Tundra

TUNDRA Regina Valtierra, Karen Montesflores & Joseph Mastropier.

[[image:http://www.greenwichschools.org/uploaded/faculty/nelyda_miguel/tundraMAP.jpg align="left"]]
The Tundra biome is found throughout the world, most commonly in the polar regions. The tundra exists on the top of the mountans, above the trees. The climate in the tundra's very cold and tempurature can range from -70 degrees to 70 degrees. Animals that live in the tundra have special adaptations that allow them to survive the extreme temperatures and conditions that are present in a tundra. Almost evry animal in tundra has thick coat to minimize the amount of skin exposed to the frigid air. Plants survive the harsh conditions of the tundra by going dormant through winter, growing protective coatings, or old leaves for nutrition. Some plants found are, for example: Arctic dryad, Arctic poppy, Wooly Louserwort, and Labrador tea.



** Alaska-Tundra Map **

The Tundra in Alaska is a very big part, it's almost all the country exept for the all the coast in the North, West and East.

** Food Web **   The enegry pyramid goes like this: The first level has 1000000 calories from the sun, then it passes 10% to the next level (so it recives like 100000 calories), then this level do the same with the next level, it passes only 10% of the calories it received (so this level will have 10000). The prosses is always the same one level pass just 10% of the calories (energy) that it has.

=Ecosystem Disruption: Oil Spills=

The Exxon Valdezwas a major oil spill. This oil spill took place on March 23, 1989 at Prince William Sound in Alaska. The drivers of the Exxon Valdez noticed icebergs in their planned route. Instead of trying to weave through the icebergs, they decided to go in another direction. On the new route, the oil tanker hit shallow land. The shallow land was not a beach, it was called Bligh Reef. Imagine an Olympic-sized swimming pool. The Exxon Valdez spilled about 125 Olympic-sized swimming pools. You also can think of it as 108 homes or 430 classrooms. 797 living rooms or 9 school gyms can explain about how much oil was spilled by the Exxon Valdez. The Exxon Valdez affected many animals at Prince William Sound in Alaska. The spill greatly affected sea otters and sea birds. There were about 2,800 sea otters and 250,000 seabirds killed by the spill. Harbor seals, bald eagles, killer whales, and salmon were also greatly affected by the spill Many people complained about the large amount of sea otters dumped in crude oil because Prince William Sound was a tourist attraction. Many people came to Prince William Sound to visit the animals. There are many ways to stop the spread of oil in the ocean. Workers can place a boom around the tanker that is spilling oil. Booms collect the oil off the water. A boom may be placed somewhere before an oil spill. They can be placed around an entrance to the ocean, like a stream. They also can be placed around a habitat with many animals living there. These booms will absorb any oil that flows around it. The workers can also use skimmers. Skimmers are boats that can remove the oil off the water. Sorbents are sponges that can collect the oil. An airplane can fly over the water dropping chemicals into the ocean. The chemicals can break down the oil into the ocean. They also can burn freshly spilled oil with fireproof booms to contain the oil. They might not decide to burn the oil because this method causes air pollution. There are just a few ways to clean the oil off the beaches. Workers can use high or low pressure hoses to spray the oil that is on the beaches. Vacuum trucks may be driven on the beaches to vacuum up the oil. They can also simply use shovels or road equipment to collect all the oil off the beaches. The method they use to clean the beaches or oceans depends on many things. They have to look at the weather, the type and amount of oil spilled, if people live in that area, what types of animals live in that area, and many more things. In some situations, they may not react to a spill. It may not be helpful or it would just cause even more damage to that habitat.

** Citations and References **
[|www.americas.NYdailynews.com] [|www.UCMP.berkley.edu] __http://arcticcircle.uconn.edu/SEEJ/Alaska/miller2.htm__ [] []
 * [|www.blueplanxbiome.org] **