The Arctic coastal tundra is an ecoregion

Ecoregion

An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than an ecozone and larger than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural...

 of the far north of North America, an important breeding ground for a great deal of wildlife.

Setting

This ecoregion is located on the north coast of Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

, and includes the east coast plain of Banks Island

Banks Island

One of the larger members of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Banks Island is situated in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is separated from Victoria Island to its east by the Prince of Wales Strait and from the mainland by Amundsen Gulf to its south. The Beaufort Sea lies...

, the Tuktoyaktuk coast in the Yukon

Yukon

Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....

, and the Anderson River

Anderson River (Northwest Territories)

The Anderson River is in the Northwest Territories in northern Canada. It originates in lakes north of Great Bear Lake; its headwaters are in the vicinity of the hamlet of Colville Lake . It flows north and west in the area between the Mackenzie and Coppermine Rivers...

 and Horton River

Horton River (Canada)

The Horton River is a river in Inuvik and Sahtu Regions, Northwest Territories and Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut, Canada. It is a tributary of the Beaufort Sea and hence part of the Arctic Ocean drainage basin. Only the first few kilometres from its source are within Nunavut.-Course:The river begins at...

 plains in the Northwest Territories

Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...

. This in an area of low, flat, boggy coastal plains. The underlying soil of this damp Arctic coast is thick, solid permafrost, covered in summer with thermokarst

Thermokarst

Thermokarst is a land surface characterised by very irregular surfaces of marshy hollows and small hummocks formed as ice-rich permafrost thaws, that occurs in Arctic areas, and on a smaller scale in mountainous areas such as the Himalayas and the Swiss Alps...

 "thaw lakes" of melted ice. Ice features such as ice wedge

Ice wedge

An ice wedge is a crack in the ground formed by a narrow or thin piece of ice that measures up to 3-4 metres wide at ground level and extends downwards into the ground up to several metres. During the winter months, the water in the ground freezes and expands...

s and pingo

Pingo

A pingo, also called a hydrolaccolith, is a mound of earth-covered ice found in the Arctic and subarctic that can reach up to in height and up to in diameter. The term originated as the Inuvialuktun word for a small hill. A pingo is a periglacial landform, which is defined as a nonglacial...

 mounds of soil and ice can be found. This coast has an arctic climate warm enough to allow plant growth in late-June, July and August only, and even then frosts may occur. On the whole this is a damper, wetter area than the Low Arctic tundra ecoregion that continues along the coast west of here to Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

.

Flora

This area supports wetland plants especially sedge

Cyperaceae

Cyperaceae are a family of monocotyledonous graminoid flowering plants known as sedges, which superficially resemble grasses or rushes. The family is large, with some 5,500 species described in about 109 genera. These species are widely distributed, with the centers of diversity for the group...

s and grasses, moss

Moss

Mosses are small, soft plants that are typically 1–10 cm tall, though some species are much larger. They commonly grow close together in clumps or mats in damp or shady locations. They do not have flowers or seeds, and their simple leaves cover the thin wiry stems...

es and lichen

Lichen

Lichens are composite organisms consisting of a symbiotic organism composed of a fungus with a photosynthetic partner , usually either a green alga or cyanobacterium...

s, and right on the coast there are peat bogs. Trees such as dwarf birch

Dwarf Birch

Betula nana is a species of birch in the family Betulaceae, found mainly in the tundra of the Arctic region.-Description:...

, willow

Willow

Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...

s, northern Labrador tea (Dryas

Dryas (plant)

Dryas is a genus of dwarf perennial herbaceous plants in the rose family Rosaceae, native to the arctic and alpine regions of Europe, Asia and North America. The genus is named after the Greek nymph Dryas. The classification of Dryas within the Rosaceae has been unclear...

) and alder

Alder

Alder is the common name of a genus of flowering plants belonging to the birch family . The genus comprises about 30 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, few reaching large size, distributed throughout the North Temperate Zone and in the Americas along the Andes southwards to...

s grow in the warmer areas of the region, the Mackenzie River

Mackenzie River

The Mackenzie River is the largest river system in Canada. It flows through a vast, isolated region of forest and tundra entirely within the country's Northwest Territories, although its many tributaries reach into four other Canadian provinces and territories...

 delta and the Yukon

Yukon

Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....

 coast.

Fauna

This coast is the breeding ground for three huge herds of caribou, the Western Arctic, Central Arctic, and Porcupine caribou

Porcupine caribou

The Porcupine caribou or Grant's caribou is a subspecies of the caribou found in Alaska and adjacent parts of Canada. It resembles the Barren-ground Caribou and is sometimes included in it....

 herds. Another key species if the muskox of Banks Island

Banks Island

One of the larger members of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Banks Island is situated in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is separated from Victoria Island to its east by the Prince of Wales Strait and from the mainland by Amundsen Gulf to its south. The Beaufort Sea lies...

 and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a national wildlife refuge in northeastern Alaska, United States. It consists of in the Alaska North Slope region. It is the largest National Wildlife Refuge in the country, slightly larger than the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge...

 coast. Other mammals include lemming

Lemming

Lemmings are small rodents, usually found in or near the Arctic, in tundra biomes. They are subniveal animals, and together with voles and muskrats, they make up the subfamily Arvicolinae , which forms part of the largest mammal radiation by far, the superfamily Muroidea, which also includes rats,...

s, polar bear

Polar Bear

The polar bear is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak Bear, which is approximately the same size...

