The Boreal Forest By Ryan Madden Julia Maguire

The Boreal Forest By Ryan Madden, Julia Maguire, Brendan O’Meara

Threats/Environmental Problems Human Activities • Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, large areas of Siberia’s taiga have been harvested. • In Canada, only 8% of the Boreal Forest is protected from development and more than half of it has been given to logging companies for cutting. • Products such as toilet paper, copy paper, newsprint, and lumber are logged from Boreal forests • Introduction of exotic tree species • Use of pesticides and herbicides Insects • Outbreaks of insect pests in forest-destroying plagues: 1. Spruce-bark beetle in the Yukon Territory, Alaska, and Canada 2. Aspen-leaf miner 3. Larch saw fly 4. Spruce budworm 5. Spruce coneworm

Global Distribution • • • It is the largest biome in the world It is restricted to the Northern Hemisphere Located between 50 degrees latitude north and the Arctic circle Distributed through most of North America, Asia, and Europe. It stretches across Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. The Taiga runs almost to the shores of the Pacific and Bering sea. In North America, the taiga goes eastward from Alaska to Canada, and Newfoundland. The taiga in the United States runs south to Minnesota, Michigan, and northern New England.

Changes Throughout Geologic Time • Parts of the Taiga were previously glaciers • Introduction of invasive species • Increase in human activity

Climate • Large temperature ranges between winter and summer • Range of temperatures are between -58 and 86 degrees Fahrenheit. • Relatively low precipitation; most common in the summer as rain • Very slow evaporation rates because of minimal sunlight exposure. • Winters cold and harsh. • Summers warm and humid

Resources • Spruce, hemlock, and pine trees used for lumber. • Hunters utilize the many different animal types as game. Elk, Bear • Canada and Alaska have very high tech lumber yards to clear cut large boreal forests

Regional Variations • The Russian taiga consists of conifers and a lot of growing stock. There are few species of trees located here, and there are many bogs, marshes, shallow lakes, and rivers located here. T • he Canadian taiga has a colder climate than that of the Russian taiga, and is known for its abundance of moss, soil, and peat and the few species of trees that it contains.

Plant and Animal Adaptations • The pine needles on the trees last a long time and this is good because of short summers and very little time for photosynthesis. They also hold water which is good in the dry boreal forest. • Rabbits turn white in the winter to blend in With the snowy surroundings.