Taiga ' onMouseout='HidePop("63298")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Turkic_languages">Turkic
The Turkic languages constitute a language family of some thirty languages, spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family.Turkic languages are spoken by some...
or
MongolianThe Mongolian language is the best-known member of the Mongolic language family. It has about 5.7 million speakers, including over 90% of the residents of Mongolia and many of the Mongolian residents of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region of China...
) is a
biomeBiome are climatically and geographically defined areas of ecologically similar climatic conditions such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, and are often referred to as ecosystems...
characterized by coniferous forests. Covering most of inland
AlaskaAlaska is the largest state of the United States of America by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
,
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
,
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
,
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
, inland
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
, Highland Scotland and
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
(especially
SiberiaSiberia , is the vast region constituting almost all of Northern Asia and for the most part currently serving as the massive central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, having served in the same capacity previously for the USSR from its beginning, and the Russian Empire beginning in the...
), as well as parts of the extreme northern continental United States (Northern
MinnesotaMinnesota is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. The twelfth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.2 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the...
, Michigan's Upper Peninsula,
Upstate New YorkUpstate New York is the region of New York State north of the core of the New York metropolitan area.-Definition:There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York, but the term "Upstate" is sometimes used to refer to the whole of the state besides New York City...
,
VermontThe State of Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd by land area, , and 45th by total area. It has a population of 621,270, making it the second least-populated state...
,
New HampshireNew Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian province of...
, and
MaineThe State of Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordering the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, New Hampshire to the southwest, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is the northernmost portion of...
), northern
KazakhstanKazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a country situated in Eurasia that is ranked as the ninth largest country in the world. It is also the world's largest landlocked country. Its territory of 2,727,300 km² is greater than Western Europe...
and
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
(
Hokkaidō, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island and the largest, northernmost of its 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshū, although the two islands are connected by the underwater Seikan Tunnel...
), the taiga is the world's largest terrestrial biome.
Although this biome is correctly named
Taiga, the term
Boreal forest is usually used to refer to the more southerly part of the biome, while the term
Taiga is more often used to describe only the more barren northern areas of the
ArcticThe Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. In , it is the parallel of latitude that runs approximately 66° 33′ 39″ north of the Equator. The region north of this circle is known as the Arctic, and the zone just to the south is called the Northern...
tree line.
Since
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
and
EurasiaEurasia is a large landmass covering about 52,990,000 km
2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface...
were formerly connected by the
Bering land bridgeThe Bering land bridge was a land bridge roughly 1,000 miles north to south at its greatest extent, which joined present-day Alaska and eastern Siberia at various times during the Pleistocene ice ages...
, a number of animal and plant
speciesIn biology, a species is:* a taxonomic rank or* a unit at that rank ....
(more animals than plants) were able to colonize both continents and are distributed throughout the taiga biome (see
Circumboreal RegionThe Circumboreal Region is a floristic region within the Holarctic Kingdom in Eurasia and North America, as delineated by such geobotanists as Josias Braun-Blanquet and Armen Takhtajan...
). Others differ regionally, typically with each
genusIn biology, a genus is a taxonomic unit used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The term comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender" , cognate with – genos, "race, stock, kin" ..In addition, genus is a taxonomic rank in the hierarchy In biology, a genus (plural:...
having several distinct species, each occupying different regions of the taiga. Taigas also have some small-leaved
deciduousDeciduous means falling off at maturity or tending to fall off and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
trees like
birchBirch is the name of any tree of the genus Betula , in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae.-Description:...
,
alderAlder is the common name of a genus of flowering plants belonging to the birch family . The genus comprises about 30 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, few reaching large size, distributed throughout the North Temperate Zone and in the Americas also along the Andes southwards to...
,
willowWillows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...
, and
aspenAspen is a common name for trees of the Salicaceae family, most of those in a section, Populus sect. Populus, of the Populus genus. Some of the species in the section are:...
