Natural zone: Arctic deserts of Russia. natural areas of the world. Arctic deserts Typical representatives of the flora and fauna of the Arctic deserts

Plan

1. Location
2. Natural conditions
3. Plant world
4. Birds
5. Animal world
6. Power circuits
7. Population
8. Environmental issues

The zone of the Arctic deserts on the map is highlighted in gray-blue
1. Location of the Arctic desert zone:

Geographical position: Arctic Ocean, northern seas and islands. The seas of the Arctic Ocean are very cold. All year round they are almost completely covered with ice, floating ice floes.
Islands: Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya, New Siberian Islands, Wrangel Island.
Seas: Barents Sea, White Sea, Kara Sea, Laptev Sea, East Siberian Sea, Chukchi Sea

Rivers carrying water to the seas of the Arctic Ocean: Pechora, Ob, Yenisei, Lena, Indigirka, Kolyma.

2. Natural conditions

The sun in the Arctic never rises high above the horizon. Its rays skim over the surface of the earth, giving it very little heat. That's why here realm of ice and snow . Long frosty winter 10-11 months, short cool summer. The surface of the ocean is covered with ice 3-5 meters thick or more. Blizzards rage over the ocean, frosts rage. The cold air of this zone is able to spread far to the south. The icy breath of the Arctic is felt throughout Russia. Therefore, the ice zone is often called the “refrigerator” of our country. In winter it's as cold as a freezer. The air temperature drops to -40-50 degrees below zero. In summer, in the ice zone, the temperature rises to +4 degrees above zero. This is also the temperature in the refrigerator, but in the fruit compartment.

Sometimes there is an amazing beauty of the polar lights. The whole sky is sparkling. And the reflection of light everywhere plays on the ice. Masses of light are divided into brilliant multi-colored bands and intertwined in the most bizarre way, sparkling with unusually pure and bright colors of the rainbow.

3. Plant world

To the harsh conditions of the Arctic deserts few species of living organisms have adapted . Lichens are found on the stones of the islands, they are very small .. Mosses and polar poppies have also adapted to life on the stones. In the water column, not covered with ice, there are a large number of plankton and algae, which enrich the water with oxygen and purify it from bacteria. They grow rapidly in the water during the Arctic summer and serve as food for millions of animals, which in turn feed on fish, squid and even giant whales.

4. Birds

Of the animals in these parts most of the birds . In summer, gulls, guillemots, and auks gather on the rocky shores. Noisy gatherings of seabirds on steep rocky shores are called "bird markets". Living in such a cluster, on inaccessible rocks, has its advantages: the birds are well protected from many predators. Here the birds hatch their chicks. Interestingly, guillemots do not build nests, but lay their eggs on bare rock ledges. Why don't eggs roll off rocks? Because they are pear shaped. But in the bird market, guillemots, puffins and kittiwakes have enemies. Large gulls nest near the bazaar - glaucous gulls, long-tailed skuas. These birds have learned to use other people's labor. A skua will take a fish from any bird. He chases and pounces until the bird leaves the fish - and he will pick it up on the fly! For this, the Skua was nicknamed Fomka the Robber.

5. Animal world

Except warm-blooded birds in the ice zone large mammals live .

Feels great here polar bear . White wool helps him to disguise himself and quietly sneak up on the future victim. Thick long hair is lubricated with a fatty substance secreted by the skin glands; it does not get wet in water, and does not freeze in frost. Polar bears travel across the Arctic ice, but they are also excellent swimmers. Polar bears hunt seals near ice holes, waiting for them to emerge for a breath of air. A thick layer of fat, evenly located under the skin, protects against cold weather. In the most severe frosts, polar bears bask in water, the temperature of which is + 2 ° C. When winter comes, bears dig a den in the snow, where they hide from adverse weather conditions (females).

Wandering in search of food wolves, foxes. The arctic fox is also called the polar fox. In winter, its fur becomes white and extremely thick. The white color allows the Arctic fox to camouflage in the snow and hunt with greater ease. It is omnivorous and feeds on birds, crabs or fruits.

