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Out in the Cold
| Article
# : |
17433 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
1 / 1990 |
1,695 Words |
| Author
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Scott Elias
Scott Elias is associate director of the Institute of Arctic
and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) at the University of Colorado in
Boulder. His research focuses on arctic and alpine insects,
and their fossil record. |
Most North Americans look forward to the changing seasons of the year. Whether we relish the coming of one season, or loathe the arrival of another, we can take comfort that each season represents only about one-quarter of the year. There is a region, however, where there are only two seasons worth mentioning. One is a short, cool summer, the other a very long, very cold winter, in which temperatures may stay well below 0º F for weeks or months at a time, dropping as low as –60º F. Surprisingly, such extreme conditions are not restricted to the vicinity of the north pole. In fact, roughly one-quarter of the North American continent experiences this kind of winter every year. Most of this frozen territory lies north of 660 latitude, but some of it extends as far south as New Mexico, at high elevations. This cold realm encompasses the arctic and alpine regions of our continent.
Relatively few people have successfully occupied these lands of ice and snow. Only the Eskimos (or Inuit, as they prefer to be called) found ways to survive in the arctic regions without the aid of space-age technology, and while a few turn-of-the-century miners were smitten enough by "gold fever" to spend a few winters in cabins above the tree line in the Rocky Mountains, there are no permanent settlements there today. In both the arctic and alpine regions, the combination of low summer temperatures and other factors such as wind and lack of liquid water prohibit the growth and reproduction of even the hardiest trees.
The region beyond the tree line (both in the arctic and in the alpine) is called tundra, a word that the Laplanders of northern Scandinavia coined to describe the cold, marshy plains of western Siberia. While these regions may seem harsh to us, there are large numbers of plants and animals that not only survive, but thrive there.
Recent research has cast light on the patterns and processes of biological adaptation to the cold climates of the arctic and alpine. Many plants and animals avoid the harshness of winter by some form of dormancy. Most tundra plants carry out a frantic biological race in the short summer season, with the whole process from growth of new seedlings through blossoming and setting of seed often lasting less than a month. Once in the ground the seeds of such tundra plants as arctic sedge, alpine clover, and arctic willow may lie dormant for several years, waiting for a summer that is sufficiently warm to allow the whole reproductive cycle to be repeated. Other tundra plants, including many shrubs and cushion plants, such as alpine sorrel, manage to survive for decades or even centuries with out any sexual
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