; mostly in areas escaping the most extreme winter cold. However, the deciduous
larchLarches are conifers in the genus Larix, in the family Pinaceae. They are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the far north, and high on mountains further south. Larches are among the dominant plants in the immense boreal forests of Russia and Canada.They are...
tolerates the coldest winters on the northern hemisphere in eastern Siberia. The very southernmost parts of the taiga may also have trees like
oakAn oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 400 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
,
mapleAcer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as Maple. Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification, favour inclusion in Sapindaceae...
,
elmElm leaves are alternate, with simple, single- or, most commonly, doubly-serrate margins, usually asymmetric at the base and acuminate at the apex. The genus is hermaphroditic, having perfect flowers which, being wind-pollinated, are apetalous. The fruit is a round wind-dispersed samara...
and
tiliaTilia is a genus of about 30 species of trees, native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere, in Asia , Europe and eastern North America; it is not native to western North America...
scattered among the conifers.
Climate and geography
Taiga, the world's largest land biome, has a harsh continental
climateClimate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and numerous other meteorological elements in a given region over long periods of time...
with a very large temperature range between summer and winter, classified as "Dfc" or "Dfb" in the
Köppen climate classificationThe Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by the Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself notably in 1918 and 1936...
scheme. Aside from the
tundraIn physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes from Kildin Sami tūndâr, which means "uplands, treeless mountain tract." There are two types of tundra: Arctic tundra and alpine tundra...
and permanent ice caps, it is the coldest biome on Earth. High latitudes mean that for much of the year the
sunThe Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. The Earth and other matter orbit the Sun, which by itself accounts for about 99.86% of the Solar System's mass....
does not rise far above the horizon. Winters last at least 5–6 months, with average temperatures below freezing. Temperatures vary from −50 °C to 30 °C (-58°F to 86°F) throughout the whole year, with eight or more months of temperatures averaging below 10 °C (50°F). The summers, while short, are generally warm and humid. In general, taiga grows to the south of the 10 °C July
isothermAn isotherm may refer to:*A type of contour line or surface on a map that connects or indicates points of equal temperature*An isothermal process in a thermodynamic cycle.* Moisture sorption isotherm...
, but occasionally as far north as the 9 °C July isotherm. The southern limit is more variable, depending on rainfall; taiga may be replaced by open
steppeIn physical geography, a steppe is a biome region characterised by grassland plain without trees . The prairie can be considered a steppe. It may be semi-desert, or covered with grass or shrubs or both, depending on the season and latitude...
woodland south of the 15 °C July isotherm where rainfall is very low, but more typically extends south to the 18 °C July isotherm, and locally where rainfall is higher (notably in eastern
SiberiaSiberia , is the vast region constituting almost all of Northern Asia and for the most part currently serving as the massive central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, having served in the same capacity previously for the USSR from its beginning, and the Russian Empire beginning in the...
and adjacent northern
ManchuriaManchuria is a historical name given to a vast geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria either falls entirely within China, or is divided between China and Russia...
) south to the 20 °C July isotherm. In these warmer areas, the taiga has higher species diversity with more warmth-loving species such as
Korean PineThe tree species Pinus koraiensis is commonly called Korean Pine. It is native to eastern Asia, Manchuria, far eastern Russia, Korea and central Japan. In the north of its range, it grows at moderate altitudes, typically 600-900 m, whereas further south, it is a mountain tree, growing at...
,
Jezo SpruceThe Jezo Spruce is a large evergreen tree growing to 30-50 m tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 2 m. It is native to northeast Asia, from the mountains of central Japan and the Changbai Mountains on the China-North Korea border, north to eastern Siberia, including the Sikhote-Alin, Kuril...
and
Manchurian FirManchurian Fir , also called Needle Fir, is a species of fir native to mountainous regions of northern Korea, southern Ussuriland, and China in the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning....
