T AIGA By Katie Jardine & Charity Sonier

The Arctic tundra is purple (ice is white). Deciduous forests are dark green. Deserts are light blue. Tropical rainforests are red. Savannahs/grasslands are yellow and tan. *Areas of taiga are neon green*.

C LIMATE The average temperature is below freezing for six months out of the year. The winter temperature range is -54 to -1° C (-65 to 30° F). The winters, as you can see, are really cold, with lots of snow. Temperature range in the summer gets as low as -7° C (20° F). The high in summer can be 21° C (70° F). The summers are mostly warm, rainy and humid. They are also very short with about 50 to 100 frost free days. The total precipitation in a year is cm ( in). The forms the precipitation comes in are rain, snow and dew. Most of the precipitation in the taiga falls as rain in the summer.

FEATURES It's 50% land and 50% water. They can stretch over 20 acres of land It’s location is in three different continents Cone-bearing or coniferous forests Thinness of soil due to cold

P LANT A DAPTION Due to the harsh environmental conditions, not many plants can survive. the common plants found in taiga are coniferous trees or evergreens with long, thin and waxy leaves. The needle-shaped leaves reduce water loss and protect from weighing down by snow. These plants grow very close to each other, as an adaptation to protect from the cold snow and wind. Other than these plants, lichens and mosses are also found in the taiga biome.

A NIMAL A DAPTION Similar to the plants, the animals that can adapt to long winter and moderate summer seasons are found in the taiga biome. Taiga animals have thick furs and other special adaptations. Most of them migrate to nearby areas during the snowfalls and food scarcity. Here’s a list of some common animals found in the taiga biome.

T HREATS Clear Cutting The need for paper, books and other things Approximately half of the Boreal forest has been allocated or licensed to logging companies Climate Change Loss of species Increased forest fires and outbreaks of insect infestations.

PHOTOS

DID YOU KNOW? That another name for the Taiga biome is the Boreal forest. Taiga is the Russian word for forest. Boreal was the Greek goddess of the North Wind

OMG V IDEO !?!? Hinterland Who's Who

B IBLIOGRAPHY o o animals-and-plants.html animals-and-plants.html o o /threats-to-the-boreal-forest /threats-to-the-boreal-forest