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Tundra

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Antipodes Subantarctic Islands tundra

Biome

Tundra

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Biogeographic realm

Australasia

Tussock hills and megaherb flats above a penguin beach on Macquarie Island.

Region photo - M. Murphy / Wikimedia Commons - Public domain.

Antipodes Subantarctic Islands tundra

This tundra ecoregion is scattered across the cold Southern Ocean south of New Zealand and Australia, gathering five remote island groups: the Bounty Islands, Auckland Islands, Antipodes Islands, and Campbell Island (New Zealand), plus Macquarie Island (Australia). Its windswept landscape is dominated by tussock grassland threaded with cushion plants and showy "megaherbs" such as Pleurophyllum and Stilbocarpa, while sheltered pockets of the Auckland Islands and Campbell Island hold some of the world's southernmost forests of southern rata (Metrosideros umbellata). The climate is harsh and relentlessly wet, with strong westerly winds and precipitation falling on more than 300 days a year. Despite low overall species richness, the isolation has driven notable endemism, and the islands shelter roughly half the world's albatross species along with vast penguin colonies and endemic land birds like the Antipodes parakeet. Gardeners may recognize the giant-flowered megaherb genera and the tree fern Cyathea among the flora native to these subantarctic islands.

RESOLVE 196

Australasia

338 sq mi

Tundra

Landscape type

Tundra

Plant region

Australasia

Region footprint

338 sq mi

Habitat pressure

Nature Imperiled (Dinerstein NNH 4)

Source & care

Plants that can handle this region

Plotwright does not have climate-fit plant matches for this region yet. As the catalog grows into this climate band, suggestions will appear here.

Similar planting regions

Browse other regions in the same biome. Their plant lists can suggest species and combinations worth comparing.

Glacier ice cliff above pancake ice with a seated man on the rocky shore, Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica.

RESOLVE 117 - Antarctica

Adelie Land tundra

The Adelie Land tundra is a tundra ecoregion in the Antarctica biogeographic realm, covering roughly 68 square miles (RESOLVE 2017 ecoregion 117). Under the Dinerstein "Nature Needs Half" framework it is classed Half Protected (tier 1 of 4) - at least half of its natural habitat already lies within protected areas. No climate coverage falls inside this ecoregion's boundary, so no hardiness snapshot is shown here.

Tundra

68 sq mi

NNH tier 1

Glacial valley lake and open upland tundra in Togiak National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska.

RESOLVE 404 - Nearctic

Ahklun and Kilbuck Upland Tundra

The Ahklun and Kilbuck Upland Tundra ecoregion spans the rugged Ahklun and Kilbuck mountain ranges of southwestern Alaska, bounded by the Bering Sea and its bays. Steep, sharp mountains-glaciated during the Pleistocene, with only a few small glaciers remaining-are separated by broad, flat valleys. Vegetation is largely moist and alpine tundra and dwarf scrub thickets dominated by heath-family plants, dwarf Arctic birch, and mountain avens; trees such as white and black spruce, paper birch, and balsam poplar are confined to valley floors and lower slopes. The climate mixes maritime and continental influences, with annual precipitation ranging from about 1,020 mm in lowlands to 2,030 mm in the high mountains. It is among the most pristine ecoregions on the continent, with 99% of habitat intact, much of it within the Togiak National Wildlife Refuge.

RESOLVE 405 - Nearctic

Alaska-St. Elias Range tundra

The Alaska-St. Elias Range tundra spans a broad arc of northern mountains across Alaska, southwestern Yukon, and northwestern British Columbia, encompassing the Alaska Range and Wrangell-St. Elias Range and reaching the summit of Denali, North America's highest peak. Much of the ecoregion is rocky slopes, ice fields, and glaciers; where permanent snow and ice are absent, alpine tundra dominated by dwarf shrub communities, mountain avens, and heath-family shrubs prevails, with willows, alders, and dwarf birch on more protected slopes. The climate is alpine and glacierized North Pacific cordilleran, largely continental except for a maritime influence near Cook Inlet. The hoary marmot is the flagship species, and roughly 45% of the ecoregion is protected.

