Evan Roney + Stuart Jenkins. Taigas can be found in: -The majority of Canada -More than half of Alaska -Much of Scandinavia -The north eastern parts f China -Some of Korea -The northern part of Mongolia -And in the north eastern parts of America.

The Taiga is the largest biome in the world. It stretches over Eurasia and North America. The taiga is located near the top of the world, just below the tundra biome. The winters in the taiga are very cold with only snowfall. The summers are warm, rainy, and humid. A lot of coniferous trees grow in the taiga.

Taiga Climate The lowest and highest temperatures that occur for taiga are the following: Winter's LOWEST temperature in taiga is -65°F. Winter's HIGHEST temperature is 30° F. Summer's LOWEST temperature is 30° F. Summer's HIGHEST temperature is 70° F. The temperature range, as you can see, is -65° F to 70°F (-54 to 21° C). For half of the year, the average temperature is below freezing. In the winter the average air temperature is warmer than it is for tundra, which lies north of the taiga. The taiga climate has an average annual rainfall of inches ( cm). Most of it falls in the summer as rain.

Where a Taiga is located  A Taiga Biome is found in the northern regions of the world. A few areas would be:  Alaska  Sweden  Canada

Plants in Taigas  Coniferous trees can be found everywhere in taigas. Their conical shape helps shed snow off that could damage them.  Deciduous trees are also found in taigas. Some have chlorophyll in their bark to photosynthesize without any leaves.  Blueberry bushes are very common in taigas and lose leaves but keep the woody stems to bring in more fruit.  Poison ivy grows in taigas and as a defense makes anything that touches in itch a lot by a chemical that it releases on it leaves.  Lichens can be found in the taiga also. They have a very high tolerance to cold weather.

Herbivores in Taigas  The snowshoe rabbit is a common animal in taigas they have larger back feet to be able to run through the thick snow. They are also white to blend with the snow.  Many moose live in the taiga. They have thick fur to keep warm in the cold climates.  The white tail deer is very quick to be able to avoid predators.  Canadian geese live in the taiga during the summer but migrate south to keep warm during the winter.  Reindeer also live in the taiga, and just like the moos have thick fur to keep warm.

Carnivores in the Taiga.  Many bears live in the taiga, they have thick fur and keep a lot of fat to keep warm.  Wolverines reside in the taiga. They have powerful jaws to be able to chew through the frozen meat.  Snow owls are light white birds that blend in with the snow to be able to surprise small rodents.  Ermines are a type of weasel that are also white to be able to surprise their prey.  Bobcats are spread all through out the taiga. They have larger feet to be able to run in the snow and strong legs and feet to be able to cut through the frozen meat.

Taiga food web

Ecological Pyramid

Predator/Prey, Parasitism, Competition, and Mutualism  Predator/Prey: American Black Bear/Salmon  Parasitism: Brain worms  Competition: Wolverine and Wolf  Mutualism: Moss growing on a tree; protecting it.

Benefits of the Taiga.  The taiga is home to millions of animals and insects that include many types of bears, wolves, dear, moose, caribou, reindeer and more. Without anywhere for these animals to leave they would surely go extinct. People can enjoy hunting and animal watching in the taiga along with general hiking and exploring. Without the taiga Alaska would have almost no tourist attractions. Same reason goes with Canada and parts of Maine. Being one of the largest biomes we can learn about life cycles and animal behaviors from the animals that reside their. Without the taiga a major part of the worlds ecosystem would be completely destroyed.

Threats to the Taiga and how we can stop it  The human threats to taiga are things like pollution caused by passing coal and oil powered boats, expansion of cities and towns and populations, oil spills caused by tankers hitting icebergs or poorly maintained engines and storage containers. Acid rain is another threat caused by smoke mixing with rain clouds causing them to merge their particles with the water droplets making the rain acidic. Another threat is mines and lumber mills in order to get lumber you need to chop down trees in massive amounts due to the consuming rate of lumber and paper. Now the reason why mines mess with the environment is the fact that when you blast into a hill the rocks and smoke go flying and will kill animals or upset the feeding system, and to add onto that some of the lye and other chemicals that they mine pollute the water by running down hill or leaking into the water table.

Are there wetlands in the Taiga Biome?  A visit to the Taiga would reveal rocky landscapes of evergreen forest and hardy leaf bearing trees, expansive wetlands and inland seas of ponds and lakes. These water sheds are some of the largest planetary sources of pristine potable surface water.