During the period 1970-1974, the U.S. Tundra Biome Program,
which was stationed primarily out of Barrow, performed a series of
environmental and terrestrial ecological studies at Prudhoe Bay.
This volume reports specifically on the Prudhoe results and is
divided into three major subdivisions: (1) abiotic and soil investigations;
(2) plant investigations, and (3) animal investigations. The
abiotic section contains papers on the air and soil temperature
regimes; the snow cover, particularly its properties adjacent to the
roadnetwork; major soil and landform associations, and the chemical
composition of soils, runoff, lakes, and rivers. The plant section
contains reports on a general vegetation survey; a follow-up
vegetation mapping project, and a study of the growth of arctic,
boreal, and alpine biotypes in an experimental transplant garden.
The animal section contains reports on the tundra invertebrates;
the bird, lemming, and fox populations, and the behavioral and
physiological investigations of caribou and several experimental
reindeer. Appendices contain a checklist of the vascular, bryophyte,
and lichen flora of the Prudhoe Bay area and selected data on
vegetation. Several of the papers draw comparisons with the
Barrow tundra.
The volume includes a considerable number of tables in its
attempt to document for the first time the abiotic, flora, and fauna
of this relatively unknown arctic tundra landscape.
