Presentation Transcript

1. Taiga

2. Planet Earth
3. Location The Taiga is the largest biome in the world. It stretches over Eurasia and North America. The taiga is located near the top of the world, in and near the arctic circle.
4. Climate Two main seasons are summer and winter Average summer temperatures 65 to 80°F (reaching 90°F on rare occasions) Winters are cold -65 to 30, with a few months of temperatures below zero. Days are short, nights are long. The average annual rainfall is 12 - 33 inches most of which falls as rain in the summer Total 10.4 In
5. Balsam Fir Cones grow upright Short, flat, resinous needles ½-1¼“ Thin, gray, smooth with resin blisters; brown and scaly on older trees Black Spruce Has the smallest needles Keep dead branches for several years Very short, stiff, 4-sided evergreen needles Paper birch White paper bark Light orange inner bark 2-3” long oval toothed leaves Jack pine Scrubby growth Erratic branching Rarely grow straight Taiga Plant Adaptations many trees are evergreen so that plants can photosynthesize right away when temperatures rise many trees have needle-like leaves which shape loses less water and sheds snow more easily than broad leaves waxy coating on needles prevent evaporation needles are dark in color allowing more solar heat to be absorbed many trees have branches that droop downward to help shed excess snow to keep the branches from breaking www.mbgnet.net/bioplants/taiga.html
6. Animal Adaptation Animals like the Alaskan Grizzly bear adapted to the Taiga by hibernatingand other species migrate south during the cold season. For example are a total of about 300 species of birds in the Taiga but only about 30 stay for the winter. Animals like the snowshoe rabbit and the ermine have thicker white coats in the winter because it can get down to -65 degrees Fahrenheit. The white coat also helps them blend in to keep predators away. Wolverines have adapted by mating at better times of the year to insure a better survival rate.
7. Soil and Chemical Cycling Spodosolsoil is commonly found in cool, moist environments under coniferous forest vegetation. Surface litter composed of pine needles breaks down in the presence of water to form a weak organic acid. Acidic soil water removes base ions in solution to create an acidic soil. Easily dissolved materials are leached from surface layers leaving behind the most resistant material like quartz creating an ashy-grey, near-surface layer. Layers at depth are stained with iron and aluminum oxides. Tanana Soil Profile (undisturbed with permafrost) Surface layer: dark brown organic material Subsurface layer: black mucky silt loam The soil tends to be more acidic because it has a large layer of decomposing material on top which also makes it poor in humus. There is a lot of rock also found in the soil making it soggy and not able to hold a lot of nutrients.  Nitrogen has a rapid cycle in the taiga if it is really cold the cycle will decrease but as the demand gets higher in the summer season it increases very much so. http://www.springerlink.com/content/t851571332455775/ The taiga plays a major role in the carbon cycle it consists of 1/5 of the entire tree cover of the world. Therefore it absorbs a lot of the carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere. It also produces a lot of oxygen enough to refresh the atmosphere. http://www.springerlink.com/content/04p00766r64ltx6g/
8. Economic value The primary value is paper products like toilet paper, copy paper, newsprint and lumber. There is also oil sands in Canada.
9. Human Disturbances Large scale exploitation, Deforestation by logging companies that don’t do sustainable logging. Unsustainable forest management, plantation forestry, and the use of pesticides/herbicides Canada’s oil Sands were you clear the forest then dig up the ground.

10. Wood Bison (Bison bisonathabascae)

11. Characteristics Location: Currently located in the northwestern taiga of Canada Range: historically it was a large area from central Alberta to the interior of Alaska. Currently there are two major herds outside the National Parks, one in the Canadian Yukon and one Alberta in Canada. It dose not migrate and stays in a small rage year round.
12. Characteristics Habitat: must provide grasses and sedges which make up most of its winter diet Wetland-associated meadows, open savanna-like shrublands, and dry grasslands are the most important habitat types in the Taiga Niche: The main diet are sedges and grasses that are located in meadows and wetland areas of the Taiga. They are social animals that live in herds that range in areas that can support their numbers.
13. Endangerment Causes of Endangerment: the population was over 160,000. But due to over hunting, the population was reduced to less than 250 by 1900. Disease is also a factor today. Level of endangerment: It is currently listed as endangered in Alaska and Canada, listed as threatened in parts of Canada. It population is currently stable and has a safe at 9000 due to conservation efforts
14. Conclusion The outlook is good for the wood bison. The population is being managed in Canada so it can slowly grow. They are using 53 Canadian animals to reintroduce the animal to Alaska

