entire life cycles in the dark - but many have evolved special abilities to help them survive in their food- and light-limited habitats.

A life with limited resources

In the depths of cave systems is a world with no light and therefore no photosynthesis.

Prof Geoff Boxshall, a scientific lead on the Museum's Life in the Dark exhibition, says, 'In a few caves there is some bacterial production. In some flooded systems you might get bacteria using sulphur as an energy source, instead of light. But almost all food in caves is carried in from the outside.'

Some animals use caves as part-time homes. Bats and swiftlets use them to roost during the day and night respectively. In some caves there can be as many as 20 million bats in residence. By foraging outside of caves for insects and fruits, part-time cave residents provide for those that never leave.

'Bat faeces are a massively important food source,' explains Geoff.

Animals that feed on bat guano and other dead organic material are known as detritivores. In cave systems, these can include cockroaches, mites, woodlice and springtails.

Like other habitats, caves have their own food chain. The detritivores rely on bat faeces and are consumed by the next level of predators, such as spiders and pseudoscorpions. Centipedes and cave boas are often the top predators in these underground environments. The snakes are specially adapted to be able to catch swiftlet and bats as they fly past.

Waterlogged worlds

More than 94% of Earth's unfrozen water is stored underground. Anchialine caves are coastal caves flooded by saltwater percolating through the surrounding limestone or volcanic rock.

These marine environments have the characteristics of other cave types, including enclosed spaces, darkness and limited food resources. They too are inhabited by specialised troglomorphic animals.

First found in a Bahamian cave in 1981, remipedes are aquatic crustaceans in the class Remipedia. They are colourless and blind, and can grow to around 4.5 centimetres in length.

Although remipedes have long, segmented bodies that look like centipedes, these arthropods are very distantly related. Remipedes are the only known venomous crustacean, producing a venom that is closer to that of vipers than of centipedes.

These blind crustaceans use chemosensory hairs (organs that can detect particular chemical molecules) on their antennae to detect their prey, including other crustaceans such as isopods, copepods and shrimps. But caves are a food-scarce environment and remipedes are able to store energy as globules of fat to see them through the lean times.

Not all animals need eyes

The remipede isn't the only blind, colourless, cave-dwelling animal. There is a huge diversity of such creatures, but some of the best understood are the cavefishes.

Geoff says, 'A lot of major cave systems worldwide have blind cavefish. It seems obvious that if there is no light then eyes are of little use and evolution is a relentless mechanism for eliminating unused structures.

'However, what is really interesting is there aren't any blind fish in the deep sea. No sunlight penetrates below 1,000 metres, even in the clearest water - so why are deep sea fish still expending resources on making eyes?

'It's because there is a lot of light in the deep sea - and it is bioluminescence.'

In the light above ground, vision is useful for spotting predators. But in the lightless world of caves, eyes become of little use. Many cave animals have lost their eyes through evolution. Instead they use alternate senses to help them navigate in the dark. This explains why cavefish can swim around actively and find food, and don't spend their lives crashing into walls.

The Mexican tetra ( Astyanax mexicanus) has diverged genetically into two forms. The form that lives in caves has lost pigmentation and eyes, but the populations above ground have retained both. In the cave-dwelling subspecies, adults have sunken cysts under the skin in place of eyes.

Cavefish are exceptionally sensitive to pressure and vibrations, and have a remarkable sense of smell to help guide them. They also never sleep - deep in caves there is no day and night - so they're constantly swimming.

The elephants that dug a cave

There are several types of cave and most are created by water - fresh, saline or both - dissolving or eroding the surrounding rock. But there are less typical formation processes, too.

Elephants may be one of the animals least expected to spend time in caves. But a select group in Africa are well known for their unique habits.

Mount Elgon is a now-dormant volcano on the border of Kenya and Uganda. On the mountain's side is Kitum Cave, which is thought to have been partly dug out by some very persistent elephants. The cave extends around 160 metres from the entrance through rock that contains a small amount of sodium, known as Glauber's salt.

Herbivores get little salt from the plants in their diets, so they seek out sodium in other forms, such as from salt-bearing rock. Elephants are notoriously loyal to foraging grounds, passing knowledge of them through the generations.

The Kitum Cave elephants have been observed using their tusks to chip away at the sodium-containing rocks of the cave walls to then consume the fragments. Over multiple generations these animals have made a considerable impact on the structure.

Though the elephants aren't permanent residents of the cave, they pass through regularly to maintain their mineral intake.

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Cave life: creatures that lurk in the shadows

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There are caves all over the planet, but only a few have been explored. These dark spaces are sheltered from the weather and provide a steady temperature, making them ideal homes for an enormous diversity of life. Animals that are adapted to live in caves are known as troglofauna.

