The Boreal Forest: A Year in the World’s Largest Land Biome
Glaciers melt soil breathes seeds fly on a warming breeze Trees creep ever ever north Centuries pass climate changes A forest is born Welcome to the Boreal Forest The boreal forest is young less than eight thousand years old Before then during the Ice Age glaciers covered much of North America Europe and Asia As temperatures rose the glaciers melted retreating north Animals that liked cool climates walked swam or flew to the new lands exposed by the melting glaciers Plants migrated by spreading their seeds In the warmer drier south old trees died But in the cool wet north their seedlings thrived Over time the forest continued to inch northward eventually reaching its current location and the boreal forest as we know it came to be
Where is the Boreal Forest The boreal forest is our planet's largest land based biome Also Parts of the biome are so remote few humans have called taiga the forest thrives in northern regions forming a ever seen them But the boreal forest affects everyone scarf around the neck of the world Sixty percent of the forest is its trees clean our air and its wetlands clean our water in Russia Twenty nine percent is in Canada Other cold northern The biome also slows global climate change It is a vast areas like Alaska and Scandinavia also have boreal forests and vital wilderness There are many types of habitats in the biome Diverse habitats provide homes for a diversity of species There are birds in the trees and mammals in the bushes There are fish and frogs in the rivers and the bogs Some species stay all year Others only visit Greenland Canada United States Iceland COUNTRY PERCENT OF BOREAL BIOME Russia Canada United States Finland Sweden China Norway Mongolia Iceland Kazakhstan Greenland Japan 60 29 4 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
A Watery Wood There's more fresh water in the boreal forest than anywhere else on Earth with more than six hundred thousand lakes in Canada alone Sweden Russia Finland Norway Kazakhstan Mongolia China -Japan
