The Boreal Forest: A Year in the World’s Largest Land Biome
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
RUSSIA Winter Snow falls from a flat gray sky It smothers a spruce tree which creaks and cracks A flying squirrel peers out of a cavity in the trunk Her breath forms tiny ice crystals in the air They rustle on the snowy boughs making a sound that Russians call the whisper of the stars Snow blankets a nearby birch tree still thick with tasty catkins The squirrel charges along her branch and launches herself toward the meal The spruce shivers and whoomp snow drops to the forest floor
Up in the Air Siberian flying squirrels inhabit boreal forests from Finland to Japan They almost never walk on land Why would they They can travel up to 50 m 164 ft in a single glide Boreal Trees Deciduous trees such as birch poplar and aspen are common in the southern boreal forest Farther north there are more conifers such as spruce pine and fir To prepare for winter deciduous trees drop their broad leaves In contrast most conifers are evergreen keeping their needles year round Needles contain resins that help prevent freezing Spruces and firs have another wintry adaptation they are slim cone shaped trees with sloping branches Heavy snow slides off instead of piling up keeping the branches from breaking Winter's Chill Winters in the boreal forest are long and terribly cold In northern Europe and Asia snow covers the ground up to ten months a year Typical winter temperatures are between -20 C and -40 C -4F and -40 F In 2013 temperatures in the forest village of Oymyakon Russia plunged to -71 C -96 F It was the lowest temperature officially recorded in the biome
