Facts about Taiga

Boreal forests are found throughout northern Europe (the Scandinavian Peninsula and the Kola Peninsula, which together with the Finnish-Karelian Intersea, form the Fennoscandian Peninsula, the northern part of the East European Plain), northern Asia (Siberia, Sakhalin, Kamchatka) and North America (Alaska, Canada).

American forests are generally referred to as boreal coniferous forests.

Its largest areas are located in Russia and Canada. In North America, it includes most of inland Canada, Alaska, and parts of the northern contiguous United States. In Eurasia, it includes most of Sweden, Finland, much of Russia-from Karelia in the west to the Pacific Ocean (including much of Siberia), much of Norway and Estonia, parts of the Scottish highlands, some coastal areas of Iceland, and areas of northern Kazakhstan, northern Mongolia, and northern Japan (on the island of Hokkaido).

Deciduous trees are more common at forest edges, in post-fire areas (wildfires), along river banks and swamps, and in coastal areas where the climate is milder.

In the north, the taiga is adjacent through the sparse trees(transition zone) to the tundra (a treeless plant formation in the cold climate of the Arctic zone in the northern hemisphere). On the other hand, the south has deciduous forests or the steppe zone.

The stands are usually single-trunked and composed of a small number of pin tree species such as spruce (Picea), pine (Pinus), fir (Abies), and larch (Larix).

From the deciduous trees, which are rare in the taiga, we should mention alders (Alnus), poplars (Populus), birches (Betula), rowans (Sorbus), willows (Salix). The shrub layer is poorly developed. The well-developed undergrowth consists of shrubs from the heather family (Ericaceae), bryophytes and lichens.

This leads to the accumulation of organic matter in the ground and the production of a thick layer of litter. Needles falling from trees significantly affect the acidification and podzolization of soils.

Dark taiga occurs mainly in western Siberia (up to the Yenisei River and Lake Baikal). In the north, there are spruce and larch forests with an admixture of Siberian limber. In the middle part, the forests consist mainly of Siberian pine. Finally, in the south, there is a formation called urman, with stand dominated by Siberian spruce, Siberian fir and Siberian pine with an admixture of small-leaved lime.

Light taiga (luminous, fresh) occurs in central and north-eastern Siberia (east of the Yenisei). It consists of Dahurian larch and Siberian spruce with admixtures of various species of willows and dwarf birch.

The subsoil often contains permafrost, the upper layers of which partially thaw during the summer, forming extensive and boggy swamps. Considerable areas are covered by peat soils.

The average annual temperature ranges from -5 to 5 °C (23 °F to 41 °F). In the Siberian taiga, the average temperature of the coldest month ranges from -6 °C to -50 °C (21 °F to -58 °F).

This is because plants of the boreal biome have a lower temperature threshold to induce growth than other plants. Some sources say that 130 days of the growing season is typical for taiga, but this depends on the region. The most extended growing season occurs in smaller areas with oceanic influence; in coastal areas of Scandinavia and Finland, the growing season can last 145-180 days. On the other hand, the shortest occurs in northern regions on the taiga-tundra border and is 50-70 days there.

Moisture comes from rain during the summer months, as well as snow and fog. In the northernmost regions of the taiga, snow can remain for up to 9 months.

Due to the harsh climate of the taiga, a relatively small variety of animals inhabit it. Canada's boreal forest includes 85 mammal, 130 fish, and about 32,000 insect species. Insects play a crucial role as pollinators, decomposers of dead organic matter or as a link in the food chain - they are food for many breeding birds during the summer months.

Only a few species occur in the boreal forest, including the Striped garter, Siberian salamander, Wood frog, American and Canadian toad, and others. Most of these hibernate underground in winter.

These include elk, reindeer, and roe deer, among others. The largest animal in the taiga is the wood bison, found in northern Canada and Alaska and recently imported to far eastern Russia.

The small mammals of the taiga biome include rodents: beaver, squirrel, vole, grey hare and mountain hare. Some larger mammals, such as bears, feed abundantly in summer and hibernate in winter.

The predatory mammals of the taiga must be adapted to travel long distances in search of scattered game. Predators of the taiga include lynx, stoat, weasel, sable, marten, otter, American mink, American black bear, Himalayan bear, Siberian tiger, and others.

Of this number, only 30 species remain in the taiga for the winter. These are carrion-eating birds or birds of prey, such as golden eagle, buzzard, and raven. There are also seed-eating birds, such as grouse and crossbills.

Major cities in this biome include Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Yakutsk, Anchorage, Yellowknife, Tromsø, Luleå, and Oulu.

According to scientists, the North's ecosystem has bound and stored 208 billion tons of chemically pure carbon, including 71 billion tons in boreal forests and 137 billion tons in peatlands. This amount of clean carbon equals the total of all industrial gases emitted globally into the atmosphere in 26 years. Moreover, one hectare of boreal forest sequesters almost twice as much chemical clean carbon as a hectare of forest in the tropics.