, and merges gradually into
mixed temperate forestTemperate broadleaf and mixed forests are a temperate and humid biome. The typical structure of these forests include four layers. The upper most layer is the canopy which is composed of tall mature trees. Below the canopy is the three-layered, shade tolerant understory...
, or more locally (on the
Pacific OceanThe Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Tepre Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It extends from the Arctic in the north to Antarctica in the south, bounded by Asia and...
coasts of North America and Asia) into coniferous temperate rainforests.
The taiga experiences relatively low
precipitationIn meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that is deposited on the Earth's surface. The main forms of precipitation include rain, snow, ice pellets, and graupel...
throughout the year (200–750 mm annually), primarily as rain during the summer months, but also as fog and snow; as evaporation is also low for most of the year, precipitation exceeds evaporation and is sufficient for the dense vegetation growth. Snow may remain on the ground for as long as nine months in the northernmost extensions of the taiga ecozone.
Much of the area currently classified as taiga was
recently glaciatedThe last glacial period was the most recent glacial period within the current ice age, occurring in the Pleistocene epoch. It began about 110,000 years ago and ended about 9,600 - 9,700 BC. During this period there were several changes between glacier advance and retreat. The maximum extent of...
. As the glaciers receded, they left
depressionsA kettle is a shallow, sediment-filled body of water formed by retreating glaciers or draining floodwaters.-Overview: Kettles are fluvioglacial landform occurring as the result of blocks of ice calving from the front of a receding glacier and becoming buried partially to wholly by glacial outwash...
in the topography that have since filled with water, creating lakes and bogs (especially
muskegMuskeg is an acidic soil type common in Arctic and boreal areas, although it is found in other northern climates as well. Muskeg is more-or-less synonymous with bogland but muskeg is the standard term in non-Atlantic Canada and Alaska . The term is of Cree origin, maskek meaning low lying marsh...
soil), found throughout the Taiga.
Soils
Taiga
soilSoil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics. It is composed of particles of broken rock that have been altered by chemical and...
tends to be young and nutrient-poor; it lacks the deep, organically-enriched profile present in temperate deciduous forests. The thinness of the soil is due largely to the cold, which hinders the development of soil and the ease with which plants can use its nutrients. Fallen leaves and
mossMosses are small, soft plants that are typically 1–10 cm tall, though some species are much larger. They commonly grow close together in clumps or mats in damp or shady locations. They do not have flowers or seeds, and their simple leaves cover the thin wiry stems...
can remain on the
forest floorThe forest floor, also called detritus, duff and the O horizon, is one of the most distinctive features of a forest ecosystem. It mainly consists of shed vegetative parts, such as leaves, branches, bark, and stems, existing in various stages of decomposition above the soil surface...
for a long time in the cool, moist climate, which limits their organic contribution to the soil;
acidAn acid is traditionally considered any chemical compound that, when dissolved in water, gives a solution with a hydrogen ion activity greater than in pure water, i.e. a pH less than 7.0...
s from
evergreenIn botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaves all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
needles further leach the soil, creating spodosol. Since the soil is acidic due to the falling pine needles, the forest floor has only lichens and some mosses growing on it.
Flora
There are two major types of taiga,
closed forest, consisting of many closely-spaced trees with mossy ground cover, and
lichen woodland, with trees that are farther-spaced and
lichenLichens are composite organisms consisting of a symbiotic association of a fungus with a photosynthetic partner , usually either a green alga or cyanobacterium...
ground cover; the latter is more common in the northernmost taiga. In the northernmost taiga the forest cover is not only more sparse, but often stunted in growth form; moreover,
ice prunedIce pruning is the natural process of selective vegetative pruning on the windward side of a plant, executed by the impact of ice and snow particles driven by wind. The process is sometimes termed snow pruning...
asymmetric Black Spruce are often seen, with diminished foliage on the windward side.
