Boreal Forest!
by Paul Wittle
This is more
commonly known as the Coniferous Forest or Taiga.
Contents!
- Location
- Climate
- Plants
- Animals
Location
As
always, try to remember two or three examples as they do ask for
them in exams!
ALWAYS
READ THE QUESTION CAREFULLY!
Climate
The climate
is warmer than the Tundra and has a longer growing season.
The subsoil
is able to thaw in the warmer temperatures which results
in no permafrost.
The
rainfall is higher than that of the Tundra but most of it
falls as snow during the long cold winters.
Plants
- The dominant type of tree
is conifers, which are evergreen. There is usaully only
one or two species in a particular area. Examples are
Spruce, Firs and Pines.
- These coniferous forests
are adapted to long winters because their triangle shape
allows snow to fall of with out causing damage to the
tree.
- There is very little other
vegetation, although the trees shed a small amount of
pines all the time, decomposition is low. This results in
a layer of partly decomposed matter which is acidic. This
means the soil in poor and acidic.
Animals
- Given the hostile
environment there is a lot of animals in this biome.
There are over 50 types of insect that feed on the
conifers. Examples are the Pine Sawfly and the Spruce
Budworm.
- Other mammals such as Bears
and insect feeding birds also may be found in this
environment to the south, although they may migrate south
in the winter.
That's The Boreal
Forest (also known as Taiga)
biome.