Tundra

The tundra environment is characterized by a layer of frozen soil called "permafrost". This biome occurs in high latitudes or high altitudes (i.e. high up in mountains or in the north and south polar regions). Precipitations in this region are normally very low, which causes that popularly these regions are called "cold deserts", however, they are a different category and there are some differences between cold deserts and tundras. The precipitations are very low in both, however, the availability of water in the tundra is higher, since, during spring, part of the frozen soil can melt, increasing the water available for the species living in the tundra.

It is this water availability that makes the tundra have more vegetation than a desert, sometimes even the entire soil can be covered by bush-like plants. However, due to the presence of permafrost, trees can rarely grow in the tundra, since their roots cannot penetrate the ice layer. Regarding animals, some furry animals can survive the cold climate of the tundra and small and big animals are not extremely rare.