15. Laws applying to the Endangered Species

    Wood Bison Taiga
16. Laws/Acts The Wildlife Act: put in place by the COSEWIC (Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada) in the year 2006. The Wildlife Act-Allows for regulations to prohibit, restrict, or take other measures for the protection or survival of specially protected wildlife. -Also permits the designation of Habitat Protection Areas based upon the sensitivity of the area and its importance as habitat for and species of Wildlife. Endangered Species Act: Sections 10(j) and 4(d): 10(j) added in 1982, authorized by the ESA. Through section 4(d) of the Act, threatened designation allows us greater discretion in creating management plans and special regulations for such a population. -Section 4(d) also allows the adopting of whatever regulations/rules that are necessary to provide for the conservation and well-being of the threatened specie(s).
17. Provisions (Wildlife Act)- The purpose of this act is to establish a comprehensive regime of wildlife and habitats. (Sections 10(j) and 4(d))- Provisions for the ESA Sections 10(j) and 4(d) are whatever action maybe necessary in protecting or concerning the well-being of the species.
18. Enforcement of the Acts (Wildlife Act)- Offenses (including trade, taking, harassing, wounding, or killing) against specially protected wildlife equals a punishment for either fines amounting up to $25,000 and/or 24 months imprisonment. (Sections 10(j) and 4(d))- “knowing or Intentional take” from unauthorized activities (i.e. poaching) will result in no legal action from neither the FWS(U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) or ADF&G(Alaska Department of Fish and Game) when an unintentional/incidental “take” occurs.
19. Changes to the Acts (The Wildlife Act)- This law is relatively recent and no changes have been made thus far. However, the Act will be in review after its first five years where ideas will be suggested about the species protected as well as the areas. (Sections 10(j) and 4(d))- section 10(j) added in 1982, section 10(j) was added in interest of providing the designation of specific reintroduced populations of species listed as “experimental populations”.
20. Application of Acts Both these Laws/Acts (Sections 10(j) and 4(d) and The Wildlife Act) helps protect many endangered animals of the Yukon, Providences of Canada, and Alaska, one being the Wood Bison, from their population from being further decreased or threatened. The Wood Bison is an endangered species in our specific biome of the Taiga.
21. Works Cited "Canadian Oil Sands — Photo Gallery —." National Geographic Magazine. Web. 18 Oct. 2009. <http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/03/canadian-oil-sands/essick-photography>. "Taiga Climate." Blue Planet Biomes. Web. 18 Oct. 2009. <http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/taiga_climate_page.htm>. Mitchell, J.A. and Gates, C.C. 2002. Status of the Wood Bison (Bison bisonathabascae) in Alberta. Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, Fish and Wildlife Division, and Alberta Conservation Association, Wildlife Status Report No. 39, Edmonton, AB. 32 pp "Wood Bison - Environment Canada." Environment Canada - Environnement Canada. Web. 18 Oct. 2009. <http://www.mb.ec.gc.ca/nature/endspecies/sar/db08s07.en.html>. "Wood Bison conservation in Alaska, Alaska Department of Fish and Game Videos." Alaska Department of Fish and Game Division of Wildlife Conservation. Web. 18 Oct. 2009. <http://www.wildlife.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=game.conservation>. h Taiga Rescue Network. "The Taiga". http://www.taigarescue.org/the_taiga/taigas.html. http://www.canlii.org/nu/laws/sta/2003ca.26/20061207/whole.html http://www.naturecanada.ca/pdf/ProvincialRC-Yukon.pdf http://wildlife.alaska.gov/managment/game/wood_bison/wb_esa_2_4_09.pdf http://www.scribd.com/doc/3033991/climograph-data