to sweeping winds and disturbances of the soil. Another adaptation is that they are short and cluster together to help endure the cold. Also they can carry out photosynthesis at low temperatures and low light intensities. Plants arent the only things that have had to adapt to the conditions, animals have had to as well. Animals of the tundra have had to adapt to the long cold winters and to having to raise their young quickly in the summer. Some other adaptations of animals include thick insulating cover of feathers or fur; large, compact bodies; pelage and plumage that turns white in the winter and brown in the summer; the ability to accumulate thick deposits of fat during the short growing season; hibernation; and migration. Some of the animals that are found living in the tundra are lemmings, voles, caribou, artic hares, squirrels, artic foxes, wolves, polar bear, ravens, snow buntings, falcons, loons, ravens, sandpipers, terns, snow birds, mosquitoes, flies, moths, grasshoppers, black flies, artic bumble bees, cod, flatfish, salmon, and trout. Some of these animals are shared with other neighboring biomes but some are only home to the tundra. The tundra is the simplest biome in terms of species composition and food chain. The neighboring biome of the tundra is the boreal forest (taiga).The taiga is a biome that reaches completely across Canada and into the interior of Alaska. The climate is like the tundra in the sense that it has long, severe winters that last up to 6 months. The summers on the other hand are rather short. Although compared to the tundra, the growing season is longer and warmer. The mean annual precipitation is 15 to 20 inches. Throughout the year the temperatures range from the lows in the winter to highs in the summer. The taiga is also found to be very humid. The kinds of plants that have adapted to this kind of climate include needle leaf, coniferous trees such as spruce, fir, pine, and larch or ...