RESOLVE 406 - Nearctic

Aleutian Islands tundra

The Aleutian Islands tundra spans the 1,500-km arc of volcanic islands stretching from the Alaska Peninsula toward Russia's Kamchatka, plus the Pribilof Islands, dividing the North Pacific from the Bering Sea. Treeless maritime tundra covers the islands: dwarf scrub of crowberry and willows on exposed high ground, bluejoint-grass meadows on moist sites, and heath, sedge, and sphagnum bogs in the lowlands. The climate is cool and maritime, with mild winters, cool summers, and annual precipitation ranging from roughly 530 to 2,080 mm. About 98% of the ecoregion is protected within the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, which supports breeding habitat for an estimated 40 million seabirds.

RESOLVE 407 - Nearctic

Arctic coastal tundra

The Arctic Coastal Tundra spans most of Alaska's northern coastline, a low coastal plain (0-150 m) along the Beaufort Sea in the Nearctic realm. Poorly drained terrain is dotted with thaw lakes covering up to half the ecoregion, and vegetation is dominated by wet tundra, fens, bogs, and marshes of grasses, sedges, and mosses, with dwarf shrubs on better-drained ground. The Arctic climate brings low precipitation (100-300 mm) and continuous, ice-rich permafrost with ice wedges and pingos. Its flagship species is the beluga whale; only about 4% lies in protected areas though most remains intact.

RESOLVE 408 - Nearctic

Arctic foothills tundra

The Arctic foothills tundra is a transitional belt of rounded hills and plateaus spanning northwestern Alaska, northern Yukon, and the northwestern Northwest Territories, lying between the Arctic Coastal Tundra to the north and the Brooks-British Range Tundra to the south. Its better-drained terrain-with fewer thaw lakes than the saturated coast-supports moist tussock sedges, dwarf shrubs, and scrub, with open white spruce stands mixed with balsam poplar and willow along the Noatak River Valley. The climate is Arctic, with continuous, thick permafrost and an active layer averaging about 1 m, while much of the landscape escaped glaciation during the Pleistocene. The region remains roughly 99% intact, though the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, Dalton Highway, and coal and mineral mining pose growing threats; the gyrfalcon is its flagship species.

Where this ecoregion reaches

The countries, US states, and Canadian provinces this ecoregion touches, from a spatial join of its RESOLVE polygon against Natural Earth boundaries.

Countries

New Zealand

Educator packet

Region packet

Antipodes Subantarctic Islands tundra educator packet

This tundra ecoregion is scattered across the cold Southern Ocean south of New Zealand and Australia, gathering five remote island groups: the Bounty Islands, Auckland Islands, Antipodes Islands, and Campbell Island (New Zealand), plus Macquarie Island (Australia). Its windswept landscape is dominated by tussock grassland threaded with cushion plants and showy "megaherbs" such as Pleurophyllum and Stilbocarpa, while sheltered pockets of the Auckland Islands and Campbell Island hold some of the world's southernmost forests of southern rata (Metrosideros umbellata). The climate is harsh and relentlessly wet, with strong westerly winds and precipitation falling on more than 300 days a year. Despite low overall species richness, the isolation has driven notable endemism, and the islands shelter roughly half the world's albatross species along with vast penguin colonies and endemic land birds like the Antipodes parakeet. Gardeners may recognize the giant-flowered megaherb genera and the tree fern Cyathea among the flora native to these subantarctic islands.

Realm

Australasia

Dominant biome

Tundra

Approximate area

338 square miles

States / provinces

Not recorded

Climate descriptor

Not recorded

Classroom prompts

- Which climate and biome facts explain why this region supports its characteristic plants?

- How do native-plant and wildlife-support claims differ from a species-presence claim?

- Which source-backed facts would you cite before using this region in a classroom map activity?

Use the Sources & citations section below for page citation styles and region source links.

Sources & citations

Cite this page

For lesson plans, articles, or regional planting notes that use this Plotwright page. To cite the underlying ecoregion framework or a specific editorial profile, use the source cards below.

Plotwright. (n.d.). Antipodes Subantarctic Islands tundra (Antipodes Subantarctic Islands tundra). Retrieved 2026, August 20, from https://plotwright.com/regions/resolve-196

Sources for this region

This page cites Plotwright first for the compiled view, then lists the upstream framework, climate, and editorial source pages so readers can cite the original material directly.

RESOLVE 2017 Terrestrial Ecoregions (Dinerstein et al.)

Primary ecoregion framework

One Earth

Wikipedia

Wikimedia Foundation

Open source

Source guide