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Like many things that we know little about, caves have been feared and misunderstood for most of our history. The dark unknown leads us to imagine either complete lifelessness, or perhaps that ghouls and monsters are lurking in the shadows. However, despite the difficult environment in a cave, and general absence of light, there is a surprising diversity of animals that depend on caves to survive, and many that live inside them for their entire lives.

A cave is most simply defined as a natural void, or space, in the ground. To be a true "cave", the space must be large enough that a person can enter. The scientific study of caves is referred to speleology . There are many different types of caves found all over the world, and how the caves form is what defines them.

Solution cave

This is the most common cave type. Rain water drains into the ground and into pores in the rocks. Mild acids in the rain and in the soil that get pulled down with the water dissolve away rock like limestone, marble, and gypsum creating open spaces and forming a cave.

Within these caves, stalactites (icycle-like structures) and stalagmites (column-like structures) are also formed when the water drips down from the surface and evaporates, leaving behind some of the minerals it has dissolved. Stalagmites often form underneath stalactites from the dripping water, and sometimes they even join up to make a floor to roof column.

These caves often contain large bodies of water, many times in the form of rivers that flow through them and that may enter and/or exit at the surface.

Sea Caves

Waves erode away rock along the sea shore and create caves. Caves near the coast can sometimes be anchialine caves, which contain a mix of fresh and saltwater, making for a very interesting habitat.

Lava caves / Lava tunnels AKA primary caves

The outside of the lava flow hardens, but the inside flows out, leaving a large open space often looking like huge tunnels.

Talus Caves

Caused when earthquakes move rock and material and create a cave from rocks being piled up in a random heap. They are generally quite unstable.

Glacier caves

Caves formed in the space between bedrock and glaciers. Water melts in the center of moving glaciers and carves away large openings in the ice.

Corrasional/erosional caves

Caves formed by erosion, for example a river pushes through filled with sediment and carves out a cave. An Eolian Cave i s an erosional cave formed when wind erodes rock over time.

Fracture caves

More soluble rock, like gypsum, dissolves out of a fracture causing rocks to break and collapse in a big block, sometimes forming a cave in between them.

The main characteristics of caves are that they

1. Have little to no sunlight

2. Have little plant life AKA little primary production and little food

3. Depend on a lot of nutrients from outside

These factors together make it a very difficult environment to survive in all the time, because as we know, a lot of life on earth depends on sunlight. Despite this fact, caves hold a lot more biodiversity than you might expect.

Caves are home to a variety of organisms, both those that live in the caves part of the time, or those that live in caves for their whole lives and never see the outside world. Due to the lack of light, there is normally an absence of plants, except for those that grow around entrances or openings in the cave roof that allow for sunlight to enter. Otherwise, sometimes seeds drift in and grow a short but then die quickly.

Due to the lack of primary production, most nutrients in a cave need to come from outside. Animals that use caves mainly for shelter while sleeping are a big part of the nutrient input for these ecosystems; they do this by feeding outside and then coming inside to rest, bringing nutrients with them, mainly in the form of feces. Many animals in caves survive off of the excrement of these animals, such as from bats (which is just a fancy name for bat poop really). As well, some nutrients are brought in from being washed in by water from above or through flowing rivers.

The most obvious example of an animal that uses caves for part of the time are the many species of bats, which use caves to sleep in during the day but go outside at night to feed. As well, there are some nocturnal birds that use caves just like bats, such as the famous (S teatornis caripensis ), or or in Spanish. These birds are also nocturnal, sleeping in caves during the day and coming out to feed at night. They have similar echolocation abilities and can fly in short erratic movements, much like bats. Larger animals may also use caves as temporary shelters or even dens to raise their young, but they do not tend to go too far past the entrance either. As well, various invertebrates that can manage well in the dark (because they rely little on their sight), like tarantulas or scorpions, may be found venturing into caves looking for food, though they aren't necessarily true full time cave dwellers.

So what about things that live in caves all the time? Animals adapted to cave life, that never leave the cave, are referred to as troglobites . These animals include mainly insects, arachnids, and fish that are adapted to life in caves and actually never see the surface. Some examples are collembolans (springtails), cave crickets (Family Rhaphidophoridae), pseudoscorpions (Pseudoscorpionida), tailless whip scorpions (family Phrynidae), and a few interesting fish such as the Mexican tetra ( Astyanax mexicanus ) or the Andean Astroblepus photeter .

Interestingly, caves tend to be low in biodiversity because it is such a harsh environment, but they add a lot to biodiversity as a whole because species from cave to cave are often very different. Why? Well, the isolation between populations of organisms in different caves creates a phenomenon called allopatric speciation , which is when one population of animals is geographically isolated from another and they become different species over time because they can not reproduce with one another, causing them to become genetically distinct.

