The largest
land biome
on Earth! The Taiga Biome Boreal Forest
or Snow Forest Opens
in a
NEW
TAB The Taiga is located below the tundra.

It stretches around the globe, from Alaska, to Canada, to Scandinavia
and across Siberia. NO!

The Taiga
is NOT found in the
Southern Hemisphere!
The Taiga Biome Where is
the taiga
located? What are
other names
for the taiga? TOUR
the taiga
Is it also
found in the
Southern
Hemisphere? Small
error


CAN you
spot it! HINT About
35
seconds
into video Attribution: Peupleloup
Creative Commons Climate of the Boreal Forest What is winter like
in the boreal forest?
WINTERS ARE

LONG, DARK AND

VERY, VERY COLD! HOW long and how cold? Winters are
up to 9 months LONG!

It's COLD, ranging from
a bitter -65°F below ZERO
to 30°F ( -54°C to -1°C ).

With the extreme cold and
frequent blizzards, animals have developed special adaptations
to survive the harsh winters
of the taiga. Brrrrr! HOW many hours of darkness
are there on a winter day? What are summers like
and are there seasons? Winter months are DARK, with 6
or less hours of daylight each day.

The closer to the Arctic Circle,
the longer the darkness.

In some areas, the Sun may not rise
above the horizon for several months,
leading to what is known as
a "polar night."

Verkhoyansk, in the taiga of eastern
Russian, has 21 hours of darkness
each day from November to March!
Why? Model the Earth's tilt. Summers on the taiga are short, moist
and moderately warm:
68 to 77 °F (20 to 25 °C).

The growing season is up to 130 days,
long enough for trees to take root.

During the summer, the Sun stays above
the horizon for 20 or more hours each day!

There ARE four seasons, but winter is
the longest and is very cold and snowy. Summers are relatively short. They can even be hot in some locations. Fall and spring tend to be very brief, but it varies. What about precipitation?
What do you conclude? Much of the taiga has moderate precipitation: 12 - 33 inches (30 - 84 cm).

In parts of Canada and northern Europe, annual precipitation can exceed 40 inches.

Notice that the taiga has EXTREME temperature swings:

     1. Long, dark, cold winters
2. Short, mild summers

The taiga experiences average
temperatures below freezing
for SIX months of the year. Timelapse of Northern Lights in Alaska Are ALL conifers
EVERGREEN? N0! WATCH.
The larch tree has
BOTH cones and needles
but it is DECIDUOUS.

Its needles turn vibrant gold,
then orange in the autumn,
and FALL OFF. What makes
a conifer,
a conifer? Are all conifers
evergreen? What are the main
types of conifers
in the boreal forests. ALL conifers have CONES! Pine Spruce Larch Fir What are
conifer cones? Conifer cones produce seeds.
Did you know that there are actually BOTH male and female
conifer cones? Plants that grow
beneath the
boreal forest canopy What berries
are found
in this
biome? Name the
large herbivores
that feed on
this vegetation? What
vegetation
grows on the
ground? What small
herbivores
live in this
forest? The boreal forest floor is covered by a variety of vegetation, including mosses, lichens (not a plant), grasses, sedges, and various shrubs and herbaceous plants. Though coniferous trees like spruce, fir, and pine dominate the forest, there are also deciduous trees including aspen and birch.
Large herbivores include
moose, elk (shown here),
caribou (or reindeer),
and wood bison.
Which is which? Click on each to verify. Voles,
squirrels,
chipmunks,
hares and porcupines
Which is which? Click to see. Many varieties of berries grow in the boreal forest, including blueberries, raspberries, cloudberries, cranberries and lingonberries. These berries are important food sources
for both wildlife and indigenous people. chipmunk snowshoe
hare red squirrel vole porcupine Moose Elk Where does the
Siberian Tiger
hunt its prey? What does it eat? Is it
endangered? The Siberian or Amur tiger
is critically endangered,
with fewer than 500 remaining in the wild. The Siberian or Amur tiger lives in boreal forest, often at high elevation.

It is found only in the mountain forests of eastern Russia,
with a small population ranging across the border into China.

This tiger is adapted to the long, cold harsh winters of the boreal forests. This ferocious predator prefers elk, wild boar and deer,
but will also hunt other large carnivores, even bears!
They eat smaller animals too: rabbits, pikas and fish. They require a significant amount of food to survive. A hungry tiger can consume up to 60 pounds of meat in a single day! Meet the Siberian Tiger Great Horned Owl The conifer forests along with the plants and lichen in the understory. Name this owl.
It is an apex predator
and a generalist. Lynx Grizzly
Bear Wolf Moose Elk Snowshoe
Hare Vole Boreal
Owl A Taiga Food Web What are the
producers of
the boreal forest? Click to view selected primary consumers
(herbivores). What are two apex
predators that prey
on moose and elk. Name a small owl
that preys on the vole? Which apex predator
depends on the snowshoe hare
for survival? Secondary Consumers
(Carnivores) Primary Consumers
(Herbivores) Producers Tertiary Consumers
(APEX predators) Let's take a closer
look at our planet.

What climatic conditions
are essential to
the great boreal forests
that encircle
the globe in the
Northern Hemisphere?

Go to the next slide
to discover more. The taiga, or boreal forest, is marked in GREEN.
In which latitudes are most of these coniferous forests located?
The boreal forest are located between
50°N and 65°N.

What determines this location? At 60° latitude in the Northern Hemisphere,
the Ferrel cell converges with the Polar cell,
creating the ideal climatic conditions
for the boreal forests for grow.

What ARE the Ferrel and Polar cells? The Ferrel cells are the great circulating cells
in the mid-latitudes where the air rises
near 60 degrees and sinks near 30 degrees.
The Polar cells circulate in the polar regions.

Go to the next slide to discover more. Where is the Boreal Forest located? Derived from Freewoldmaps.net WHAT are Ferrel Cells? To understand how air circulates across
our planet, you need to know that the Sun
does NOT heat the Earth uniformly.

The equator gets the most intense heating.
Watch this video. The hot moisture-laden air at the equator rises.
As the air rises, it cools. Cold air cannot hold as much moisture
as hot air, so it rains and rains, creating conditions around the equator for rainforests to thrive.

Similarly, the Ferrel cell circulates in the mid-latitudes
with the air rising near 60 degrees North. This column of rising,
moist air produces the relatively wet conditions where
the great coniferous forests grow. Watch this video. This video gives more details regarding
the great cells of circulating air
that help determine the location of
climate zones and biomes across our planet. Biomes and Global Air Circulation Summary Video
Biomes and Climate A More Detailed Look at the Taiga Climate Change and Fires in the Taiga Climate Change and Bark Beetles Lakes that Burn!