Taiga (Boreal Forest)

1. Taiga (Boreal Forest) Taiga is a Russian word for forest. The Taiga or Boreal Forest, is the world’s largest biome. Living in the Taiga is cold and harsh. It is cold most of the year, and food is often scarce. Fewer than four months have an average temperature over 50 degrees. The arctic circle blows cold air into the Taiga. Winter lasts for about seven months. Winter's lowest temperature in the taiga is -65°F.Winter's highest temperature is around 30° F.Summer’s lowest temperature is 30 °F. Summer's highest temperature is 70° F. For half the year, the average temperature is below freezing. The Taiga has an average rainfall of 12 – 34 inches of precipitation. The Taiga biome is only found in the Northern Hemisphere because there is not enough land mass in the Southern Hemisphere. http://blueplanetbiomes.org/taiga_climate_page.htm

2. The Taiga biome is located in the Northern Hemisphere only because the Southern Hemisphere does not have enough land mass. It’s located just under the Tundra biome. http://blueplanetbiomes.org/taiga.htm

3. Dominant Animals Dominant animals include bears such as the American black bear and the ever so large, grizzly bear. The bald eagle, the lynx, the bobcat, the gray wolf, and the nasty, violent wolverine. The red fox, the river otter, the long-eared owl, and the snowshoe rabbit. All these animals have adapted very well to their environment by having very thick coats of fur. Most of them also hibernate in the winter time, so it makes it easier to survive the long, cold winter months. http://blueplanetbiomes.org/taiga_animal_page.htm

4. Dominant Vegetation • The types of dominant vegetation are mostly cone bearing, coniferous trees. This means that the trees have cones and do not lose their needles in the fall. In fact, most every single tree in the Taiga is a coniferous tree. Here are some examples of coniferous trees : Balsam Fir, Black Spruce, Douglas-Fir, Eastern Red Cedar, Jack Pine, Paper Birch, Siberian Spruce, White Fur, White Poplar, and White Spruce. All of these trees are tough and have adapted to their environment with strong bark and them simply being coniferous trees. http://blueplanetbiomes.org/taiga_plant_page.htm

5. Positive and Negative Effects of Humans Humans play a small role in affecting the Taiga biome simply because it’s so large, but the parts of the Taiga that we are affecting we are killing very rapidly. Wood harvesting has had a large negative impact on the animals and plants in the Taiga biome. Not to mention all the carbon dioxide that we have been contributing to the world, which is a huge negative impact on every biome. The human footprint is much larger than it should be. We affect the Taiga biome too much with acts such as hunting, snowmobiling, dirt biking, and off-roading. The only positive affect that we may have is when a species is about to go extinct, we have very good and helpful rules and regulations that will hopefully bring that species off the endangered species list.

6. Bibliography • Retrieved November 10, 2008 • http://blueplanetbiomes.org/taiga.htm • http://blueplanetbiomes.org/taiga_climate_page.htm • http://blueplanetbiomes.org/taiga_animal_page.htm • http://blueplanetbiomes.org/taiga_plant_page.htm