The Beringia lowland tundra is a tundra

Tundra

In physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes through Russian тундра from the Kildin Sami word tūndâr "uplands," "treeless mountain tract." There are three types of tundra: Arctic tundra, alpine...

 ecoregion

Ecoregion

An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than an ecozone and larger than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural...

 of North America, on the west coast of Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

, mostly covered in wetland.

Setting

These are areas of flat, wet, lowland on the Bering Sea coast of Alaska north as far as the Kotzebue Sound

Kotzebue Sound

Kotzebue Sound is an arm of the Chukchi Sea in the western region of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is on the north side of the Seward Peninsula and bounded the east by the Baldwin Peninsula. It is long and wide....

, and on the eastern coasts of the offshore St Lawrence Island and St. Matthew Island

St. Matthew Island

St. Matthew Island is a remote island in the Bering Sea in Alaska, WNW of Nunivak Island. The island has a land area of , making it the 43rd largest island in the United States. Its most southerly point is Cape Upright which features cliff faces which exceed...

. Lakes and ponds cover almost a quarter of the area, and and wetlands cover most of it. The southern Bristol Bay

Bristol Bay

Bristol Bay is the eastern-most arm of the Bering Sea, at 57° to 59° North 157° to 162° West in Southwest Alaska. Bristol Bay is 400 km long and 290 km, wide at its mouth...

 end of this coast receives much more rainfall than Kotzebue Sound in the north.

Flora

These flat lands are mostly covered in sedges grass with shrubland on the more sloping areas such as Bristol Bay. Sedge plants include Eriophorum angustifolium and Carex

Carex

Carex is a genus of plants in the family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges. Other members of the Cyperaceae family are also called sedges, however those of genus Carex may be called "true" sedges, and it is the most species-rich genus in the family. The study of Carex is known as...

 species, while the dominant shrubs are ericas such as crowberry (Empetrum nigrum

Empetrum nigrum

Empetrum nigrum is a species of crowberry known as black crowberry which is native to most northern areas of the northern hemisphere, as well as the Falkland Islands in the southern hemisphere....

).

Fauna

Wildlife includes large colonies of seabirds on the islands and waterbirds and shorebirds in the many wetlands such as the Kuskokwim River

Kuskokwim River

The Kuskokwim River or Kusko River is a river, long, in Southwest Alaska in the United States. It is the ninth largest river in the United States by average discharge volume at its mouth and seventeenth largest by basin drainage area.The river provides the principal drainage for an area of the...

 delta, one of the largest waterbird nesting areas in the world and home to the world's largest communities of tundra swan, most of the world's emperor goose

Emperor Goose

The Emperor Goose is a species of goose. It breeds around the Bering Sea, mostly in Alaska, USA, but also in Kamchatka, Russia...

, and half of the world's black brant

Black Brant

The Black Brant or Pacific Brent Goose, Branta bernicla nigricans, is a sub-species of the Brent Goose that breeds in Alaska and winters in Baja California. There are an estimated 115,000 black brant in the world and about 14,000 are taken each year by hunters. Fox predation of eggs is thought to...

 (Branta bernicla). The lagoon that forms the heart of Izembek National Wildlife Refuge

Izembek National Wildlife Refuge

The Izembek National Wildlife Refuge is the smallest of the National Wildlife Refuges located in the U.S. state of Alaska. It lies on the northwest coastal side of central Aleutians East Borough. Most of the refuge was designated as Wilderness in 1980 under the Alaska National Interest Lands...

 on the Alaska Peninsula has also long been recognised as an important staging ground for migrating birds. Other birds of the coastal wetlands include bristle-thighed curlew

Bristle-thighed Curlew

The Bristle-thighed Curlew, Numenius tahitiensis, is a large shorebird that breeds in Alaska and winters on tropical Pacific islands. It has a long, decurved bill and bristled feathers at the base of the legs. Its length is about 43 cm and wingspan about 84 cm...

, dotterel, bar-tailed godwit

Bar-tailed Godwit

The Bar-tailed Godwit is a large wader in the family Scolopacidae, which breeds on Arctic coasts and tundra mainly in the Old World, and winters on coasts in temperate and tropical regions of the Old World...

