Beringia lowland tundra | |
---|---|
Ecology | |
Realm | Nearctic |
Biome | Tundra |
Bird species | tundra swan, emperor goose, black brant, Steller's eider, bristle-thighed curlew, dotterel, bar-tailed godwit, Pacific golden plover, murre |
Mammal species | brown bear, |
Geography | |
Area | 150,900 km2 (58,300 sq mi) |
Country | United States |
State | Alaska |
Geology | lowland |
Rivers | Kuskokwim River |
Conservation | |
Habitat loss | 0% |
Protected | 0% |
The Beringia lowland tundra is a tundra ecoregion of North America, on the west coast of Alaska, mostly covered in wetland.
These are areas of flat, wet, lowland on the Bering Sea coast of Alaska north as far as the Kotzebue Sound, and on the eastern coasts of the offshore St Lawrence Island and St. Matthew Island. Lakes and ponds cover almost a quarter of the area, and wetlands cover most of it. The southern Bristol Bay end of this coast receives much more rainfall than Kotzebue Sound in the north.
These flat lands are mostly covered in sedges and grass with shrubland on the more sloping areas such as Bristol Bay. Sedge plants include Eriophorum angustifolium and Carex species, while the dominant shrubs are ericas such as crowberry ( Empetrum nigrum ).
Wildlife includes large colonies of seabirds on the islands and waterbirds and shorebirds in the many wetlands such as the Kuskokwim River delta, one of the largest waterbird nesting areas in the world and home to the world's largest communities of tundra swan, most of the world's emperor goose, and half of the world's black brant (Branta bernicla). The lagoon that forms the heart of Izembek National Wildlife Refuge on the Alaska Peninsula has also long been recognised as an important staging ground for migrating birds. Other birds of the coastal wetlands include bristle-thighed curlew, dotterel, bar-tailed godwit, and Pacific golden plover while seabirds of include Steller's eider and the large colonies of murre on the islands.
Mammals include North American river otter (Lontra canadensis), stoat (Mustela erminea), least weasel (Mustela nivalis), grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis), gray wolf (Canis lupus), moose (Alces alces), and caribou (Rangifer tarandus). One of the largest bear populations is found in Katmai National Park and Preserve and on Iliamna Lake. [1]
This ecoregion is almost intact apart from small fishing settlements on the coasts. Protected areas include: in the north the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve on the Seward Peninsula and Selawik National Wildlife Refuge; the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge; and around Bristol Bay and on the Alaska Peninsula, Togiak National Wildlife Refuge on the north of the bay, Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge along the southern coast of the peninsula, Becharof National Wildlife Refuge and Katmai National Park and Preserve. Also St. Matthew Island is one of the many that make up Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge.
The Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge is a United States National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Alaska whose use is regulated as an ecological-protection measure. It stretches along the southern coast of the Alaska Peninsula, between the Becharof National Wildlife Refuge on its east and the end of the peninsula at False Pass in the west. In between, however, it is broken into sections by lands of the Aniakchak National Monument and Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is administered from offices in King Salmon, Alaska and was established to conserve Alaska Peninsula brown bears, caribou, moose, marine mammals, shorebirds, other migratory birds and fish, and to comply with treaty obligations.
The Alaska Peninsula is a peninsula extending about 497 mi (800 km) to the southwest from the mainland of Alaska and ending in the Aleutian Islands. The peninsula separates the Pacific Ocean from Bristol Bay, an arm of the Bering Sea.
The Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge is a United States National Wildlife Refuge comprising 2,400 islands, headlands, rocks, islets, spires and reefs in Alaska, with a total area of 4.9 million acres (20,000 km2), of which 2.64 million acres (10,700 km2) is wilderness. The refuge stretches from Cape Lisburne on the Chukchi Sea to the tip of the Aleutian Islands in the west and Forrester Island in the southern Alaska Panhandle region in the east. The refuge has diverse landforms and terrains, including tundra, rainforest, cliffs, volcanoes, beaches, lakes, and streams.
Selawik National Wildlife Refuge in northwest Alaska in the Waring Mountains was officially established in 1980 with the passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA).
