Tour Tundrathe BIOME
EXPLORERS
Laura Perdew
Illustrated by Lex Cornell
Tour Tundrathe BIOME
EXPLORERS
Laura Perdew
Illustrated by Lex Cornell
The tundra is locked in ice, quiet and barren, Through the long, cold, dark winter. Finally, in the spring, when the sun rises higher and the days are warmer, The sea ice breaks apart and life returns.
Algae bloom into a buffet beneath the sea ice where Antarctic krill feast.
Gentoo penguins hop and waddle ashore to lay their eggs.
Humpback whales splash and dive. Orcas stalk the sea.
Antarctic terns migrate from the Arctic.
Southern elephant seals bask and bellow on the shore.
Then, when the days shorten at the end of summer, the tundras of the Arctic and Antarctica freeze again and grow quiet.
A biome is a community of plants and animals that live together in a certain climate.
Welcome, explorers!
We are off to explore the tundra biome.
Grab a coat because . . .
. . . it’s cold in the tundra! In fact, it’s the coldest of all biomes.
There isn’t much precipitation in the tundra. It only gets about as much as a desert.
And, because its climate is HARSH, there’s not much biodiversity. But don’t worry! We’ll still see plenty of hardy animals and plants !
One of the few amphibians in the Arctic tundra is the wood frog. It survives the winter by freezing solid, then thawing in the spring!
Our tundra exploration will bring us to the extremes of the globe.
The Arctic tundra lies far north, above the Arctic Circle.
We’ll find the alpine tundra high above the tree line on a mountain.
And we’ll visit the Antarctic tundra on the southernmost continent— Antarctica.
Tundra winters can last 6 to 10 months. How long is winter where you live?
We’re heading to the Arctic first— IN THE SUMMER!
The growing season in the Arctic is less than 60 days.
Coming here in the winter wouldn’t be much fun, unless you were part polar bear.
Winters are loooooooooong and DARK , and temperatures stay way below zero.
BRRRRR!
Even in the summer, you’ll likely still need a light jacket during the day. And at night? It gets very cold.