The forests of the taiga are largely
coniferousThe conifers, division Pinophyta, also known as division Coniferophyta or Coniferae, are one of 13 or 14 division level taxa within the Kingdom Plantae. Pinophytes are gymnosperms. They are cone-bearing seed plants with vascular tissue; all extant conifers are woody plants, the great majority...
, dominated by
larchLarches are conifers in the genus Larix, in the family Pinaceae. They are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the far north, and high on mountains further south. Larches are among the dominant plants in the immense boreal forests of Russia and Canada.They are...
,
spruceA spruce is a tree of the genus Picea , a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the Family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal regions of the earth. Spruces are large trees, from 20–60 m tall when mature, and can be distinguished by their whorled branches and...
,
firFirs are a genus of between 48-55 species of evergreen conifers in the family Pinaceae. All are trees, reaching heights of 10-80 m tall and trunk diameters of 0.5-4 m when mature...
, and
pinePines are coniferous trees in the genus Pinus , in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Distribution:...
.
EvergreenIn botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaves all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
species in the taiga (spruce, fir, and pine) have a number of adaptations specifically for survival in harsh taiga winters, although larch, the most cold-tolerant of all trees, is
deciduousDeciduous means falling off at maturity or tending to fall off and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
. Taiga trees tend to have shallow roots to take advantage of the thin soils, while many of them seasonally alter their
biochemistryBiochemistry is the study of the chemical processes in living organisms. It deals with the structure and function of cellular components such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids and other biomolecules....
to make them more resistant to freezing, called "hardening". The narrow conical shape of northern conifers, and their downward-drooping limbs, also help them shed snow.
Because the sun is low in the horizon for most of the year, it is difficult for plants to generate energy from
photosynthesisPhotosynthesis is a process that converts carbon dioxide into organic compounds, especially sugars, using the energy from sunlight. Photosynthesis occurs in plants, algae, and many species of Bacteria, but not in Archaea...
. Pine and spruce do not lose their leaves seasonally and are able to photosynthesize with their older leaves in late winter and spring when light is good but temperatures are still too low for new growth to commence. The adaptation of evergreen needles limits the water lost due to
transpirationTranspiration is the evaporation of water from the aerial parts of plants, especially leaves but also stems, flowers and roots. Leaf surfaces are dotted with openings called stoma that are bordered by guard cells. Collectively the structures are called stomata...
and their dark green color increases their absorption of sunlight. Although precipitation is not a limiting factor, the ground freezes during the winter months and plant roots are unable to absorb water, so desiccation can be a severe problem in late winter for evergreens.
Although the taiga is dominated by coniferous forests, some
broadleaf treesThe flowering plants or angiosperms are the most diverse group of land plants. The flowering plants and the gymnosperms are the only extant groups of seed plants...
also occur, notably
birchBirch is the name of any tree of the genus Betula , in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae.-Description:...
,
aspenAspen is a common name for trees of the Salicaceae family, most of those in a section, Populus sect. Populus, of the Populus genus. Some of the species in the section are:...
,
willowWillows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...
, and
rowanThe rowans or mountain-ashes are shrubs or small trees. They are native throughout the cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest species diversity in the mountains of western China and the Himalaya, where numerous apomictic microspecies occur...
. Many smaller
herbaceousA herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...
plants grow closer to the ground. Periodic stand-replacing
wildfireA wildfire is any uncontrolled fire that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Reflecting the type of vegetation or fuel, other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, grass fire, hill fire, peat fire, vegetation fire, and wildland fire may be used to describe the same phenomenon...
s (with return times of between 20-200 years) clear out the tree canopies, allowing sunlight to invigorate new growth on the forest floor. For some species, wildfires are a necessary part of the life cycle in the taiga; some, e.g.
Jack PineThe Jack Pine is a North American pine with its native range in Canada east of the Rocky Mountains from Northwest Territories to Nova Scotia, and the northeast of the United States from Minnesota to Maine, with the southernmost part of the range just into northwest Indiana...
have cones which only open to release their seed after a fire, dispersing their seeds onto the newly cleared ground.
GrassGrasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns...
es grow wherever they can find a patch of sun, and
mossMosses are small, soft plants that are typically 1–10 cm tall, though some species are much larger. They commonly grow close together in clumps or mats in damp or shady locations. They do not have flowers or seeds, and their simple leaves cover the thin wiry stems...
es and
lichenLichens are composite organisms consisting of a symbiotic association of a fungus with a photosynthetic partner , usually either a green alga or cyanobacterium...
s thrive on the damp ground and on the sides of tree trunks. In comparison with other biomes, however, the taiga has a low biological diversity.
Coniferous trees are the dominant plants of the taiga biome. A very few species in four main genera are found: the evergreen spruce, fir, and pine, and the deciduous larch or tamarack. In North America, one or two species of fir and one or two species of spruce are dominant. Across Scandinavia and western Russia the Scots pine is a common component of the taiga.
Fauna
The taiga is home to a number of large
herbivorousA herbivore is an animal that is adapted to eat plants and not meat.Herbivory is a form of predation in which an organism consumes principally autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria....
mammalMammals are a class of vertebrate animals whose females are characterized by the possession of mammary glands while both males and females are characterized by sweat glands, hair, three middle ear bones used in hearing, and a neocortex region in the brain.Mammals are divided into three main...
s and smaller
rodentRodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
s. These animals have also adapted to survive the harsh climate. Some of the larger mammals, such as
bearBears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...
s, eat during the summer in order to gain weight and then go into
hibernationHibernation is a state of inactivity and metabolic depression in animals, characterized by lower body temperature, slower breathing, and lower metabolic rate. Hibernating animals conserve energy, especially during winter when food is short, tapping energy reserves, body fat, at a slow rate...
during the winter. Other animals have adapted layers of fur or feathers to insulate them from the cold.
A number of wildlife species threatened or endangered with extinction can be found in the Canadian Boreal forest including woodland caribou,
American black bearThe American Black Bear also known as the North American black bear is the most common bear species native to North America. It lives throughout much of the continent, from northern Alaska south into Mexico and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. This includes 41 of the 50 U.S...
,
grizzly bearThe grizzly bear , also known as the silvertip bear, is a subspecies of brown bear that generally lives in the uplands of western North America....
and
wolverineThe wolverine , also referred to as a glutton and occasionally as a carcajou, skunk bear, quickhatch, or gulon, is the largest land-dwelling species of the Mustelidae family in the genus Gulo . It is a stocky and muscular carnivore, more closely resembling a small bear than other mustelids...
. Habitat loss due to destructive development, mostly in the form of logging, is the main cause of decline for these species.
Due to the climate,
carnivorousA carnivore , meaning 'meat eater' , is an animal that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of vertebrate and/or invertebrate animal tissue, whether through predation or scavenging...
diets are an inefficient means of obtaining energy; energy is limited, and most energy is lost between
trophic levelIn ecology, trophic dynamics is the system of trophic levels , which describes the position that an organism occupies in a food chain — what an organism eats, and what eats the organism.- Energy economy :...
s. However, predatory birds (
owlThe Owls are the order Strigiformes, comprising 200 birds of prey, species. Most are solitary, and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, though a few species specialize in hunting fish. They are found in all regions of the Earth except...
s and
eagleEagles are large birds of prey which are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other. Most of the more than 60 species occur in Eurasia and Africa...
s) and other smaller carnivores, including
foxFox is a common name for many species of carnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail ....
es and
weaselWeasels are mammals in the genus Mustela of the Mustelidae family.Originally, the name "weasel" was applied to one species of the genus, the European form of the Least Weasel...
s, feed on the rodents. Larger carnivores, such as
lynxA lynx is any of four big-sized wild cats. All are members of the genus Lynx, but there is considerable confusion about the best way to classify felids at present, and some authorities classify them as part of the genus Felis...
and wolves, prey on the larger animals.
