Location: Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, Alpine Tundra
Although the permafrost makes it difficult for plants to survive, there are some that can. There are lichens, low bearing shrubs, mosses, liverwart, and grasses. There are also 400 species of flowering plants that are able to survive on the rocky soil.
The plants are adapted to sweeping winds and disturbances of the soil. Plants are usually short and grouped together to bear through the harsh weather. They are able to carry out photosynthesis with little light and low temperatures. Most of the plants reproduce by budding and division rather than flowering.
Arctic Moss: an aquatic plant found growing on the bottom of lakes beds
and in and around bogs or fens. It is a very slow growing plant, growing approx. one centimeter per year and shoots living for about seven to nine years.
Genus: Calliergon
Species: giganteum
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Rock Willow: grows prostate, shrub, and carpet. It has developed adaptations to bear the cold of the North American Tundra. The arctic willow will produce a pesticide to keep insects away during the growing season.
Genus: Salix
Species: arctica
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Caribou Moss or Reindeer Lichen: although one of its common names is moss, it is not a moss but a lichen. Grows in arctic and northern regions around the world. When there is little water or light available, the lichen dries out and becomes dormant.
Genus: Cladonia
Species: rangiferina
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Tufted Saxifrage: grows on rocky slopes or crevices. Saxifrage has well developed root system for storing carbohydrates, allowing it to respond quickly to the cold changing tundra weather.
Genus: Saxifraga
Species: caespitosa
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Pasque Flower: only grows on southward facing slopes. Covered in fine silky hairs to insulate it from the harsh tundra cold.
Genus: Anemone
Species: patens
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The little precipitation that falls in the tundra is often snow. The snow will then collect of the surface of the soil and when it melts the layer of permafrost beneath the soil will prevent it from being absorbed. This leaves the surface of the soil wet and soggy with little of the water evaporating because of the frigid air of the tundra.
The alpine tundra is made up of ever changing mountains formed either by volcanoes, the collisions of continental plates, or retreating glaciers and are altered by earthquakes, strong winds, mud slides, and avalanches. Because of these mountains, the active layer of soil in the alpine tundra is not as soggy as in the arctic as the water runs off the mountain sides.
