The treelessness of the tundra

• Published in: Polar Record
• Main Author: Tikhomirov, B. A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1962
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; Ecology; Geography, Planning and Development; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Polar Record; Tundra
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247400052529; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247400052529

Russian scientists have long been interested in the tundra. M. B. Lomonosov, in 1763, referred to “the places overgrown with mosses, which cover most parts of the Northern Ocean shores, excluding bogs and forests” as tundras. This early definition emphasized, therefore, the proximity of the tundra zone to the Arctic Ocean coast, the predominance of mosses in its vegetational cover (Lomonosov probably included lichens as “mosses”), and the absence of trees. The treelessness of the tundra, its outstanding characteristic, is a fundamental feature in its geography.