Seals and walruses they spend most of their lives in the water, and come out on land for childbearing and molting. On hard ground, they are clumsy due to their sheet-like limbs. Walruses are larger than seals, walruses have tusks. The walrus uses bottom mollusks for food, the seal eats fish. A walrus can rest right in the water, while a seal needs to climb out onto ice floes to rest, where a polar bear can lie in wait for it.

The numerous aquatic animals that live in the ice zone include fish feeding on small crustaceans and algae. I live in the seas of the Arctic zone narwhal, bowhead whale, polar dolphin or beluga whale, killer whale .

6. Food chains that have developed in the Arctic.

1. Algae——> crustaceans——> fish——> birds

2. Algae crustaceans fish birds

seals

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White bears

7. Population

Here liveEskimos, Chukchi, Yakuts . A person is not a native inhabitant of the Arctic, but it has always attracted with its mysteriousness. The Northern Sea Route was laid. Scientific stations operate on the islands and in the ice of the Arctic Ocean. Brave explorers live and work here. They monitor the weather around the clock, day after day, and report it by radio to the mainland. People are engaged in fishing and hunting. But this is not always done intelligently.

8. Environmental issues

The main environmental problems of this region are

— climate change and the melting of Arctic ice;
- pollution of the waters of the northern seas by oil and chemical compounds, as well as by sea transport;
— Decrease in the population of arctic animals and change in their habitat.

In general, studies show that temperatures in the Arctic are rising faster than in the rest of the world. According to 2004 data, over the past 30 years, the thickness of the Arctic ice has decreased by half on average. In the 21st century, most of the Arctic waters will be completely ice-free. And by 2070, the Earth may completely lose the northern ice cap

The main sources of pollution are the mining industry and transport, military installations, and the processing industry. Another important problem is the decline in the population of Arctic animals. Every year in early March, seal pups are born. At the age of 3-4 weeks, when small seals cannot hide from danger even in the water, people catch them on the ice by the thousands and kill them for their skins. The main enemy of the fox is man. The arctic fox attracts him with its luxurious fur. Thousands and thousands of these animals are destroyed for the sake of luxurious fur coats. The walrus, the pink gull have become rare, they are listed in the Red Book of Russia.

The boom in commercial fishing and the growing exploitation of oil and gas fields since the second half of the 20th century are seriously threatening resources once considered inexhaustible. People thought about their behavior, took rare animals under protection, limited fishing, created nature reserves.

9. Reserve "Wrangel Island"

Reserve "Wrangel Island" located on two islands: about. Wrangel and about. Herald, it was organized in 1976. Through the whole island from west to east there are three chains of mountains, separated by valleys. She-bears come to Wrangel Island from different parts of the Arctic. Every spring, scientists count up to two hundred lairs on the island in which babies are born. Therefore, the island is called the "maternity hospital" of polar bears. The island is inhabited by the largest of the ungulates of the Arctic - the musk ox, brought to the reserve from America. The reserve has the largest concentration of walruses. A large number of birds come to the island for nesting. In spring, you can meet a rare bird - a pink gull, it is called the firebird of the north. Wrangel Island is the only place where white geese nest.

According to experts from the Wrangel Island Reserve, poachers kill 200-300 polar bears in the Russian Arctic every year.

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Arctic deserts

Geographical position

It is located on the islands of the Arctic Ocean and in the extreme north of the Taimyr Peninsula. The Arctic is called the lands lying under the constellation Ursa Major, i.e. around the north pole. Distributed in most of Greenland and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, as well as on other islands of the Arctic Ocean, on the northern coast of Eurasia.

In this zone, ice and snow persist almost all year round. In the warmest month - August - the air temperature is close to 0°C. Spaces free from glaciers are bound by permafrost. Very intense frosty weathering.