Troglobite animals have physical, physiological, and behavioral adaptations to help them thrive in caves. 3 key physical adaptations are:

1. Lack of pigment

2. Great reduction of eyes or lack of eyes all together

3. Lengthened appendages (fins, legs, whiskers etc.)

Lack of pigment and eyes means these organisms do not waste energy developing eyes and colors that will be totally useless in the dark, energy that instead can be put into growing longer appendages that can help increase their ability to move around and hunt with the sense of touch. This is what biologists call a . Cave animals do not waste energy on the sense of sight but instead increase their sense of touch, smell and taste.

A few examples of physiological adaptations to cave life are:

1. Decreased metabolism - resulting in slower growth and longer life spans but less food demand. They also often have fewer offspring than similar species on the surface.

2. They have a circadian rhythm completely independent of sunlight - meaning that they still have a "day and night" cycle without relying on the sun.

3. Accumulation of lipids which store more energy per unit of food consumed. In the case of swimming animals extra fat also creates more buoyancy which saves more energy.

4. Better olfactory systems - which just means a better sense of smell.

Organisms can also have behavioral adaptations to save energy such as being much less active than their above-ground counterparts. They can do this by taking on ambush predator lifestyles, meaning they do not actively stalk their prey but wait for it to come to them, or even by being less aggressive and competitive against their own species (See the part about Tailless whip scorpions (whip spiders) in this video ).

Though these are only a few examples of the incredible adaptations one can find in cave animals, it goes to show that organisms that live here, against all odds, can not only survive but thrive in these environments.

So, even though it is pretty unlikely that caves are housing giant monsters or hungry dragons, each cave has its own mystery within its unique ecosystem of strange yet wonderful organisms, with many still to be discovered.

Check out this video interview with Ecuadorian biologist Francisco Romero on cave biology and his experience studying in caves, including some interesting cave animals.

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Cave Biology 101: The Cave "Biome" in Real Life - Untamed Science

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Like many things that we know little about, caves have been feared and misunderstood for most of our history. The dark unknown leads us to imagine either complete lifelessness, or perhaps that ghouls and monsters are lurking in the shadows.

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Bats

Bats are the creatures most people associate with caves, and for good reason: bats inhabit caves worldwide. Bats are the second largest group of mammals (after rodents), making up a fifth of all mammals with over 1,100 different species. Bats may live in caves year-round, but mostly in the warmer climates. In many areas of the United States, bats use caves seaonally as maternity colonies (often in the summer months) or as hibernaculums (usually in winter months). For this reason, many bat caves are closed during these seasons. Disturbing a nursing colony may result in young bats being dropped and killed, while awakening a bat that is hibernating may deplete energy reserves that it needs to survive the winter.

In the past few years millions of bats have died in the United States due to a fungal infection termed White Nose Syndrome. It began in the northeastern USA and has radiated southward in a pattern consistent with bat migration routes, so bats infecting other bats is clearly the mode of transmission. It seems to infect only hibernating bats, and basically disturbs their hibernation cycle which as mentioned above can cause them to die. For the latest in WNS information, visit the WNS information site maintained by the National Speleological Society.

Bats are troglexenes and must leave the cave to feed. In large colonies, spectacular flights of bats occur at dusk as bats leave the cave to feed. Most small bats are insectivorous and consume large quantities of insects such as mosquitoes and other pests. The Townsend's long-eared bats shown below right are included in this group, known as Microchiroptera. Fruit bats such as in the photos on the left and center are classified as Megachiroptera, and are known mostly from tropical regions. They are larger and may also inhabit caves, though less often in large colonies.

While bats are not blind, they use echolocation to find their way through dark caves. They emit high-pitched sounds, beyond the range of human hearing, which reflect off of walls or other objects and allow them to "see" their way. They can likely memorize a familiar route and thus not need to echolocate continually. Echolocation also helps them find their insect prey. Bat researchers use special instruments to detect calls from different bats and can even determine which species are present from their frequency patterns.

What about vampire bats? Well, for one thing, they only live in Mexico, Central, and South America. The three known species rarely attack humans, preferring animals instead, and don't extract enough blood to kill the animal. However, they can be a vector for rabies, especially in farm animals. They can indeed live in caves, and the sure sign of their presence is seen in pools of blood-tinted urine on guano-laden floors.

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Bats are the creatures most people associate with caves, and for good reason: bats inhabit caves worldwide. Bats are the second largest group of mammals (after rodents), making up a fifth of all mammals with over 1,100 different species. Bats may live in caves year-round, but mostly in the warmer climates.