About the Taiga
Geographic
The Taiga, also known in some parts of the world as the Boreal forest, is a biome which consists mostly of confiferous trees such as different species of larches, pines and spruces. The Taiga covers large portions of Canada, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway and parts of Mongolia, the United States, Kazakhstan as well as Japan. The Taiga is most commonly found between latitudes 50ºN and 70ºN.
Abiotic
The Taiga is usually filled with small to large bodies of water, such as rivers, ponds, and lakes. These water bodies provide magnificent views and also great habitats to many species of fish, insects and different water loving mammals such as the river otter or the beaver. The Taiga also plays home to the Rocky Mountains, and numerous glaciers and other landforms.
Flora
Plant life in the Taiga consists mainly of coniferous trees, but also hosts some smaller species of deciduous trees. Birch, alder, willow, poplar and aspen trees are among the most common deciduous in the taiga. These trees often have high tolerance to the cold weather and harsh climates of the Taiga, and also have very shallow roots in order to thrive in the thin soil. Also, the trees have to have branches that slope downwards in order to efficiently shed snow and avoid breaking their branches. Lichen and moss can often be found covering the ground and tree trunks in many parts of the biome. Many types of berries can be found in the taiga such as raspberries, cranberries, saskatoon berries and cloud berries.
Threats
One of the biggest threats to the Taiga biome is the clear-cutting of forests. The forestry industry is the biggest enemy to the boreal forest, which unfortunately holds the exact resource that forestry companies make their money off of. Deforestation removes millions of trees from both the Taiga and the Tropical Rainforest biomes annually. Clear-cutting leaves countless animals homeless, and also has increasingly negative impacts on the water cycle, including allowing run off to move more rapidly across the land.