Tundra ecosystems are cold-climate terrestrial systems characterized by low temperatures, short growing seasons, and the presence of permafrost that constrains soil development, hydrology, and rooting depth. They exhibit low primary productivity dominated by cold-adapted vegetation such as mosses, lichens, sedges, and dwarf shrubs, with nutrient cycling strongly limited by slow decomposition rates. These ecosystems are important in Earth system science as major carbon reservoirs in frozen soils and peat deposits, and they show high sensitivity to climate warming, which alters vegetation composition, active-layer depth, greenhouse gas fluxes (CO₂, CH₄, N₂O), and biotic interactions, including herbivory and microbial community dynamics.
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