Climate

The climate of this zone is extremely severe: the average January temperature is -28°C. There is little precipitation - from 100 to 400 mm per year in the form of snow. Winter is long and fierce. The polar night lasts up to 150 days. Summer is short and cold. The frost-free period with temperatures above 0°C lasts only 10-20 days, very rarely up to 50 days. Placers of coarse clastic material are widespread. The soils are thin, underdeveloped, stony. The territory of the Arctic deserts has open vegetation, which covers less than half of the surface. It is devoid of trees and shrubs. Scale lichens on rocks, mosses, various algae on stony soils, and only a few flowering algae are widespread here.

Animal world

The fauna of the Arctic zone is represented by polar bears, arctic foxes, polar owls, and deer. Seabirds nest on the rocky shores in summer, forming "bird colonies".

In this zone, marine animals are hunted - seal, walrus, arctic fox. Among the birds of particular interest is the eider, whose down is lined with its nests. Collecting eider down from abandoned nests is a special trade. It is used to make warm and light clothing worn by polar pilots and sailors.

King of the Arctic Deserts

One of the members of the royal house of the northern Arctic desert decided that it was time for him to go hunting. In his royal bins it was empty. He boarded his royal yacht - on an ice floe - and set sail. The place where he is now most likely to find more game, he knew, and there he is heading!

This king is a polar bear, a huge beautiful beast, he is often called the king of the Arctic, because he is the strongest here, and if so, then everything is subject to him. He is not afraid of anyone, maybe only a man with a gun. Many of his brethren fell victim to these strange creatures, who, for some unknown reason, come to his possessions and even feel quite confident in his own, bearish, kingdom.

The king of the Arctic desert knows the laws of the Arctic well. In winter and summer, he wanders among the ice and ice islands, looking for prey. Foxes? No, they are probably too small for him. Another thing is the seal. This huge beast, if the wind does not blow in his direction, allows you to come close to him just close: he, poor fellow, does not see well. Nansen often told how seals swam up to them when he and Johansen pitched a tent near the water, and "stared at them." Probably because they didn't know much about the person. Walrus is another matter. The walrus has rather obnoxious long tusks; the bear, in any case, tries not to get involved with him, otherwise you will run into trouble and rip your stomach open!

The skin perfectly warms the polar bear. He is not afraid of water, it is unlikely that she will wet him to the skin - his fur is too thick and warm and there is a lot of fat. A bear can travel around his kingdom wherever he wants, the main thing is where there is more food and food. He walks, swims and on ice floes. Neither the storm nor the wind are afraid of him.

Polar bears have a slightly different life, they have serious duties of the mother of the family. For the winter, they settle somewhere firmly, on solid ground, in a well-camouflaged den. There are islands in the Arctic that are jokingly called "bear maternity homes". Most of them are on Franz Josef Land, on Wrangel Island, De Long, on Severnaya Zemlya. In her winter home, the she-bear is warm and calm, no one will disturb her. And in February, babies appear - one feast for the eyes, how cheerful, fluffy, affectionate they are.

At first, the she-bear feeds them with her milk. You yourself are hungry, but what can you do! Then, in mid-March, she carefully leads the furry mischief-makers out; here, for a start, they can be given moss to eat, tearing it out from under the snow. And at the end of March, the mother with the kids goes to the drifting ice, and here the school of life begins, full of anxiety and danger. The scariest thing is meeting a person. Fridtjof Nansen is not only a first-class scientist and a brave person, but also an excellent writer. He has many skilful scenes of polar bear hunting in his diary. I remember, perhaps more than others, one hunt for a bear and cubs. Travelers on the way to Svalbard became ill with food, and they were looking forward to when they finally had the opportunity to use their dexterity and skill.

Early morning. Johansen and Nansen had breakfast. Not far away lay two survivors from the entire team of the dog. The bear smelled the food - she was very hungry! - and began to sneak up on the dogs. They barked. Nansen quickly turned around and saw a huge beast nearby. Wasting no time, the travelers rushed to the tent for a gun. With the first shot, Nansen wounded the bear. The beast turned abruptly and ran away. Behind him is Nansen, and behind Nansen is Johannsen. It was a great speed race.

