THE TAIGA
Fifth Period Science - Alyssa Jensen
What is the Taiga?
The Taiga is the largest terrestrial biome out of the six biomes all together. This biome extends across Europe, North America, and Asia. In such areas, the Taiga belongs right below the Tundra, and is recognized as a coniferous or boreal forest. The weather during the winter is generally very cold, and lasts for several months. While during the summer weather is wet and warm, and lasts only a few months.
What are some Abiotic factors of the Taiga?
The Taigas' climate is mostly dominated by cold arctic air blowing from the northern arctic circle. The average temperature during the winter can get below -3 degrees Celsius, (26.6 degrees Fahrenheit). During the summer the temperature can get above 10 degree Celsius, (50 degrees Fahrenheit). All together the average temperature per year is, 0 degrees Celsius, (32 degrees Fahrenheit). For the Taiga biome, an average of 30 to 84 centimeters of precipitation falls per year, (12 to 33 inches), most of the precipitation falls during the summer.
What are some common landforms within the Taiga?
The Taiga consist of hill, valleys, lowlands, mountains, and plains. The mountains are snow capped and covered in snow from to to bottom, also throughout the Taiga in various areas are dormant volcanoes that are hidden away under all the snow. A very common landform throughout the Taiga are the bodies of water that surround it, such as the lakes, rivers, and streams. During the summer are grasslands which house the animals that thrive through the Taiga, but this plentiful habitat only last a few months as it gets extremely cold during the winter and yet again everything become covered in ice and snow.
The Taiga during its summer months
What are some biotic factors of the Taiga?
Below are a few animals that are seen throughout the Taiga.
The Northern Lynx
A not so common animal that roams the Taiga is the Northern Lynx, (also known as the Canadian Lynx). These large cats aren't found in one exact place in the Taiga--in fact they are found all over, such as: Canada, Northern United States, Europe, North Asia, and Siberia. Within these lands they are found in the coniferous forest, along with mountains. When fully matured, a Lynx can be as long a 2 to 4 feet, and as tall as 2 feet at the shoulder. Their weight varies from 11 to 45 pounds, and their diet consist of snowshoe rabbits, meadows voles, small deer, caribou, and sheep.
The Snowshoe Rabbit
These little hopping creatures are normally found in forest areas where the ground is covered with undergrowth in the higher arts of North America. The Snowshoe rabbit is the largest rabbits of all, as it weighs 3 to 5 pounds full grown, and can be from 15 to 20 inches long. They also have an excellent defense mechanism, as the winter nears their furs turns white to hide form predators. While during the summer it's a gray-ish brown color.
The Gray Wolf
The Siberian Taiga is where this animals is most plentiful. That area covers part of northern Russia. All wolf packs defend a specific area, the size of the pack tends to vary throughout. The Gray Wolf is the largest wild canine, they are around 3 feet tall at the shoulder, and 3 to 5 feet long from the tip of their tail to the tip of their nose. While their weight ranges form 40 to 176 pounds, depending if they are female or male. These canines diet usually include: moose, caribou, and other deer-like animals.
Below are a few examples of the vegetation seen in the Taiga.
What are some ecological concerns or issues within the Taiga?
Taigas Ecosystems are threatened by direct human activity and climate change. A big threat to the Taiga is deforestation. Much of the Taigas forest is used for lumber, and large productions can sometimes have huge areas at once cut down all at one time, (Clearcutting). Now without a root system to anchor it down the soil could be blown away or washed away. This would expose the bedrock which the permafrost lays leaving not many suitable places for many animals to live as very few animals can survive permafrost land. Also the warming temperature changes animals habitats. It pushes the native animals and non-native animals to clash habitats, which could result in an out-of-balance chain.