The Bering Land Bridge National Preserve is one of the most remote Protected areas of the United States, located on the Seward Peninsula. The National Preserve protects a remnant of the Bering Land Bridge that connected Asia with North America more than 13,000 years ago during the Pleistocene ice age. The majority of this land bridge now lies beneath the waters of the Chukchi and Bering Seas. During the glacial epoch this bridge was a migration route for people, animals, and plants whenever ocean levels fell enough to expose the land bridge. Archeologists disagree whether it was across this Bering Land Bridge, also called Beringia, that humans first migrated from Asia to populate the Americas, or whether it was via a coastal route.
The Nushagak Peninsula is an uninhabited peninsula in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is situated in the Dillingham Census Area, west of the Alaska Peninsula. The 520,000 acres (210,000 ha) byland measures 35 by 15 miles. It was named for Nushagak Bay in 1910 by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. With a large area of lakes, ponds and tidal sloughs, the peninsula contains the biggest complex of wetlands of the Togiak National Wildlife Refuge.
British Columbia mainland coastal forests is a temperate coniferous forest ecoregion the Pacific coast of North America, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) categorization system.
Southwest Alaska is a region of the U.S. state of Alaska. The area is not exactly defined by any governmental administrative region(s); nor does it always have a clear geographic boundary.
Alaska occupies the northwestern portion of the North American continent and is bordered only by Canada on the east. It is one of two U.S. states not bordered by another state; Hawaii is the other. Alaska has more ocean coastline than all of the other U.S. states combined. About 500 miles (800 km) of Canadian territory consisting of British Columbia separate Alaska from Washington U.S. state. Alaska is thus an exclave of the United States that is part of the continental U.S. and the U.S. West Coast, but is not part of the contiguous U.S.
The Izembek National Wildlife Refuge is the smallest of the National Wildlife Refuges located in the U.S. state of Alaska. It lies on the northwest coastal side of central Aleutians East Borough. Almost all of the refuge was designated as wilderness in 1980 under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (Anilca). The refuge is administered from offices in Cold Bay.
Becharof National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge in the Aleutian Range of the Alaska Peninsula of southwestern Alaska. It is adjacent to Katmai National Park and Preserve. This national wildlife refuge, which covers an area of 1,200,000 acres (4,900 km2), was established in 1980 to conserve major brown bears, salmon, migratory birds, caribou, marine birds, and mammals and to comply with treaty obligations. It lies primarily in the east-central part of Lake and Peninsula Borough, but extends eastward into the mainland portion of Kodiak Island Borough. The refuge is administered from offices in King Salmon.
The Alaska Peninsula montane taiga is a taiga and boreal forests ecoregion, located in Alaska, and defined by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) categorization system.
The Eastern Canadian Shield taiga is an ecoregion of Canada as defined by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) categorization system.
The interior Alaska–Yukon lowland taiga is an ecoregion in the taiga and boreal forests biome, of far northern North America.
The Arctic coastal tundra is an ecoregion of the far north of North America, an important breeding ground for a great deal of wildlife.
The Arctic foothills tundra is an ecoregion of the far north of North America, lying inland from the north coast of Alaska. This is permafrost tundra with an average annual temperature below freezing.
The Beringia upland tundra is a mountainous tundra ecoregion of North America, on the west coast of Alaska.
The Northeast Siberian taiga ecoregion is an area of "sparse taiga forest" between the Lena River and the Kolyma River in northeastern Siberia, Russia. The ecoregion's internal borders form a patchwork of territory constituting the southern part of the East Siberian Lowland, as well as lowlands around the East Siberian Mountains, including the ridges and peaks of the Verkhoyansk Range and the Chersky Range. On the southern border of the ecoregion is the north coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, giving the region maritime boreal forests as well as the continental forests situated inland. The ecoregion is one of the largest tracts of virgin boreal forest in the world, due to the very sparse population and difficult access. It is mostly in the Sakha Republic.
The Canadian Arctic tundra is a biogeographic designation for Northern Canada's terrain generally lying north of the tree line or boreal forest, that corresponds with the Scandinavian Alpine tundra to the east and the Siberian Arctic tundra to the west inside the circumpolar tundra belt of the Northern Hemisphere.
The Canadian Low Arctic Tundra ecoregion covers a rolling landscape of shrubby tundra vegetation along the northern edge of the mainland Canada along the border of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, and a small portion in Quebec on the northeast coast of Hudson Bay. The region is important for large herds of caribou and other large mammals, and for large nesting colonies of birds such as snow geese. The region is mostly intact, with 95% remaining intact.