Suddenly the travelers saw two heads peeping anxiously from behind the hummock.

“They were two cubs,” recalls Nansen. “They stood on their hind legs and looked out for their mother. The bear walked towards them, staggering and leaving a bloody trail behind her. over hummocks, polynyas, over flat ice and all sorts of devilry... An amazing thing is hunting fever! in thought, not daring to cross or jump over, he, seized with a hunting fever, rushes at breakneck speed, as if on a flat, smooth field. after her. The cubs anxiously jumped around the mother, mostly running ahead, as if beckoning her to follow them. They could not understand what had happened to her. From time to time all three suddenly turned to me, and I ran with all my might after them. Finally, the she-bear, having climbed a high hill, turned sideways to me and... fell... The cubs, when she fell down, sympathetically hurried to her. It was just a pity to watch them sniffing at her, pushing her and running away in despair, not knowing what to do..."

Such a tragic end for the cubs is, of course, not always the case. Most of the cute furry animals grow into huge magnificent animals of the Arctic deserts. They roam all over their vast desert kingdom, cross that cherished point, "around which everything revolves", where brave travelers traveled with such hard work.

For a polar bear, neither frost nor wind is nothing to fear. He feels good here, at home, in his gloomy, cold kingdom. And nowhere else, in any other place in the world, you will not meet him. Yes, the king of the Arctic desert does not need to move to other lands. He is the owner here, a permanent resident - an aborigine!

http://www..jpg" align=left>The Arctic Desert is part of the Arctic geographic zone, located in the high latitudes of the Arctic. The Arctic desert zone - the northernmost of the natural zones - is located in the high latitudes of the Arctic. Its southern border is approximately 71 Parallels (Wrangel Island). The zone of Arctic deserts extends to approximately 81 ° 45 "N. sh. (islands of the Franz Josef Land archipelago). The Arctic desert zone includes all the islands in the Arctic basin: this is the island of Greenland,northern part of the Canadian Archipelago,Svalbard Archipelago, Franz Josef Land, Severnaya Zemlya, Novaya Zemlya, New Siberian Islandsand a narrow strip along the coast of the Arctic Ocean within the Yamal, Gydan, Taimyr, and Chukotka peninsulas). These spaces are covered with glaciers, snow, rubble and rock fragments.

The climate of the Arctic desert

http://www..ru).jpg" align=right>The climate is arctic, with long and severe winters, summers are short and cold. There are no transitional seasons in the Arctic desert. – summer The polar night lasts 98 days at 75° N, 127 days at 80° N. Average winter temperatures are -10 to -35°, dropping to -60° Frost weathering is very intense.

The air temperature in summer is slightly above 0°C. The sky is often overcast with gray clouds, it rains (often with snow), due to the strong evaporation of water from the surface of the ocean, thick fogs form.

Even on the "southern" island of the Arctic desert - Wrangel Island - according to eyewitnesses, there is no autumn, winter comes immediately after the short Arctic summer. The wind changes to the north and winter comes overnight.

The Arctic climate is formed not only due to the low temperatures of the high latitudes, but also in view of the reflection of heat from the snow and ice crust. And the ice and snow covers last about 300 days a year.

The annual amount of atmospheric precipitation is up to 400 mm. Soils are saturated with snow and barely thawed ice.

Vegetation cover

http://www..jpg" align=left>The main difference between the desert and the tundra is that you can live in the tundra, subsisting on its gifts, but this is impossible to do in the Arctic desert. That is why there were no indigenous people on the territory of the Arctic islands.

