by: Connor, Nick, Matthew, and Bear Taiga by: Connor, Nick, Matthew, and Bear

conifers In a taiga (boreal forest) there are many trees. The most common tree found in a taiga is a conifers . It doesn’t need much sun because its dark needles absorb the suns energy.

Balsam fir Another type of tree in a taiga. It grows 46-66 feet tall ( 14-20 meters). It is a very popular Christmas tree. Its defense are spiky green needles.

Douglas-fir Douglas-fir grow from 40-60 ft tall. It is used for lumber and it can be steeped for tea.

Black Spruce The black spruce is also known as the Abies mariana and the Picea glauca. It’s bark is Grayish- to reddish-brown, scaly

Red Cedar The Red Cedar is a tiny evergreen that commonly grows to a height of 10-50 feet. Its name is misleading since it is a juniper and not a cedar. It goes from Nova Scotia to northern Florida, and west to the Dakotas and Texas. They can grow in any type of soil, and will take over abandoned fields and fence rows. Eastern Red Cedars prefer full sun and seedlings don't grow well in forests. If red cedars are found growing in a forest, you can almost be sure they were growing when it was an open field. The Eastern Red Cedar grows in the pyramid shape. The top falls off as it grows older. It has two shapes of leaves. The older leaves are flat and scale like and only 1/16 of an inch long. The younger leaves are sharp and pointed and may be up to 3/4 of an inch long. They have whitish lines on top of them. In the summer they are a brilliant green, but in the winter they can turn copper yellow to rusty brown.

Jack Pine The jack pine is 27 meters tall and sixteen and thirty-two centimeter diameter around the trunk. As it gets older the trunk becomes rounder.

Paper Birch Paper birch trees have a thin bark that peels in horizontal layers which separates into sheets. These trees grow fairly tall (they grow from 60-80 ft tall)

Siberian Spruce The Siberian Spruce, is a tall needle-leaf tree, that can grow up to 30 meters tall. The trunk of this spruce is about 1.5 meters in diameter. It has branches that make it look like a pyramid.

White Fir The white fir grows from 60-100 ft tall, and can live to 300 years old. It is a very large forest tree that’s leaves are 2-3 inches long. The are a silvery blue and curve up from the stem.

White Spruce Most spruce needles are four-sided, stiff, and less than one inch long, 2.5 centimeters to be exact. projections help join the needles to the twigs. It’s shaped almost like a pyramid 150 ft tall

Geographer Hydroelectric development may seem beneficial because it uses water to generate power, but it has damaged the taiga by changing stream habitats and flow patterns, and flooding large areas and changing the landscape. Mining is a concern because it may result in pollution of surrounding soils and water, specifically acid rain. Regrowth of mature forests takes a long time because of the climate and soil conditions of the taiga. Many large vertebrates who live in the taiga are sensitive to human presence, habitat alteration, and pollution.

In the Taiga Biome the biotic factors help the animals by providing food for the consumer 1 which is eaten by the consumer 2 which is eaten by the predator. The dead animal remains are for the decomposer. Also, the trees provide places for homes, nests, hibernation, shade and shelter. In the Taiga Biome the abiotic factors help the animals by providing places for dens, burrows, nests, nutrients and homes for a lot of animals.

The carnivores in the Taiga Biome are grey wolves, grizzly bears, and ermine. The herbivores in the Taiga Biome are red squirrels, moose and beavers. The omnivores in the Taiga Biome are black bears, river otters and wood peckers. The decomposer in the Taiga Biome is the bald eagle. The bald eagle prefers to eat dead animals over live animals which won’t leave a lot of dead carcasses around.

Animal adaptations in the Taiga Most of the animals leave the Taiga to go where it’s warmer until the warm weather comes back in. Some animals hibernate in dens, burrows and tree hollows until spring comes. Other animals have very thick layers of fur and feathers to protect them from the cold so they can hunt in the winter. When the temperature changes some of the animals fur or feathers change colors so their predators won’t notice them. For example, the ermine’s fur is brown in the summer and white in the winter.

Thanks to all these websites for giving us information http://www.ehow.com http://www.google.com http://www.rook.org Microsoft Power point www.radford.edu/~swoodwar/CLASSES/.../biomes/taiga/taiga.html   http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/exhibits/biomes/forests.php#boreal http://kids.nceas.ucsb.edu/biomes/taiga.html http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/B/Biomes.html#Taiga charolearning.com/images/taigamap.gif http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/taiga_plant_page.htm