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Tundra is the treeless biome of the far north, and it begins at the treeline. In Canada that line runs from the Mackenzie Delta across to Hudson Bay and on through northern Quebec and Labrador — and almost all of Nunavut lies beyond it. This page explains where the tundra starts, its zones, and the life it supports.
Tundra (from the Sámi word for treeless upland) is the biome of extreme northern latitudes: ground that is frozen within a metre or so of the surface for most or all of the year, supporting only low-growing plants. Three factors define it — permafrost, a brief growing season and low precipitation. Together they exclude trees and shape everything else about the ecosystem.
In Canada, tundra and polar desert cover roughly a quarter of the country's land area — and Nunavut, which alone spans about one-fifth of Canada, is almost entirely tundra. It is the largest and most intact expanse of the biome in the country.
The tundra starts at the treeline — the northern limit of closed forest. The treeline is not a neat line but a ragged transition zone (sometimes called the forest–tundra ecotone) where spruce grow shorter and sparser until they disappear entirely. In Nunavut, the treeline exits the territory near its southwestern corner: the Kivalliq region, south of Baker Lake and toward the Manitoba border, is where Canada's boreal forest finally gives way to open tundra.
| Zone | Where in Canada | Climate | Typical vegetation | Signature wildlife |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forest–tundra transition (subarctic) | A ragged band just north of the treeline — across the Mackenzie Valley, around the Yukon–Northwest Territories border, and near the Manitoba–Nunavut boundary | Subarctic: short summers, permafrost becomes continuous | Stunted spruce, dwarf birch and willow giving way to open tundra | Barren-ground caribou winter ranges, moose at the edge, wolves, foxes |
| Low Arctic tundra | Mainland Nunavut (Kivalliq and Kitikmeot regions), southern Baffin Island, and the Arctic coastal plain | July means roughly 5–12°C; 50–60 frost-free days; continuous permafrost | Dwarf shrubs, sedges, mosses, lichens, cottongrass, berry plants | Caribou and muskoxen, lemmings, Arctic foxes, nesting geese and shorebirds |
| High Arctic tundra & polar desert | Queen Elizabeth Islands, northern and central Baffin Island, Ellesmere and Axel Heiberg islands | July means below 5°C in places; under 200 mm precipitation; polar night in winter | Sparse cushion plants, lichens, mosses — plant cover often under 10% | Peary caribou, muskoxen, Arctic hares, ivory gulls, seabird cliffs |
| Arctic Cordillera (alpine) | Eastern Baffin Island and Ellesmere Island — the mountains of Auyuittuq and Quttinirpaaq national parks | Mountain and ice-cap climate; glaciers and ice fields persist | Bare rock, ice, and scattered alpine tundra in sheltered valleys | Ice-associated species; seabirds on coastal cliffs |
The result is a landscape of lichens, mosses, sedges and dwarf shrubs that grow slowly — some lichens expand less than a millimetre a year — and recover from disturbance over decades. This is why tundra vegetation is exceptionally sensitive to trampling and why off-road travel follows traditional routes.
Tundra plants share a strategy: stay low, grow in dense mats, and seize the brief summer. Lichens and mosses carpet the ground; dwarf willows and birches creep sideways rather than up; cottongrass and sedges fill wet depressions; and cushion plants such as the purple saxifrage — Nunavut's floral emblem — trap warmth at their centre. Berries like crowberry and bog bilberry ripen in August, feeding both wildlife and harvesters.
Full tundra vegetation guideThe tundra's animal life is built around migration and cycles. Caribou cross it in vast seasonal movements; muskoxen and Arctic hares stay year-round; lemmings — the biome's foundation species — boom and bust in multi-year cycles that ripple up the food web to Arctic foxes, snowy owls and jaegers. Each summer the tundra becomes one of the planet's great nurseries as millions of geese, shorebirds and seabirds arrive to nest.
Tundra and permafrost are inseparable. The frozen ground creates the treeless conditions, and its freeze–thaw cycles sculpt the surface into polygons, hummocks and stone circles. Where ice-rich permafrost thaws, the ground subsides into thermokarst lakes and uneven terrain — one of the clearest visible signals of Arctic climate change.
Permafrost & landscape guideNunavut's national parks protect some of the most accessible — and most remote — tundra on Earth. Auyuittuq National Park on southeastern Baffin Island takes its name from Inuktitut: "the land that never melts." Sirmilik protects Bylot Island's seabird cliffs and narwhal fiords; Quttinirpaaq — "land at the top of the world" — covers the northern tip of Ellesmere Island; and Qausuittuq on Bathurst Island was created in part for the endangered Peary caribou.
Tundra begins at the treeline — the northern limit of trees. In Canada the treeline runs in a ragged arc from the Mackenzie Delta on the Beaufort Sea, southeast across the mainland toward Hudson Bay near the Nunavut–Manitoba border, and northeast through northern Quebec and Labrador. Everything north of that line is tundra, and in Nunavut the transition happens near the edge of the Kivalliq region.
Almost all of it. Nunavut lies almost entirely north of the treeline, so nearly the whole territory is tundra — Low Arctic tundra on the mainland and southern Baffin Island, and High Arctic tundra and polar desert across the northern islands. The only major exception is the mountain and ice-cap country of the Arctic Cordillera on eastern Baffin and Ellesmere islands.
Arctic tundra is latitude-driven: it exists because the high-latitude climate is too cold for trees. Alpine tundra is altitude-driven: it exists on mountains above the local treeline, even at temperate latitudes. Nunavut has both — vast Arctic tundra across the territory, plus alpine conditions in the Arctic Cordillera.
Trees as forests do not. The treeline marks the limit where permafrost, a short growing season, wind and low precipitation prevent tree survival. A few stunted spruce and dwarf birch cling on in the transition zone, and Arctic willows grow only as low, creeping mats a few centimetres tall.
Large parts of it, yes. A desert is defined by low precipitation, not heat: much of Nunavut receives under 250 mm of water-equivalent precipitation a year, and the High Arctic islands are classic polar desert with under 200 mm — Resolute averages only about 155 mm. Almost all of it falls as snow.
Roughly a quarter of Canada’s land area is Arctic tundra and polar desert, spanning Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, Yukon’s north coast, northern Quebec (Nunavik) and Labrador. Nunavut — about one-fifth of Canada itself — is the heart of that tundra.
Tundra plants are low, hardy and slow-growing: lichens, mosses, sedges and grasses, dwarf willow and birch shrubs, cottongrass, Arctic poppy, and cushion plants like the purple saxifrage — Nunavut’s floral emblem — which is often the first flower of spring. Many grow in clustered mats that trap heat and resist the wind.
Caribou, muskoxen, Arctic foxes, Arctic wolves, Arctic hares and lemmings live on the tundra year-round, while snowy owls, jaegers, ptarmigan and millions of geese and shorebirds arrive each summer to breed. Polar bears patrol the coastal tundra and sea ice. See our complete animals guide for the full list.
The word comes from the Sámi languages of northern Scandinavia — via Russian — and refers to treeless upland plains. It describes exactly what it names: ground without trees.
Figures on this page are rounded summaries of published government and scientific sources. Zone boundaries — especially the treeline — are gradual transitions that vary locally with terrain and are shifting with climate change.