The territory of the Arctic deserts has open vegetation, which covers about half of the surface. The desert is devoid of trees and shrubs. There are small isolated areas with crustaceous lichens on rocks, mosses, various algae on stony soils and herbaceous vegetation - sedges and grasses. In the conditions of the Arctic desert, there are some types of flowering plants: polar poppy, grains, chickweed, alpine foxtail, arctic pike, bluegrass, buttercup, saxifrage, etc. These islands of vegetation look like oases among endless ice and snow.

The soils are thin, with insular distribution mainly under vegetation. The spaces free from glaciers are bound by permafrost, the thawing depth does not exceed 30-40 cm even under the conditions of the polar day. Soil formation processes are carried out in a thin active layer and are at the initial stage of development.

The upper part of the soil profile is characterized by the accumulation of iron and manganese oxides. Iron-manganese films are formed on rock fragments, which determines the brown color of polar desert soils. In coastal areas saline by the sea, polar-desert solonchak soils are formed.

There are practically no large stones in the Arctic desert. Mostly sand and small flat cobblestones. There are spherical concretions, which consist of silicon and sandstone, from a few centimeters to several meters in diameter. The most famous concretions are spherulites on Champa Island (FJL). Every tourist considers it his duty to take a photo with these balloons.

Animal world

http://www..jpg" align=right>Due to the sparse vegetation, the fauna of the Arctic deserts is relatively poor. Terrestrial fauna is poor: the Arctic wolf, arctic fox, lemming, Novaya Zemlya deer, in Greenland - musk ox. Pinnipeds can be found on the coast: walruses and seals.

Polar bears are considered the main symbol of the Arctic. They lead a semi-aquatic lifestyle, the key land areas for breeding polar bears are the northern coast of Chukotka, Franz Josef Land, Cape Zhelaniya on Novaya Zemlya. On the territory of the reserve "Wrangel Island" there are about 400 ancestral dens, so it is called the "maternity hospital" of the bear.

http://www..jpg" align=left>The most numerous inhabitants of the harsh northern region are birds. These are guillemots, puffins, eiders, pink gulls, snowy owls, etc. Sea birds nest on the rocky shores in summer, forming "bird colonies" The largest and most diverse seabird colony in the Arctic nests on Rubini Rock, located in the ice-free Tikhaya Bay off Hooker Island (FJL), with up to 18,000 guillemots, guillemots, kittiwakes and other seabirds on this rock.

Due to the type of activity, one often has to deal with the fact that the "internet generation", having lived to the age of 18, cannot imagine all the diversity of the nature of our planet. For them, trees grow in the taiga, and grass in the tundra, they cannot imagine the African savannah and do not know why hard-leaved forests are called hard-leaved.

Let's start our excursion into the diversity of the world from the northernmost natural zone - the zone of the Arctic deserts.

1. The Arctic deserts are shown in gray on the map.

The Arctic desert is the northernmost of the natural zones, characterized by an arctic climate, arctic air masses predominate all year round. The islands of the Arctic Ocean lie in the zone of the Arctic deserts (Greenland, the northern part of the Canadian archipelago, the Svalbard archipelago, Severny Island of Novaya Zemlya, the New Siberian Islands, and a narrow strip along the coast of the Arctic Ocean within the Yamal, Gydansky, Taimyr peninsulas, and further east to Chukotka Peninsula). These spaces are covered with glaciers, snow, rubble and rock fragments.

2. Arctic desert in winter

3. Arctic desert in summer

The climate is extremely harsh. Ice and snow cover lasts almost the whole year. In winter, there is a long polar night here (at 75 ° N, its duration is 98 days, at 80 ° N - 127 days, and in the region of the pole - half a year). Average January temperatures are about -30 (for comparison, in Tomsk the average January temperature is -17), frosts are often below -40. North-east winds blow almost constantly at a speed of more than 10 m / s, snowstorms are frequent. In February-March, the sun rises from the horizon, and in June, along with the onset of the polar day, spring comes. The snow cover on the well-warmed southern slopes disappears by mid-June. Despite round-the-clock lighting, temperatures rarely rise above +5, soils thaw by several centimeters. The average temperature in July, the warmest month of the year, is 0 - +3. In summer, the sky is rarely clear, usually it is covered with clouds, it rains (often with snow), thick fogs form due to the evaporation of water from the surface of the ocean. Precipitation falls mainly in the form of snow. The maximum precipitation occurs in the summer months. There is not much precipitation - about 250 mm / year (for comparison, in Tomsk about 550 mm / year). Almost all moisture remains on the surface, not seeping into the frozen ground and evaporating weakly due to low temperatures and the low position of the sun in the sky.

