Biome ProjectBoreal Forest

By Tom Kobelev

Abiotic Characteristics• The boreal forest has very long, cold winters and

short, mild summers. Due to its northern location, cold air coming down from the arctic region, creates frigid winters that last around 6 or 7 months. Winter temperatures range from a high of -1 to -54 degrees Celsius, while in the summer, temperatures range from a high of 21 to a low of -1 degrees Celsius. Average temperatures remain below freezing for more than six months of the year, and the average overall yearly temperature is 0 degrees Celsius.

• The soil of the boreal forest is acidic, due to fallen conifer needles that accumulate on the forest floor. Its also low in nutrients, which limits the amount and types of plants that are able to grow there to those that can tolerate such soil conditions. The ground is swampy or marshy in many parts of the boreal forest because the snow melts late in the spring and the short, cool and wet summers do not allow the water on the ground to completely evaporate.

Biotic Characteristics• Many plant species are found in the Taiga,

but coniferous trees are the dominant plant form.  These trees shed snow easily, and they retain their needles through the winter. The needles themselves are well-adapted, with thick waxy coatings, to resist cold conditions and minimize water loss. Together, these adaptations  mean that even in cool conditions, if the temperature rises above freezing during the day photosynthesis can proceed. Important conifer tree species include firs and pines, spruces, hemlocks, and larches.

• The main carnivores of the boreal region include a lot of felids or cat species some of which are the Siberian Tiger, the Lynx, and the Bobcat. Herbivores range in size from the large members of the deer family such as the Elk and Moose to the smaller mammals like the Arboreal Porcupine and the Snowshoe Hare. 

Climate • Since boreal forests are found in the northern regions, they may

receive up to 20 hours of sunlight per day in the summer, while during the winter daylight is limited to just a few hours. The conditions of long days and mild temperatures during the summer allow a rapid burst of plant growth, but the summer growing season lasts for only about 3 months before temperatures drop.

• The boreal forests receives between 20 and 200 centimeters of precipitation per year. Since the cold winter season is much longer than the summer, most of the precipitation occurs in the form of snow or sometimes hail.

WorldDistribution

• The map shown displays the boreal forests, which extend across North America and Eurasia.  The boreal forest, also known as Taiga, a Russian word that recognizes the swampy nature of much of this forest in the summer, lies to the south of the tundra and to the north of deciduous forests and grasslands.  There is no comparable zone in the southern hemisphere, probably because there is little land area there with the proper climate

• The abiotic factors in the boreal forest strongly affect the plants and animals that live there, making it necessary for them to adapt to the conditions. The vegetation of the boreal forest is dominated by evergreen conifer trees that have needles rather than leaves. This type of tree conserves energy by not having to re-grow its leaves every spring. Many of the animals of the boreal forest have adaptations for cold and snow, such as thick fur, wide paws and coat colors that change according to the season.

• The boreal forest today is greatly affected by exploration and development of oil and natural gas reserves.  From Alaska to Canada to Russia, it is estimated that there are vast amounts of petroleum under these forests. As well as logging always remains a threat to the boreal forests, the depletion of the trees is removing the habitat of many animals including owls and other arctic birds.  

• This shows the most intrusive species of all is the human. Humans are inhabiting and exploring much of the boreal forests and stripping the forests of their resources like their trees, their natural gasses, their minerals and some species of animals that are poached like elk, white tailed deer, moose, and other members of the deer family

• As the overall climate of our planet warms the southern regions of the boreal forest will become warm enough for deciduous trees to outcompete the conifers and replace them.

Bioaccumulation

Trophic Levels and Food Web ofBoreal Forest

Biotic Relationships• There are 3 different types of biotic

relationships; mutualism, parasitism, and commensalism. The main mutuality relationship in boreal forests are how the bees pollinate the flowers and plants because the bees need pollen and the plants need to be pollinated. The large commensality relation is moss that grows on trees gets benefited but the tree gets neither benefited or harmed. One of the major examples of parasitism in the boreal forest is the common winter tick, which burrows itself under the skin and fur of a moose and feeds of its blood which damages the moose but benefits the tick.

Boreal Forest Succession• Succession can

be interpreted in diagrams that display the variations and points of a biome and in the shown diagram you can see the different levels of succession in the boreal forest

Works Cited• "Canadian Beacons Project." Canadian Beacons Project. N.p., n.d.

Web. 16 Feb. 2014.• <http://www.beaconsproject.ca/boreal>.

• "Climate:  ." The Boreal Forest Biome. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2014. <http://www.marietta.edu/~biol/biomes/boreal.htm>.

• "Mutualism, Commensalism, and Parasitism Examples. - Boreal Forest and Taiga." Boreal Forest and Taiga. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2014. <http://borealforestandtaiga.weebly.com/mutualism-commensalism-and-parasitism-examples.html>.

• "What Are Some Abiotic Factors in the Boreal Forest?" Bright Hub. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2014. <http://www.brighthub.com/environment/science-environmental/articles/81812.aspx>.