Location

The location of this taiga biome is in Canada specifically in Vancouver. The continent is North America, the region is coast and mountains the country is Canada to be more specific British Columbia.

Climate

The taiga biome is very cold and the ground is covered in ice and snow. It's light is mostly dark and it's extreme temperate and wide ranging.Winter temperature ranges from -65*F to 30*F, and the summer ranges from 30*F to 60*F. The annual precipitation ranges from 12-33 inches a year, from the rain there is A LOT of vegetation. The water supply comes from the precipitation and the snow, there aren't many streams in this particular biome.

Geography

The geography of this biome is usually farther away from the equator explaining why it is cold (the exception to this is the taiga in Brazil). Since it rains so much the vegetation is booming, even though it has poor nutrient soil.This biome is found in high altitudes which is mostly on mountains. Two biomes you could compare to the taiga with are the tundra and alpine since both are cold, away fro the equator and either have some of the same animals or have some of the same weather or vegetation.

Plants

This biome is FILLED with plant life, it almost has 100 species but some of the plants i want to focus on are ostrich fern (scientific name is matteuccia struthiopterris), big fungus (scientific name is boletrus sp.), polytrichum moss, and willow trees. Ostrich fern is found in the northern hemisphere specifically in eastern and northern Europe. Northern Asia, and Northern North America. Its leaves grow brown in the summer if not protected from wind and hail. The willow tree lives in moist soil incold, temperate regions in the northern hemisphere. This plant helps with wind breaking, soil building, soil erosion controll. Threadlike fungus is found everywhere. Helps hypae and permeate soil (and it is a decomposer). Polytrichum is found most places.water must be conducted at the base of the plant in able for it to survive. And the plant makes sure there is hardly any water loss so it can stand the non-moist soil for a while.

Animals

Just like the plants, there are many animals in the taiga biome. Some of the main animals that live here are brown bears, gray wolves, wolverines, Canada lynx, great horned owls, caribou and moose. The omnivore of this group of animals is the brown bear. Brown bears live in the uplands of western North America and in coastal areas. They eat moose deer, elk, bison, caribou, salmon, berries, shrubs and basically anything else.The carnivore group starts with the gray wolf. They live in Eurasia, North America, and North Africa. they eat rodents hares, badgers, insects, caribou, elk and deer. Wolverines are next in this category. Wolverines are found in British Columbia. They eat anything that made up of meat. Last of the carnivore category but certainly not least is the Canada lynx. They live in Canada (hence the name). They eat birds, rodent, deer, and snowshoe hares. The starter of the herbivore category is the moose they are found in Europe and North America. They eat willows, bitch, lilies and pound weed. Last of the group is the caribou. They live in woodland areas in British Columbia and Yukon territory. They eat tree lichens, willows and just plain vegetation. The only one of its group is the great horned owl who is a scavenger. They live in Alberta, Canada, U.S and Brazil. They eat hares, fish, hares, squirrels, birds and carcasses.

Enviornmetal Concerns

There are major problems in the taiga, goes from mercury poising to road building, to hunting. The taigas are being attacked brutally by...well us. To put it simply we are a danger to the taiga in many ways. We hunt the animals that live there for there fur with decreases the animals numbers harshly. For animals like the Canada lynx, they can't afford that considering they are already hunted too much by the gray wolf. We take down the forest for “pulp factories” (factories that make paper and pulp), leaving animals with out a habitat and the soil without someone to keep the soil nourished (the willow trees help nourish the soil). Humans make wild fires, not on purpose but they do. And hydraulic power has gotten into the water and fish are getting mercury poising along with the animals that eat them. we aren’t only hurting the animals and habitat but we are also hurting the native people that live there. They have history and culture in the taiga and we are taking it away from them as well.The over all concern is that there will not be a place for the animals to live, and no animals that would miss the habitat being killed by either the mercury or the hunters that surround them.