4. Typical vegetation of the Arctic deserts - mosses and lichens.

The Arctic desert is practically devoid of vegetation: there are no shrubs, lichens and mosses do not form a continuous cover. Soils are thin, arctic desert, with insular distribution, localized under vegetation, which consists mainly of sedges, some grasses, lichens and mosses. Plants rarely reach a height of 10 cm, usually nestle against stones (cold air heats up from the surface of the earth, so plants tend to cling as tightly as possible to relatively warm ground), and grow mainly in depressions, on southern slopes, on the leeward side of large stones and rocks. The disturbed vegetation cover is restored extremely slowly.

5. Sedge

6. Moss cuckoo flax (right)

6.1. Moss moss lichen (light), lingonberry leaves (lower left). Cowberry leaves are covered with a wax coating that protects them from excessive solar radiation - the polar day can last for many days, weeks and even months.

The fauna is predominantly marine: walrus, seal, in summer there are bird colonies - in summer goose, eider, sandpiper, guillemot, guillemot arrive and nest. Terrestrial fauna is poor: arctic fox, polar bear, lemming.

7. Lemming - a mouse with a very short tail and ears hidden in fur. The shape of her body is spherical, the most favorable for keeping warm - this is the only way to avoid frostbite in the Arctic climate.

9. Lemmings live under snow most of the year.

10.

11. And this is a polar fox - a lemming hunter

12. Arctic fox on the hunt

13. Do you still want to wear a coat with a fox fur collar?

14. The white (polar) bear prefers to live on the coasts. Its main food lives in the waters of the Arctic Ocean.

15. Seal with her cub

16. Walrus

17. Beluga dolphin - an inhabitant of the waters of the Arctic Ocean

The color of the beluga whale is monophonic, it changes with age: newborns are dark blue, after a year they become gray and bluish-gray; individuals older than 3-5 years are pure white (hence the name of the dolphin).

The largest males reach 6 m in length and 2 tons in weight; females are smaller. The head of the beluga whale is small, "lobed", without a beak. The vertebrae on the neck are not fused together, so the beluga whale, unlike most whales, is able to turn its head. The pectoral fins are small and oval in shape. The dorsal fin is absent; hence the Latin name of the genus Delphinapterus - "wingless dolphin". By the way, the fact of the formation of a stable expression "to roar like a beluga" in Russian is interesting. It is associated with the loud sounds that the white whale makes. In the 19th century, the names "belukha" and "beluga" were equally used. Currently, "beluga" refers primarily to the name of the beluga fish, and wingless dolphins are called beluga whales.

18.

19.

20. Gaga. The down of this particular bird is considered the best heat-insulating material for winter clothes - it "breathes". In such clothes it is not hot during thaws and not cold during frosts. For many decades, polar explorers' clothing was sewn using eider down. Down is harvested from empty eider nests, each nest contains about 17 grams of down.

21.

22. Kulik

23. Chistik

24. Bird market. Guillemots.

25. Guillemot in flight

26. Bird market.

To be continued.

Russia belongs to the northernmost part of its territory and is located in the highest latitudes of the Arctic. The southern border is Wrangel Island (71°N), the northern border is the islands of Franz Josef Land (81°45′N). This zone includes: the northern outskirts of the Taimyr Peninsula, Franz Josef Land, Severnaya Zemlya, the northern island of Novaya Zemlya, the New Siberian Islands, Wrangel Island, as well as the Arctic seas, which are located between land areas.

