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EduTech Research Project Presents John Tyman's INUIT ~ People of the Arctic Unit 1: INUIT: POLAR ENVIRONMENTS Back to Main Navigation Page |
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The swamps and the ponds which cover much of the land in summer are a breeding ground for insects, millions of them -- especially mosquitoes. The one consolation is that they can only fly on days which are warm and calm. On cooler days they stay close to the ground. |
To avoid them caribou will graze along ridges, so the updraft will keep the mosquitoes away; or they will wade into the sea. Visitors to the Arctic commonly wear bee-keeper's veils on bad days and smother their hands with repellent.. . |
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The need for flying insects to maintain an adequate body temperature is clearly illustrated by the butterfly. In milder climates they rest with their wings closed above their head: but in the Arctic they sit with their wings open, to soak up enough sun to allow them to take off. |
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Because of the low temperatures and the icy winds, the tundra is essentially treeless. You will find shrubby bushes in sheltered hollows, but they grow only very slowly. |
More often woody species like willow and alder, which would assume tree form in milder climates, simply hug the ground, growing horizontally rather than vertically, to escape the wind.. |
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They spread themselves over south-facing boulders especially, to soak up the sun. |
As a result the height of a "tree" here can be measured in centimetres instead of metres!. |
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In place of trees the tundra consists of smaller and generally simpler plants. Grasses cover much of the better drained land, commonly in a hummocky form which is a pain to walk over! |
Damper areas are cloaked by mosses and sedges.. . |
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And slow-growing lichens cover many of the rocks. |
Many lichens form thin crusts on rocks. |
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But they also occur in a foliate leaf-like form which, with the grasses and the shrubs, supports grazing animals. . |
Because the summer is so short those plants which produce seed annually (and some plants here take two years to do this) spring up quickly in the spring. There is no time to waste. . |
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They must flower quickly. The land here was covered in snow two weeks before I took the photo. . |
In common with many other plants the saxifrage commonly adopts a compact rounded form, to reduce exposure to the wind and conserve warmth.. |
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After producing its seed the plant withers away in the frosts of late summer and the ground is brown once more as the plants, now dormant in most cases, await the coming of spring. . |
Because the shortness of the growing season is a problem facing all plants here, the tundra is a carpet of flowers in the early summer (rather like the deserts of Australia after rain). Most of the flowers in this picture are avens, the floral emblem of the old Northwest Territories.. |
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Heather, too, puts in an appearance, though dwarfed in size as one would expect due to the severity of the climate. |
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Text, photos and recordings
by John Tyman
Intended for Educational Use
Only.
Copyright Pitt Rivers Museum,
Oxford University, 2010.
Contact Dr.
John Tyman for more information regarding licensing.
Photo processing, Web page layout,
and formatting by
William
Hillman | www.hillmanweb.com
Assistant Professor ~ Faculty
of Education ~ Brandon University ~ Brandon, Manitoba ~ Canada