Nearctic Boggy Tundra - Code: Ne10D

This habitat is closely associated with Nearctic rocky tundra, occurring in the same zones with the same climate. The only significant difference between the two is drainage. Wet tundra, with its bogs, marshes, and lagoons, resembles the bogs that exist in the  boreal conifer forest  to the south, but here this wet habitat covers vast areas of the tundra belt. Much of this landscape is very flat, therefore promoting the concentration of water. The bogs can have a grassy cover of sedges and cottongrasses, along with water-loving mosses.
 Palsa mounds, sometimes called pingos are raised areas of the bog, formed by the swelling of underlying permafrost, causing an elevated dome. The form in areas of permafrost where through gradual accumulation of ice in the permafrost causes the ground to raise above the surrounding bog, usually only few feet above the bog, but can also be up to 25 ft (8m) high. These elevated areas have a different microhabitat than the surrounding areas, and while the less well drained areas have marsh that is similar to more temperate wetlands with rushes,  the raised areas can be wind-blown and desiccated in the winter resulting in plants more typical of  rocky tundras such as  reindeer lichen (Cladonia rangiferina), Wooly feather moss (Tomentypnum nitens) and sedges such as Curly Sedge (Carex rupestris), Short-leaved Sedge (Carex misandra) and Spike Sedge (Carex nardina), all growing around a blanket of sphagnum mosses such as Rusty Bogmoss (Sphagnum fuscum) which form a barrier to the underlying permafrost. On the sides of the palsa mounds, and especially where snowbanks form in winter the grasses are thicker and are accompanies by Arctic dandelion (Taraxacum arcticum), Purple Saxifrage (Saxifraga oppositifolia) and White Dryas (Dryas octopetala). In the wettest areas plants such as highland rush (Oreojuncus trifidus) are dominant.

The terrain of the BOGGY TUNDRA is fascinating in that it is far more rolling than initial impressions in early spring suggest with very irregular drainage patterns. In late Maty most of the terrain is covered in snow with only the high palsa mounds snow free. As the snow begins to melt in early June, and the Arctic Ocean is still frozen, the snow on the mainland melts but forms ephemeral lakes that may only exist for a week before they dry out to form drier tundra. When visiting areas such as around Barrow, Alaska, a naturalist may find an area with a foot of water and hundreds of ducks one day and dry with shorebirds starting to breed the next. As the melts continue, the permanent lakes start to thaw and by the end of June the terrain has uplands with the driest tundra, gentles slopes with extensive sphagnum moss, and the marshlands.