Flora: Low growing lichens, mosses, grasses, sedges, dwarf shrubs, small plants typically ground hugging or warmth preserving in some way, rosettes. Most of the plants are small, grow close together and close to the ground.

Fauna:
large, compact bodies. A thick insulating cover of feathers or fur
pelage and plumage that turns white in winter, brown in summerPhysiological adaptations
ability to accumulate thick deposits of fat during the short growing season. Fat acts as insulation and as a store of energy for use during the winter, when animal species remain active.
cyclical fluctuations in population size.