Boreal Forest

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Boreal Forest

• Daniel, Gage, and Kevin

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Description and general information

• The Boreal Forests are located in the upper
  middle areas of North America and Eurasia that
  stretch across the continents.
• The Boreal Forest, also called Taiga which is
  Russian word that descibes the swampy nature of
  much of this forest in the summer, that it lies
  to the south of the tundra anto the north of
  deciduous forests and grasslands.
• The dominant plant life is coniferous trees,
  which are evergreens. These trees are suited for
  the cold climate and limited amount of water. The
  water that is there may be frozen mostly all
  year. The types of trees are pines, furs,
  spruces, hemlocks, and larches.
• Other plants that are important are mosses and
  lichen. They are a major food source for the
  animals.
• The indicator animals are Lynx, Elk, Porcupine,
  and Snowshoe Hare in North America, and the
  Siberian Tiger in Eurasia. 

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Climate

• The climate of the Boreal Forests is cold. The
  average annual temperatures are from about -5 to
  5 C. (23 to 41 F)
• The winters are cold and long while the summers
  are relatively short and cool.
• The precipitation varies, from 20 cm (7.87 in) a
  year to over 200 cm (78.7 in). Most of the
  precipitation is in the form of snow.
• With snowmelt and low temps, there is little
  evaporation in the summer, so the ground is usual
  very moist during the growing season.
• The Boreal Forests are located in the lower area
  of the polar climate zone. It is classified as a
  subarctic climate zone where it is more moderate
  climate.  

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Biomass Productivity

• Biomass is the total mass of living matter within
  a given unit of environmental area.
• Productivity The rate at which radiant energy is
  used by producers to form organic substances as
  food for consumers

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Threats

• The biggest threat to this Biome is Human
  activity. Humans take advantage of these forests
  by cutting trees down for toilet paper, copy
  paper, newspapers, etc. Canada is one of the
  countries that have the most effect on this
  biome. Also another threat by humans is the
  industrial use within this areas. It
  threatens the biome by polluting it all over.
• Even thought humans threaten the Boreal Forest,
  some insects damage the forest such as the
  spruce-bark beetle, the aspen-leaf miner, the
  larch sawfly, the spruce budworm and the
  spruce coneworm. 

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Lynx

• The lynx's large, padded paws are an adaptation
  to walking on snow, which allows them to travel
  and hunt in their snowy, high altitude habitats.
• The Canadian lynx depends almost exclusively on
  the snowshoe hare as prey. A regular fluctuation
  in the snowshoe hare population every 10 years
  directly impacts the lynx.

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Lichen

• Lichen can survive extremes like heat, cold, and
  drought by shut down their metabolism to survive
  in unfavorable conditions.  Lichens produce more
  than 500 unique biochemical compounds that serve
  to control light exposure, ward off herbivores,
  kill attacking microbes, and dispirit competition
  from plants. Among these adaptations  are many
  pigments and antibiotics that have made lichens
  very useful to people in traditional societies.