Snow as a Seasonal Habitat
In northern environments snow is a sedimentary layer of fundamental importance to almost all forms of life. The snow cover is a dynamic system, subjected to physical metamorphism, phase changes and chemical transformations that make it a habitat for certain forms of life. Life can continue in and under snow due to the unique physical texture of the milieu. In the subnivean world, organisms and soil rely on the insulating capacity of snow cover for heat retention so that extreme thermal fluctuations in theatmosphere are dampened at the soil surface. These basic understandings have shaped the ES studies of snow as habitat.
In northern environments snow is a sedimentary layer of fundamental importance to almost all forms of life. The snow cover is a dynamic system, subjected to physical metamorphism, phase changes and chemical transformations that make it a habitat for certain forms of life. Life can continue in and under snow due to the unique physical texture of the milieu. In the subnivean world, organisms and soil rely on the insulating capacity of snow cover for heat retention so that extreme thermal fluctuations in theatmosphere are dampened at the soil surface. These basic understandings have shaped the ES studies of snow as habitat.