Biology 3201

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Biology 3201

• Ecosystem of The Boreal
• Coniferous Forest
• by Gillian Strong

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Taiga is found in parts of

• North America
• Europe
• Asia

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Taiga Facts

• Also known as boreal, or evergreen forest.
• The slowest growing, the biggest and the coldest
  ecosystem of all.
• Covers 11 of the worlds land area
• One third of the earth's trees are evergreens.

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Tree Types

• There are only eight different tree types in
  taiga
• balsam, fir, black spruce, white birch, trembling
  aspen, balsam poplar
• larch, yellow birch white spruce.

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Why so few types of trees??How do they survive?

• Poor soil conditions
• colder climate
• The trees that stick around have adapted by
• having flexible branches to handle heavy
  snowfall
• the shape of the needles lets less water leave
  through evaporation

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Animals of Taiga

• Newfoundland Pine Marten
• Caribou
• Moose
• Gray-Jays, warblers
• Lynx
• All of these find shelter in the woods of the
  forest

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Newfoundland Pine Marten

• Small brown weasel like creature
• native only to Newfoundland for more than 10 000
  years
• bordering on extinction due to loss of habitat
• niche is to reproduce, eat berries, have numerous
  partners and be food to other animals

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• Martens also face danger in the way of traps for
  small game
• There are less than 300 Pine Martens left in
  Newfoundland today

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Caribou

• Large , weighing about 350- 400 pounds
• Herbivores, loving lichens and grasses
• constantly in motion to find food, this ensures
  that there wont be as much of a risk of a food
  shortage
• Their niche is to reproduce, eat vegetation and
  distribute nutrients

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Caribou in Western Newfoundland
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Symbiosis within Taiga

• Problem lichen needs food, tree needs to get
  rid of dead stuff
• Solution lichen and black spruce work together.
• lichen gets food from the dead matter of the
  tree and the lichen gives the tree nutrients

• Problem Balsam fir parasitized by the hemlock
  looper
• Solution the tachnid fly parasitizes the pupae
  of the hemlock looper
• These are examples of mutualism

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Parasitism in Taiga

• Problem brainworm eats the brain of caribou,
• Effect caribou loses control of it's body,
  i.e., it's capacity to function
• Result caribou dies

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Commensalism in Taiga

• Non- parasitic fungi and trees
• The fungi has a source of food from the
  decomposing matter of the tree, but is neither
  harming or helping the tree.

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Challenges to Taiga

• Fire can also cause problems within this
  ecosystem but certain trees have adapted to
  thrive when this happens like the black spruce

• The organic layer would have been burnt off , and
  now a mineral layer would now be exposed, which
  the black spruce seems to love

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Fire
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Clearcutting

• Much of the old growth coniferous forest is being
  lost in Newfoundland, New Brunswick and British
  Columbia.

• This means the pine marten, lynx, and the
  great-horned owl are all losing their habitats as
  a direct result.

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Example of Clearcutting Results
Before After
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Newfoundland Taiga
Arnolds Cove
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The Forest Layers View of shrubs and bushes
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The Forest Floor
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The End