#The Tundra **name:** The Tundra is the transition zone between the ice field and coniferous forest. It covers 2-4% of the earth’s surface. Tundra means about as much as the cold steppe. On the basis of the tree line you can see where the forest ends and the Tundra begins. Behind the tree line no trees will grow more, because the soils are frozen for most of the year to a depth of 400 meters. (=Permafrost) **Three different tundras:** 1. Antarctic Tundra: Southern Hemisphere 2. Arctic Tundra: Northern Hemisphere 3. Alpine Tundra: in the mountains **The Climate:** In the ant-/Arctic tundras, there are cold, short summer and icy Winter. In Winter, the temperature is at approximately -8° but there is relatively little snow. **The Flora:** Because the soils are frozen in the year to a large extent, does not thaw even in summer completely. Thus, melt water can not drain and there is enough moisture in spite of the relatively low rainfall, so the plants can grow in the warmer months of the year, The vegetative Phase is only short-lived. Therefore, larger plants have to thrive here as much as possible. In addition, many plants can’t survive in the Tundra because the Permafrost does not allow for great root development and many plants can’t absorb the frozen water. The blanket of Snow in the Winter protects smaller plants. Typical plants: Lichens, grasses, mosses, and small shrubs. **The Fauna** Only a few animals can survive in the Tundra. Most of the large animals spend the Winter in the Taiga. Only small animals hibernate in the Tundra. They do not hibernate and feed on roots. In the summer of larger animals, such as caribou and reindeer herds in plenty feed. From ponds and puddles, many insects hatch. This is the basic food source for migratory birds that return in summer from their winter quarters. Reptiles and amphibians are not missing, since your metabolism would be in such a cold. Many animals, such as red grouse, polar Fox or the snow hare turn white in Winter and the beginning of the summer, brown. Typical Animals: Arctic Fox, Snow Hare, Moose, Reindeer, Musk Oxen, Lemmings, Wolves, Polar Bears, Grouse. **People in the Tundra:** Despite the unfriendly climate, there are still people that call the Tundra their home. In Siberia, the Chukchi and the Nenets, Greenland, and Alaska, the Inuit people (or Eskimos) in Canada, the Chipewyan, and Yellowknife Indians. In Europe, there are the Saami. The first inhabitants of the Norwegian Tundra, the Vikings were. **Nenets:** Originally, the Nenets were called the Samoyed, but as this comes in Russian of “Self-eater”, preferably, the people, the speech of Nenets, which means “people”. They come from the Siberian Tundra and are nomadic herders of reindeer, fishermen and hunters. Drag mostly as nomads in the Winter of the southern Taiga and in the warmer months through the Tundra to the shores of the polar sea. Today, however, became Many sedentary. Of all the indigenous peoples of Western Siberia, the Nenets were able to best preserve their traditions, their language and their culture. **The global warming consequences:** Due to global warming, a fight to the ground flared up treasures. The decline in the ice surface is now free of minerals, to which you previously had no access. The methods for the extraction of the raw materials, however, are poisoned be extremely harmful to the environment and the sensitive soils, ground water and the ice, and dirty. Also, the home of the Nenets is threatened because their home is the most important region of origin of petroleum and natural gas deposits for Europe. The natural gas production destroy the pastures and through the wall that separates the routes of the peoples. Their future is uncertain. The rivers carry a lot more water, and this is because of the soil, normally to a depth of 5 m frozen, thaws. It consists of stones and earth which are held in place by the ice. Due to the climate warming, the ground thaws completely, and left behind mud. Houses on this reason, the sink was built in the mud. Due to global warming, it is also possible that in the near future, trees grow in the Tundra.