OmnivoreOmnivores are species that eat both plants and animals as their primary food source...
s, such as
bearBears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...
s and
raccoonProcyon is a genus of nocturnal mammals, comprising three species commonly known as raccoons, in the family Procyonidae. The most widespread species, the Common Raccoon , is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the tropics and are...
s are fairly common, sometimes picking through human garbage.
A considerable number of
birdBirds are winged, bipedal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay eggs. There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Birds range in size from the Bee Hummingbird to the ...
s such as
Siberian ThrushThe Siberian Thrush, Zoothera sibirica, is a member of the Thrush family Turdidae.It breeds in taiga in Siberia. It is strongly migratory, with most birds moving to southeastern Asia during the winter. It is a very rare vagrant to western Europe. It is very secretive.The Siberian Thrush is similar...
,
White-throated SparrowThe White-throated Sparrow is a passerine bird of the American sparrow family Emberizidae.-Description:The White-throated Sparrow is a passerine bird of the American sparrow family Emberizidae...
and
Black-throated Green WarblerThe Black-throated Green Warbler, Dendroica virens, is a small songbird of the New World warbler family.It is 12 cm long and weighs 9 g, and has an olive-green crown, a yellow face with olive markings, a thin pointed bill, white wing bars, an olive-green back and pale underparts with black streaks...
,
migrateBird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. These however are usually irregular or in only one direction and are termed variously as nomadism, invasions,...
to this
habitatA habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular animal and plant species...
to take advantage of the long summer days and abundance of
insectInsects are arthropods, having a hard exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet and include more than a million species that are already described. Insects represent more than half of all...
s found around the numerous bogs and lakes. Of the perhaps 300 species of birds that summer in the taiga, only 30 stay for the winter. These are either
carrionCarrion refers to the carcass of a dead animal. Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters, or scavengers, include Hyenas, Vultures, Canadian Opossum, Tasmanian Devils, Black Bears, Komodo Dragons, Bald Eagles, Raccoons,...
-feeding or large
raptorBirds of prey are birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. They are defined as any bird that kills its prey with its talons. Their talons and beaks tend to be relatively large, powerful and adapted for tearing and/or piercing flesh. In most cases,...
s that can take live mammal prey, including
Golden EagleThe Golden Eagle is one of the best known birds of prey in the Northern Hemisphere. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. Once widespread across the Holarctic, it has disappeared from many of the more heavily populated areas...
,
Rough-legged BuzzardThe Rough-legged Buzzard , called the Rough-legged Hawk in North America, is a medium-large bird of prey. It is between 50 and 60 centimetres long with a 130 cm wingspan. The breeding range is northernmost Europe, Asia, and North America...
, and
RavenRaven is the common name given to several larger-bodied members of the genus Corvus—but in Europe and North America the Common Raven is normally implied.Species include:* Common Raven* Thick-billed Raven* Brown-necked Raven* Chihuahuan Raven...
, or else seed-eating birds, including several species of
grouseGrouse are a group of birds from the order Galliformes. They are often considered a family Tetraonidae, though the American Ornithologists' Union and many others include grouse as a subfamily Tetraoninae in the family Phasianidae...
and
crossbillThe crossbills are birds in the finch family Fringillidae. The three to five species are all classified in the genus Loxia. These birds are characterised by the mandibles crossing at their tips, which gives the group its English name...
s.
Human activities
Large areas of
SiberiaSiberia , is the vast region constituting almost all of Northern Asia and for the most part currently serving as the massive central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, having served in the same capacity previously for the USSR from its beginning, and the Russian Empire beginning in the...
