Taiga Biome

By: Alyssa McCartt and

Jenna McCarty

General Climate

The taiga is a wet subarctic forest that begins where the Tundra ends. The taiga climate is dominated by cold arctic air. Because of earth's tilt, the taiga is turned away from the sun in the winter. Therefore, less of the sun's radiation reaches the ground to warm it up.

Winters are long, cold and dark with lots of snow that lasts for six to seven months. Summer is a rainy, hot and short season in the taiga; when the daylight can be up to 20 hours long. Fall is the shortest season and spring brings flowers, the frozen ponds melt, and

the animals come out from hibernation.

General Climate

The taiga climate has an average annual rainfall of 12 - 33 inches. The average precipitation for the summer is between 10-20 inches. The average precipitation for the winter is between 20-40 inches. The type of precipitation that falls in the taiga climate are rain in summer andmostly snow in winter.

Winter's LOW is -65°F.Winter's HIGH is 30° F.Summer's LOW is 30° F.Summer's HIGH is 70° F.

The latitude range is between 50°-60° North latitude.

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 lichen ground cover.

The forests of the taiga are coniferous, dominated by larch, spruce, fir, and pine. Evergreen species in the taiga (spruce, fir, and pine) have a number of adaptations specifically for survival in harsh taiga winters, though larch, the most cold-tolerant of all trees, is deciduous. Jack Pine have cones which only open to release their seed after a fire, dispersing their seeds onto the newly cleared ground.

Fauna

Some types of adaptations in the animals are migration, heavier coats of fur, and some change color, such as the snow-shoe rabbit. Mice and moles live in tunnels under the snow. Some animals that live in the taiga are bears, badger, beavers, reindeer, foxes, wolverine and squirrels. Many birds migrate to the taiga during the spring because there are so many insects to feed on after the snow melts.

Where’s the Taiga Biome located?

Plants in the Taiga

White Poplar Eastern Red Cedar Jack Pine White Spruce Black Spruce

Animals in the Taiga

Snowshoe Hare River Otter Gray Wolf Bald Eagle Red-Tailed Hawk Great Gray Owl Lake Whitefish Northern Pike Lake Trout Round Whitefish

Adaptations

Animal adaptations: Most animals migrate to warmer climates once the cold

weather climates set in. Some animals have adapted by hibernating when

temperatures drop. Other animals have adapted by producing a layer of

insulating feathers or fur to protect them from the cold.Plant Adaptations: Evergreens use a wide variety of physical adaptations.

Some of these adaptations include their shape, leaf type, root system, and color.

Lichens and mosses, but most plants are coniferous trees like Pine, White Spruce, Hemlock, and Douglas fir.

There are not a lot of species of plants in the taiga because of the harsh conditions.

Dominant Animals

Lynx---Colored Fox---Great Grey Owl---Red-Tailed Hawk---Least Weasel.

FOOD WEB of the TAIGA

Lynx Snowshoe Hare Canopy tree seedsCream-Colored Fox Grouse

Tall shrubsGreat Grey Owl Voles

SedgesRed-Tailed Hawk Red Squirrels

Medium shrubsLeast Weasel Crossbills

Small trees

Climatogram- Anderson Lake, Cook Inlet, Alaska

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References

Day, Trevor.Biomes of the Earth.Taiga.New York:Infobase Publishing,2006.Print.

Sayre, April Pulley.Taiga.Brookfield, Connecticut:The Millbrook Press, Inc.,1994.Print.

http://www.rbcarlton.com/forestadaptations.htm http://

farm2.static.flickr.com/1070/531826509_15425b82c5.jpg http:// www.blueplanetbiomes.org/taiga.htm http://www.cwru.edu/artsci/engl/VSALM/mod/whipple/site/

draft_2/images/eurasian_lynx.jpg farm2.static.flickr.com/1070/531826509_15425b82c5.jpg

http://www.birds-of-denmark.dk/images/lapugle234afront.jpg http://www.birds-of-denmark.dk/images/lapugle234afront.jpg http://www.mulder-natuurlijk.nl/Siberia

%202005%20engels.htm http://wilds.mb.ca/taiga/tbsfaq.html