Boreal Forest

Daniel, Gage, and Kevin

Description and general information

• The Boreal Forests are located in the upper middle areas of North America and Eurasia that stretch across the continents. • The Boreal Forest, also called Taiga which is Russian word that descibes the swampy nature of much of this forest in the summer, that it lies to the south of the tundra anto the north of deciduous forests and grasslands. • The dominant plant life is coniferous trees, which are evergreens. These trees are suited for the cold climate and limited amount of water. The water that is there may be frozen mostly all year. The types of trees are pines, furs, spruces, hemlocks, and larches. • Other plants that are important are mosses and lichen. They are a major food source for the animals. • The indicator animals are Lynx, Elk, Porcupine, and Snowshoe Hare in North America, and the Siberian Tiger in Eurasia.

Climate

• The climate of the Boreal Forests is cold. The average annual temperatures are from about -5 to 5 C. (23 to 41 F) • The winters are cold and long while the summers are relatively short and cool. • The precipitation varies, from 20 cm (7.87 in) a year to over 200 cm (78.7 in). Most of the precipitation is in the form of snow. • With snowmelt and low temps, there is little evaporation in the summer, so the ground is usual very moist during the growing season. • The Boreal Forests are located in the lower area of the polar climate zone. It is classified as a subarctic climate zone where it is more moderate climate.

Biomass & Productivity

• Biomass is the total mass of living matter within a given unit of environmental area.

• Productivity: The rate at which radiant energy is used by producers to form organic substances as food for consumers

Threats

• The biggest threat to this Biome is Human activity. Humans take advantage of these forests by cutting trees down for toilet paper, copy paper, newspapers, etc. Canada is one of the countries that have the most effect on this biome. Also another threat by humans is the industrial use within this areas. It threatens the biome by polluting it all over.

• Even thought humans threaten the Boreal Forest, some insects damage the forest such as the spruce bark beetle, the aspen-leaf miner, the larch sawfly, the spruce budworm and the spruce coneworm.

Lynx

• The lynx's large, padded paws are an adaptation to walking on snow, which allows them to travel and hunt in their snowy, high altitude habitats.

• The Canadian lynx depends almost exclusively on the snowshoe hare as prey. A regular fluctuation in the snowshoe hare population every 10 years directly impacts the lynx.

Lichen

• Lichen can survive extremes like heat, cold, and drought by shut down their metabolism to survive in unfavorable conditions. Lichens produce more than 500 unique biochemical compounds that serve to control light exposure, ward off herbivores, kill attacking microbes, and dispirit competition from plants. Among these adaptations are many pigments and antibiotics that have made lichens very useful to people in traditional societies.