, and Pacific Golden Plover

Pacific Golden Plover

The Pacific Golden Plover is a medium-sized plover.The 23–26 cm long breeding adult is spotted gold and black on the crown, back and wings. Its face and neck are black with a white border and it has a black breast and a dark rump. The legs are black...

 while seabirds of include Steller's Eider

Steller's Eider

The Steller's Eider is a medium-large sea duck that breeds along the Arctic coasts of eastern Siberia and Alaska. The lined nest is built on tundra close to the sea, and 6-10 eggs are laid....

 and the large colonies of murre on the islands.

Mammals include North American river otter (Lontra canadensis), stoat

Stoat

The stoat , also known as the ermine or short-tailed weasel, is a species of Mustelid native to Eurasia and North America, distinguished from the least weasel by its larger size and longer tail with a prominent black tip...

 (Mustela erminea), least weasel

Least Weasel

The least weasel is the smallest member of the Mustelidae , native to Eurasia, North America and North Africa, though it has been introduced elsewhere. It is classed as Least Concern by the IUCN, due to its wide distribution and presumably large population...

 (Mustela nivalis), Grizzly bear

Grizzly Bear

The grizzly bear , also known as the silvertip bear, the grizzly, or the North American brown bear, is a subspecies of brown bear that generally lives in the uplands of western North America...

 (Ursus arctos horribilis), moose

Moose

The moose or Eurasian elk is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a dendritic configuration...

 (Alces alces), and caribou. One of the largest bear populations is found in Katmai National Park and Preserve

Katmai National Park and Preserve

Katmai National Park and Preserve is a United States National Park in southern Alaska, notable for the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes and for its brown bears. The park covers , being roughly the size of Wales. Most of this is a designated wilderness area, including of the park...

 and on Iliamna Lake

Iliamna Lake

Iliamna Lake or Lake Iliamna is a lake in South-West Alaska, at North end of Alaska Peninsula, between Kvichak Bay and Cook Inlet, West of Seldovia, Alaska Bristol Bay Low....

.

Threats and preservation

This ecoregion is almost intact apart from small fishing settlements on the coasts. Protected areas include: in the north the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve

Bering Land Bridge National Preserve

The Bering Land Bridge National Preserve is one of the most remote United States national park areas, located on the Seward Peninsula. The National Preserve protects a remnant of the Bering Land Bridge that connected Asia with North America more than 13,000 years ago during the Pleistocene ice age...

 on the Seward Peninsula

Seward Peninsula

The Seward Peninsula is a large peninsula on the western coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It projects about into the Bering Sea between Norton Sound, the Bering Strait, the Chukchi Sea, and Kotzebue Sound, just below the Arctic Circle...

 and Selawik National Wildlife Refuge

Selawik National Wildlife Refuge

Selawik National Wildlife Refuge in northwest Alaska in the Waring Mountains was officially established in 1980 with the passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act ....

; the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge

Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge

The Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge is a United States National Wildlife Refuge covering about in southwestern Alaska. It is the second-largest National Wildlife Refuge in the country, only slightly smaller than the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. It is a coastal plain extending to the...

; and around Bristol Bay and on the Alaska Peninsula, Togiak National Wildlife Refuge

Togiak National Wildlife Refuge

Dominated by the Ahklun Mountains in the north and the cold waters of Bristol Bay to the south, Togiak National Wildlife Refuge confronts the traveler with a kaleidoscope of landscapes. The natural forces that have shaped this land range from the violent and powerful to the geologically patient...

 on the north of the bay, Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge

Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge

The Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge is a United States National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Alaska whose use is regulated as an ecological-protection measure. It stretches along the southern coast of the Alaska Peninsula, between the Becharof National Wildlife Refuge on its east and...

 along the southern coast of the peninsula, Becharof National Wildlife Refuge

Becharof National Wildlife Refuge

Becharof National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge in the Aleutian Range of the Alaska Peninsula of southwestern Alaska. Becharof National Wildlife Refuge, which covers an area of , was established in 1980 to conserve major brown bears, salmon, migratory birds, caribou, marine birds,...

 and Katmai National Park and Preserve. Also St. Matthew Island is one of the many that make up Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge

Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge

The Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge is a United States National Wildlife Refuge comprising 2,400 islands, headlands, rocks, islets, spires and reefs in Alaska, with a total area of , of which is wilderness)...

.