, walrus

Walrus

The walrus is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous circumpolar distribution in the Arctic Ocean and sub-Arctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the Odobenidae family and Odobenus genus. It is subdivided into three subspecies: the Atlantic...

, beluga whale, snowshoe hare

Snowshoe Hare

The Snowshoe Hare , also called the Varying Hare, or Snowshoe Rabbit, is a species of hare found in North America. It has the name "snowshoe" because of the large size of its hind feet and the marks its tail leaves. The animal's feet prevent it from sinking into the snow when it hops and walks...

 and arctic hare

Arctic Hare

The arctic hare , or polar rabbit is a species of hare which is adapted largely to polar and mountainous habitats. The arctic hare survives with a thick coat of fur and usually digs holes under the ground or snow to keep warm and sleep...

, red fox

Red Fox

The red fox is the largest of the true foxes, as well as being the most geographically spread member of the Carnivora, being distributed across the entire northern hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central America, and the steppes of Asia...

, grey wolf, Arctic ground squirrel

Arctic Ground Squirrel

The Arctic ground squirrel is a species of ground squirrel native to the Arctic.-Subspecies:Listed alphabetically.*S. p. ablusus Osgood, 1903...

 and seal

Pinniped

Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...

s. The coast is also home to many breeding waterbirds including snow goose

Snow Goose

The Snow Goose , also known as the Blue Goose, is a North American species of goose. Its name derives from the typically white plumage. The genus of this bird is disputed...

, spectacled eider

Spectacled Eider

The Spectacled Eider is a large sea duck that breeds on the coasts of Alaska and northeastern Siberia.The lined nest is built on tundra close to the sea, and 5–9 eggs are laid. This species dives for crustaceans and molluscs...

, steller's eider

Steller's Eider

The Steller's Eider is a medium-large sea duck that breeds along the Arctic coasts of eastern Siberia and Alaska. The lined nest is built on tundra close to the sea, and 6-10 eggs are laid....

, king eider

King Eider

The King Eider is a large sea duck that breeds along northern hemisphere Arctic coasts of northeast Europe, North America and Asia. The birds spend most of the year in coastal marine ecosystems at high latitudes, and migrate to Arctic tundra to breed in June and July...

, and yellow-billed loon

Yellow-billed Loon

The Yellow-billed Loon , also known as the White-billed Diver, is the largest member of the loon or diver family. Breeding adults have a black head, white underparts and chequered black-and-white mantle. Non-breeding plumage is drabber with the chin and foreneck white...

. Important bird areas include the Colville River

Colville River (Alaska)

The Colville River is a major river of the Arctic Ocean coast of Alaska in the United States, approximately 350 mi long. One of the northernmost major rivers in the North America, it drains a remote area of tundra on the north side of the Brooks Range entirely above the Arctic Circle...

 delta, Teshekpuk Lake

Teshekpuk Lake

Teshekpuk Lake is a -wide lake on the Arctic coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, South of Pitt Point, East of Harrison Bay, East of Point Barrow.- Etymology :...

 (which is within the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska

National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska

The National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska is an area of land on the Alaska North Slope owned by the United States federal government and managed by the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management . It lies to the west of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which as a U.S...

), and Kasegaluk Lagoon

Kasegaluk Lagoon

The Kasegaluk Lagoon is a coastal lagoon located in the western part of the North Slope of Alaska. It is separated from the Chukchi Sea by a series of long, thin barrier islands that stretch south and north-east from the town of Point Lay and westwards down to Icy Cape. There are seven passes...

 a breeding area for brant goose. Predatory birds include the snowy owl

Snowy Owl

The Snowy Owl is a large owl of the typical owl family Strigidae. The Snowy Owl was first classified in 1758 by Carolus Linnaeus, the Swedish naturalist who developed binomial nomenclature to classify and organize plants and animals. The bird is also known in North America as the Arctic Owl, Great...

s that hunt waterbirds and lemmings. Fish of the waters here include the arctic char

Arctic char

Arctic char or Arctic charr is both a freshwater and saltwater fish in the Salmonidae family, native to Arctic, sub-Arctic and alpine lakes and coastal waters. No other freshwater fish is found as far north. It is the only species of fish in Lake Hazen, on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic...

.

Threats and preservation

90% of natural habitat remains intact, except for the vicinity of Barrow, Alaska

Barrow, Alaska

Barrow is the largest city of the North Slope Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is one of the northernmost cities in the world and is the northernmost city in the United States of America, with nearby Point Barrow being the nation's northernmost point. Barrow's population was 4,212 at the...

 and the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska

Prudhoe Bay, Alaska

Prudhoe Bay or Sagavanirktok is a census-designated place located in North Slope Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2010 census, the population of the CDP was 2,174 people; however, at any given time several thousand transient workers support the Prudhoe Bay oil field...

 and Kuparuk

Kuparuk oil field

The Kuparuk oil field, located in North Slope Borough, Alaska, United States, is the second largest oil field in North America by area. It produces approximately of oil and is estimated to have of recoverable oil reserves. It is named for the Kuparuk River....

 which are expanding along the coast and may in future spread into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which is the only major protected area on this coast (see Arctic Refuge drilling controversy

Arctic Refuge drilling controversy

The question of whether to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve has been an ongoing political controversy in the United States since 1997...

), and on and around the Dalton Highway

Dalton Highway

The James W. Dalton Highway, usually Dalton Highway is a 414-mile road in Alaska. It begins at the Elliott Highway, north of Fairbanks, and ends at Deadhorse near the Arctic Ocean and the Prudhoe Bay oil fields...

 and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.