Due to the high geographical latitude, this zone has very harsh nature. A feature of the landscape is an almost year-round cover of snow and ice. The average monthly air temperature exceeding 0°C is typical only for the lowlands, and only two or three months a year, not rising even in the hottest August time higher than +5°C in the south of the zone. Precipitation, in the form of snow, frost and hoarfrost, falls no more than 400 mm. The thickness of the snow cover is small - no more than half a meter. There are often strong winds, fogs and clouds.

The islands have a complex relief. For coastal areas with flat low plains, a pronounced zonal landscape is characteristic. The inland areas on the islands are characterized by the presence of high mountains and table plateaus. The highest elevation on Franz Josef Land is 670 m, on Novaya Zemlya and Severnaya Zemlya it is about 1000 m. Only on the New Siberian Islands is the flat relief prevailing. Significant areas of the Arctic deserts are occupied by glaciers (from 29.6 to 85.1%)

The total area of glaciation on the Russian islands of the Arctic is about 56 thousand km2. When the continental ice moves down to the coast and breaks off, it forms icebergs. Everywhere permafrost with a thickness that can exceed 500 m, incl. and fossil ices of glacier and vein origin.

The seas of the Arctic Ocean, which wash the archipelagos and islands, are covered with special ice - perennial Arctic pack and fast ice. Two main massifs - Canadian and Atlantic - are separated on the underwater Lomonosov Ridge. It is necessary to distinguish among the drifting ice of the Central Arctic and low-latitude territories fast ice, continental slope ice, and stationary fast ice polynyas. The last two types are characterized by the presence of open water, which is quite rich in various forms of organic life: phytoplankton, birds, large animals - polar bears, walruses, seals.

Due to the low temperature, intense frost weathering occurs, which slows down the intensity of chemical and natural weathering, so the soils and soils of this zone consist of large fragments of rocks. Due to frequent changes in air temperature and the close occurrence of permafrost, solifluction and heaving of soils occur. These cracked, ravine- and erosion-prone soils are called polygonal soils.

When permafrost thaws, it contributes to the formation of lakes, dips and depressions, which are characteristic of thermokarst landscapes (often found on the New Siberian Islands). Thermokarst and erosional erosion of the loose alluvial layer causes the appearance of conical earthen mounds, which are called baidzharakhs (height from 2 to 12 m). Baidzharakh small hillockiness is often found among the landscapes of the sea and lake coast of Taimyr and the New Siberian Islands.

The vegetation of the Arctic desert of Russia is distinguished by the fragmentation of vegetation cover, with a total cover of up to 65%. On internal plateaus, mountain peaks and moraines, such coverage does not occur more than 3%. The predominant plant species are mosses, algae, lichens (mainly scale), arctic flowering plants: snow saxifrage (Saxifraga nivalis), alpine foxtail (Alopecurus alpinus), buttercup (Ranunculus sulphureus), arctic pike (Deschampsia arctica), polar poppy (Papaver polare). There are no more than 350 species of higher plants in total. In the south, there are shrubs of polar willow (Salix polaris), saxifrage (Saxifraga oppo-sitifotia) and dryads (Dryas punctata).

The productive production of phytomass is very low - less than 5 t/ha, with a predominance of the above-ground part. This feature of the flora affects the scarcity of fauna in the ice zone. This is the habitat of lemmings (Lemmus), arctic foxes (Alopex lagopus), polar bears (Thalassarctos maritimus), reindeer (Rangifer tarandus).

There are numerous colonies of sea birds on the steep banks. Of the 16 species of birds living here, 11 settle in this way: little auks, or little auks (Plotus alle), fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis), guillemots (Cepphus), guillemots (Uria), kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla), glaucous gulls (Larus hyperboreus ) and etc.

Video: Wildlife of Russia 5. Arctic / Arktika.1080r

The Arctic deserts of Russia are an amazing and mesmerizing world with their severity.