Taiga

By: Eduardo Guerra

What is it like?

❖ Living in the taiga is cold and lonely. Coldness and food shortages make things very difficult, mostly in the winter. Some of the animals in the taiga hibernate in the winter, some fly south if they can, while some just cooperate with the environment, which is very difficult.

❖ The winters in the taiga are very cold with only snowfall.

❖ The summers are warm, rainy, and humid.

Where is it located?

❖ The taiga is located throughout the high northern latitudes, between the tundra, and the temperate forest, from about 50°N to 70°N.

What geographic characteristics help define it?

❖ The winter temperature range is -54 to -1° C (-65 to 30° F).

❖ The summer gets as low as -7° C (20° F) and the hightest can be 21° C (70° F).

❖ The total precipitation in a year is 12 - 33 in.

Examples of ecosystems

❖ Wood Buffalo National ➢ Park of Canada is the country's largest national

park and one of the largest in the world➢ Established in 1922 to protect the last

remaining herds of bison in northern Canada. ➢ Today, it protects Canada's Northern Boreal

Plains.

Examples of ecosystems

❖ Losiny Ostrov National Park➢ First National park established in Russia➢ Located in Moscow Oblast➢ The total area of the park is 28,717acres➢ A large area of this park was cut during World War II

Valuable characteristics

❖ Fires will burn away the trees and let sunlight reach the ground. ➢ New plants will grow and provide food for animals

that once could not live there because there were only evergreen trees

❖ It does have millions of insects in the summertime. Birds migrate there every year to nest and feed.

➢ It offers us large amounts of wood and Oxygen

Flora & Fauna❖ Some native Plants are:❖ Balsam Fir

➢ Commonly used for the christmas tree➢ They grow ro height of 40 to 80ft➢ Little tolerance for fire

■ there seeds are usually burnt during a forest fire➢ Major food for the moose during the winter

❖ Black Spruce

➢ Commonly found in this biome ➢ Wood is usually used to build houses➢ Also christmas tree➢ Can grow at most 25 meters long➢ Many birds eat the plants seeds

American Black Bear:➢ Tertiary consumer➢ Black bears coat is perfect for cold weather

■ many layers of fur❖ Hibernates to avoid finding food in the

winter➢ Help kill overpopulated animals and the elderly

❖ The Red Fox

➢ Can grow up to be 2½ and 15 inches tall➢ Adapts well to new habitats➢ commonly Hunts rabbit hares➢ nocturnal, lives in a burrow at day time

■ Travels alone

Human Influence

❖ Deforestation➢ Cutting to many trees and city growth

❖ Acid Rain➢ Pollution from burning fossil fuels is making the

rain more acidic■ Sulfur dioxide fuses with water

● more susceptible to diseases

❖ Endangered Animals❖ Iberian Lynx

➢ Critically endangered■ Farmers and law enforcements believed they

killed livestock❖ Przewalski’s Horse

➢ Rare and endangered type of wild horses➢ Wild Population in Mongolia near Extinct

■ Was declared Extinct for 30yrs.

Conservation of the Biome❖ Afforestation

➢ Be more careful where we deforest■ Replant trees in deforested areas

❖ Scrubbers➢ scrubbers lower the amount of pollution being

released into the atmo.

References❖ http://www.geography.learnontheinternet.co.uk/topics/taiga.html

❖ http://priynspecies.weebly.com/endangered-species-list.html

❖ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Przewalski's_horse

❖ http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/taiga.htm

❖ http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/nt/woodbuffalo/index.aspx