’s taiga have been harvested since the collapse of the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
. In
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, less than eight percent of the Boreal forest is protected from development and more than 50% has been allocated to logging companies for cutting. The main form of forestry in the Boreal forest in Canada is
clearcuttingClearcutting, or clearfelling, is a controversial forestry/logging practice in which most or all trees in a harvest area are cut down. Logging companies and forest-worker unions support the practice for safety and economical reasons. Detractors see clearcutting as a destruction of habitat and even...
, where most if not all trees are removed from an area of forest. Clearcut upwards of 110 km² have been recorded in the Canadian Boreal forest. Some of the products from logged Boreal forests include
toilet paperToilet paper is a soft paper product used to maintain personal hygiene after human defecation or urination. It differs in composition somewhat from facial tissue, and is designed to decompose in septic tanks, whereas some other bathroom and facial tissues do not. Most septic tank manufacturers...
, copy paper, newsprint and lumber. More than 80% of Boreal forest products from Canada are exported for consumption and processing in the United States.
Most companies that harvest in Canadian forests are certified by an independent third party agency such as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Sustainable Forests Initiative (SFI), or the Canadian Standards Association (CSA). While the certification process differs between these various groups, all of them include forest stewardship, respect for aboriginal peoples, compliance with local, provincial and/or national environmental laws, forest worker safety, education and training, and other environmental, business and social requirements. The prompt renewal of all harvest sites by planting or natural renewal is also required.
Insects
Recent years have seen outbreaks of insect pests in forest-destroying plagues: the
spruceA spruce is a tree of the genus Picea , a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the Family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal regions of the earth. Spruces are large trees, from 20–60 m tall when mature, and can be distinguished by their whorled branches and...
-
bark beetleA bark beetle is one of approximately 220 genera with 6,000 species of beetles in the subfamily Scolytinae. Traditionally this was considered a distinct family Scolytidae, but nowadays it is understood that bark beetles are in fact very specialized members of the "true weevil" family...
(Dendroctonus rufipennis) in the Yukon Territory, Canada, and Alaska; the
aspenAspen is a common name for trees of the Salicaceae family, most of those in a section, Populus sect. Populus, of the Populus genus. Some of the species in the section are:...
-leaf miner; the
larch sawflyThe larch sawfly is a species of sawfly. The adult sawfly resembles a black wasp, is about ½ in in length with a thick waist and has brown to orangish markings on the abdomen. Larvae have black heads, gray-green bodies with white undersides, and are about 15–18 mm long when full grown...
; the
spruce budwormSpruce budworms and relatives are a group of closely related insects in the genus Choristoneura. Most are serious pests of conifers. There are nearly a dozen Choristoneura species, subspecies, or forms, with a complexity of variation among populations found throughout much of the United States and...
(Choristoneura fumiferana); the spruce coneworm.
See also
- Boreal Forest Conservation Framework
The Boreal Forest Conservation Framework, was adopted December 1, 2003 to protect the Canadian boreal forest. The vision set out in the Framework is "to sustain the ecological and cultural integrity of the Canadian boreal region, in perpetuity." Its goal is to conserve the boreal region by:...
- Success of fire suppression in northern forests
In North America, the belief that fire suppression has substantially reduced the average annual area burned is widely held by resource managers and is often thought to be self-evident...
- Birds of North American boreal forests
The boreal forest or taiga of the North American continent stretches through a majority of Canada and most of central Alaska, extending spottily into the beginning of the Rocky Mountain range in Northern Montana and into New England and the Adirondack Mountains of New York...
- Scandinavian and Russian taiga
Scandinavian and Russian taiga is an ecoregion within the boreal forests/taiga zone as defined by the WWF classification . It is situated in Northern Europe between tundra in the north and temperate mixed forests in the south and occupies about 2,156,900 km² in Norway, Sweden, Finland and the...
- Intact forest landscape
An Intact Forest Landscape is an unbroken expanse of natural ecosystems within the zone of current forest extent, showing no signs of significant human activity, and large enough that all native biodiversity, including viable populations of wide-ranging species, could be maintained.Developed by a...
External links