These pages were constructed for a school project for Mrs. Morsette's sixth grade social studies class. I am just learning HTML and this is my first webpage, so sorry if the formatting is a little off! All pictures were taken by members of my family, except as noted in the links below. - Cori
Although no trees inhabit the alpine tundra, many smaller plants call it their home. These plants have special adaptations that enable them to survive in the barren, windswept landscape above the treeline. Some of these adaptations protect plants from the cold or let plants have enough time to grow, while others help to hydrate a plant or keep it away from strong winds. Also, many plants have partnerships with animals that survive on the tundra, like how they are pollinated by flies rather than bees.
Protection Against the Cold Plants that live in the alpine tundra have many ways of staying warm in the cold environment. A common way that the alpine vegetation protects against this is that it has small hairs to trap the warmth. Other plants may use anthocyanins, chemicals that convert sunlight to heat and are red or blue. Plants in the tundra usually grow low to the ground, which is much warmer. They also sometimes clump together to offer further protection from the cold, and these clumps can be up to twenty degrees (Celcius) warmer than the air around them. Another way for a tundra plant to stay warm is to have a blossom that tracks the sun. Their skill in survival is proved by the fact that plants in the tundra can grow at a lower temperature than any other plants in the world, at lowest fifteen degrees Celcius.
Pollination Flowers can survive in the tundra, where no bees live. However, they are pollinated by flies. These flies are not as dependable, so tundra plants need help attracting them. Again, this comes in the form of anthocyanins, which send insects a message in ultraviolet (UV) light. This type of light is invisible to humans.
Protection Against the Wind Despite the severe winds that scour the tundra, many plants thrive there. How? A first and perhaps most important technique is that all vegetation grows low to the ground. Since winds tend to blow higher above the ground as there are fewer obstacles, the tundra vegetation is safest at a height of less than fifteen centimeters. Another technique that plants use is growing in clumps. This way, a plant only ever has one side turned to the wind. The plants in a clump take it in turns to be exposed, instead of being constantly battered by fierce winds. Some plants, like these harebells, will even take root in a sheltered crack between rocks.
Protection from the Sun Although plants are highly dependent on sunlight, they can have too much of it or it can get too strong. Sometimes it can damage sections of a plant's DNA, and prevent it from creating protein or other such processes. This is often the case in the alpine tundra because of the thin atmosphere (not because the sun is closer!). One way plants protect against the overly strong sunlight is that they grow small hairs, which spread out the sunlight so that it is not too intense on any one spot. Another defense plants sometimes use is anthocyanins, which act almost like a sunscreen.
Life Cycle Here in the tundra, the growing season is short, only 180 days on average. So how do plants grow? Almost every plant is a perennial, meaning it comes back year after year. Also, these perennials often take more than one year to become fully grown. Some of them need five years to blossom once! Plants in the alpine tundra also start to grow earlier than is normal, occasionally starting to generate energy through photosynthesis before the snow on top of them has melted. Another technique that some plants use is to keep their leaves during the winter so that they do not have to regrow them.
Protection Against the Cold
Pollination
Protection Against the Wind
Protection from the Sun
Life Cycle