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One of the largest land-based biomes in the world, the taiga spreads in a wide band east
and west across North America, Europe, and Asia, to the southern edge of the arctic tundra.
This biome covers more than 11% of earth's land area, with the bulk of the taiga found
in Russia and Canada.
Taigas, from the Russian word for forest, are one of the three major forest biomes on
earth, and are also also called coniferous forests, boreal forests, and snow forests.
Mostly unpopulated by humans, taigas are nonetheless an important habitat for the plants and animals
that live there.
A biome is a large community of plants and animals living in a specific region, or a
group of similar ecosystems.
Taiga biomes all around the world can be recognized by their cold temperatures, dry conditions,
and an abundance of coniferous evergreen trees.
Conifers, or plants that bear cones and have thin, needle-like leaves, are specifically
adapted to survive in these cold, dry conditions.
Most conifers are shaped like cones, which allows snow to slide off them without breaking
their branches.
Because their needles stay on all year round, they can use them to make food whenever there
is enough sun, something that helps them survive in areas with poor quality soil.
These thin, needle-shaped leaves lose less water than broad, deciduous leaves, which
helps them survive dry times and stops them from being damaged by freezing weather.
Despite the dense greenery of the trees, the taiga gets only a little more water than a desert.
In the short, warm summers, it falls as rain, and in the long cold winter it comes down
as snow.
There is also a lot of fog in the taiga.
Even during long summer days, the fog can stop sunlight from getting to the ground,
preventing plants from growing and water from evaporating.
This is one reason that even though very little rain falls there, the taiga can be very wet.
Aside from the ever present conifers, few plants can live in this biome.
Not only do they have to deal with long winters, which may last as long as nine months, but
any plant that grows there must be able to survive in a thin layer of soil with few nutrients.
Beneath this thin layer of soil may be a layer of solid rock, or sometimes a layer of ground
that stays frozen all year round.
This frozen layer is called permafrost.
Both the bedrock and the permafrost prevent water from draining when the ground thaws,
and so during the summer the ground in the taiga may be very wet and boggy - too wet
for some plants.
Moss, lichen, and ferns can all grow there, along with some bushes and - in clearings
where the sun can reach - grasses.
Many types of animals live in the taiga, but to survive they must be well adapted to the cold.
Few reptiles or amphibians live there, but warm-blooded animals like birds and mammals
do, as well as many types of fish and insects.
Different animals are adapted to life in the taiga in different ways.
Birds that nest there in the summer often migrate south in the winter to escape the
freezing cold.
Mammals of the taiga deal with freezing temperatures in two main ways: fur and fat.
Bears are excellent examples of both of these strategies.
Brown bears are found throughout northern Europe, as well as in northern Canada, although
the largest of these bears are found in Alaska.
They are omnivores, eating a wide variety of food such as fish, small mammals, roots,
grasses, berries, and pine nuts.
These bears eat up to ninety pounds of food a day in the summer and fall, and gain up
to six pounds of fat daily, in order to prepare for the winter.
When the snow falls, they retreat to their dens.
Bears search for and prepare a den site in the summer.
It may be a cave or a rocky crevice, but they will also dig holes in hillsides or under
the roots of a tree.
Snug in their den, blanketed by fat and a thick layer of fur, their body temperature
drops, their heart rate and breathing slows, and they are sustained by the fat they accumulated
in the summer.
Not all mammals in the taiga hibernate.
Smaller animals, in particular, need to eat all winter long.
The snowshoe hare is brown in the summer.
In the winter, its fur becomes a bright white to help it hide against the snow.
This little hare is out looking for tasty twigs and bark to eat, but she'd better look
out - there are plenty of predators that would love to catch her for their own meal.
A healthy taiga is crucial to the health of our planet.
Although it is one of the least diverse of all biomes, up to a third of all the trees
on earth can be found here, and two thirds of all conifers.
It contains nearly a fifth of the planet's biomass and stores twice as much carbon as
tropical rainforests of the same size.
This sea of deep green trees may seem endless, but it is vulnerable.
Due to its inhospitable climate, the taiga is mostly unpopulated by humans, but that
does not mean that it has escaped us.
Trees are easy to cut down and sell, and large areas of the taiga have been harvested for
lumber.
Cutting down all the trees in an area destroys habitat for many living things.
Without tree roots holding the soil together, erosion can increase and the thin layer of
soil can wash away, making it nearly impossible for new trees to take root.
Without trees, the taiga cannot support many forms of life.
Protecting the taiga is essential to maintaining a healthy climate.
Steps like prohibiting logging in the taiga, producing lumber using sustainable practices,
choosing recycled wood and paper products, and creating new forest reserves can go a
long way towards making sure that this delicate ecosystem sticks around for a long time into
the future.