Yoo Kyung Lee is a polar scientist. She majored in botany and completed her Ph.D. at Seoul National University. She is currently investigating the ecological succession on the land exposed by the disappearance of glaciers disappear in Svalbard. Wanting to share the wonder of Arctic plants with a wider audience, she published "Beautiful Arctic Tundra Plants" with colleagues, and "Handbook of Svalbard Plants" with Arve Elvebakk. Yoo Kyung Lee is a Principal Research Scientist at the Korea Polar Research Institute. She is also a member of the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme of Arctic Council and Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks

Reveals the hidden secret of Arctic tundra

Introduces the Reader to the variety of Arctic tundra, like polar desert, dry tundra, moist tundra, shrub tundra

Shares unknown wonderful stories of Arctic plants: some plants produce flowers under the soil, some have surprising gender imbalance issue

Provides insight into how these tiny plants overcome dry coldness and harsh wind in the tundra field

Prologue: Is the color of the Arctic white? (p. 1-2)

The Arctic is not just white; it is multi-colored. (Fig. 1. The green Arctic)

I. Arctic Tundra: Where There are No Trees (p. 3-12)

Where and what is the Arctic? Surprisingly, there is still no official definition of the Arctic. Arctic has been defined in terms of both geophysics and ecology. From the perspective of geophysics, the Arctic is northern area over the Arctic Circle, the baseline of the midnight. From an ecological point of view, the Arctic is northern area of the tree line where trees cannot grow, that is, tundra. Thus, the Arctic includes the tundra and the Arctic Ocean. (Fig. 2. Arctic Circle; Fig. 3. The northern limit of tree growth; Fig. 4. The Arctic; Fig. 5. Average annual temperature of the Earth; Fig. 6. Treeless tundra in Svalbard; Fig. 7. Walking over dwarf shrubs in a tundra field)

II. Arctic Is Not One (p. 13-30)

Arctic is a huge area, and the Arctic environment is not uniform. For better understand of Arctic vegetation, I will describe plant life forms, bioclimatic zonation, and Arctic vegetation map. (Fig. 8. The High Arctic and the Low Arctic; Figs 9~13. Arctic plants with different life forms; Fig. 14. Bioclimatic subzones in the Arctic; Figs 15~17. Arctic plants of different subzones; Fig. 18. Arctic vegetation map; Fig. 19. Vegetated tundra and barren tundra)

III. Arctic Plants in Different Tundras (p. 31-43)

In the previous chapter, several terms explaining Arctic vegetation are introduced. There are different types of tundras: polar desert, dry tundra, mesic tundra, moist tundra, wet tundra, and shrub tundra. Characteristics of the different tundra regions will be addressed in this chapter. (Figs 20~22. Polar desert; Figs 23~26. Dry tundra plants; Fig. 27. Tussock; Fig. 28. Cottongrass; Fig. 29. Lichen; Fig. 30. Treeline)

VI. Arctic Plants in Svalbard - who are they and what do they do?

4.1. Svalbard, cold shore (p. 44-50)

Svalbard is very special in the Arctic. Svalbard is located at a high latitude, but the weather is very mild compared to other Arctic regions. The nature of Svalbard will be introduced with its geographic and ecological characteristics. (Fig. 31. Map of Svalbard; Figs 32~35. Scenery of Svalbard)

4.2. Moss, Lichen and Black Crust (p. 51-62)

There are green or greenish organisms using sunlight without flowers. Moss dominates in the wet area and offers a basic environment to the living, and lichen and black crust sustain the dry area. (Figs 36-38)

4.3. Pioneering plant: Purple saxifrage (p. 63-65)

(Figs 39)

4.4. Shrubs in the climax: Polar willow, white Arctic bell-heather, Mountain avens (p. 65-75)

(Figs 40~42)

4.5. Pan-Arctic plants: Alpine bistort, Polar campion, Sulphur buttercup, Alpine whitlow grass, Alpine saxifrage, nodding saxifrage, Alpine draba (p. 76-105)

(Figs 43~48)

4.6. Eatable plants: Mountain sorrel (p. 106-110)

(Fig. 49)

4.7. Together is better: Moss campion, tufted saxifrage (p. 111-120)

(Figs 50~61)

4.8. Flower of Svalbard: Svalbard poppy (p. 121-125)

4.9. Plant resemble animal: Arctic mouse-ear (p. 126-130)

(Fig. 63)

4.10. Plant with rosette: Polar scurvy-grass (p. 131-135)

(Fig. 64)

4.11. Plant likes water: Yellow marsh saxifrage (p. 136-140)

(Fig. 65)

4.12. Plant coated by hair: Hairy lousewort (p. 141-145)

(Fig. 66)

4.13. Green grass of the Arctic: Carex and Poa (p. 146-150)

V. Climate change and the Arctic plants (p. 151-165)

As the temperature of the Arctic arises, the frozen ground of tundra is thawing. The snow that covered the tundra and blocked the cold air, melted earlier than usual and fell down late, and the period covered by snow was diminishing. Because of these environmental changes, the kinds of plants living in the tundra have changed and the animal food nets have also changed. Animals and plants that lived in sub-arctic regions below the tundra are also slowly heading north. Tundra creatures have to compete with sub-polar creatures. What is fate of the Arctic plants? (Fig. 68. Temperature increase in the Arctic; Fig. 69. Thawing of permafrost; Fig. 70. Disappearing glacier and plant succession; Fig. 71. Change of Arctic snow; Fig. 72. Tree line is moving north; Fig. 73. Food web in dry tundra; Fig. 74. Svalbard animals feeding plans; Fig. 75. Changing relationship of herbivory and their food in Arctic tundra)

Epilogue: For the last survivors at the margin (p. 166-170)

The tundra will gradually disappear as the temperature of the Arctic increases and the frozen soil melts. As the sea level rises and the shoreline is eroded, the tundra's position is shrinking. It is difficult to say exactly how the ecosystem will respond to changes in the tundra. It is because there are too many things we do not know about the tundra ecosystem yet. This is why our scientists have to study the tundra.

Index (p. 165-170)

Common Name - Scientific Name Index of Arctic Plants