1. What other name is given to the taiga?
2. What does the word taiga mean? 3. On which continents is the taiga located? 4. How many seasons are there? 5. How big is Taiga compared to other land biomes? 6. What is the average temperature in the taiga? 7. What are the minimum and the maximum temperatures? 8. What forms of precipitation can be found? 9. What type of trees dominates the taiga? 10. What other plants can be found? 11. What are conifers? 12. Can you name two threats the taiga faces? |
a. Two, summer and winter.
b. -60ºC and 40ªC. c. Conifers. d. It is also called boreal forest. e. -34° C and 3-12ºC. f. It is the largest. g. In Europe, Asia and North America. h. Global warming and logging. i. Rain, snow and dew. j. Lichens and mosses. k. It means forest. l. Evergreen trees with needles |
Can you use the information from the previous activity to complete this text?
As we move south from the tundra we encounter the next biome, the taiga. The taiga, or _______________, is the ____________________ terrestrial biome. It covers almost 6800 miles in the Northern Hemisphere, spanning across _______________, _______________ and _______________. Taiga is the Russian word for _______________.
Long, cold winters, and short, mild, wet summers are typical of this region. The length of day also varies with the seasons. Winter days are short, while summer days are long because of the tilt of the earth on its axis. n the winter season, the taiga's temperatures can drop below -76°F (_______________). However, in the summer season temperatures can jump above 104°F (_________________). The average winter temperature is _____________ (-30° F), but the average summer temperature is _________________ (37-54° F) which enables this biome to sustain life. The total precipitation in a year is 30 - 85 cm (12 - 33 in) . The forms the precipitation comes in are _____________________. Most of the precipitation in the taiga falls as rain in the summer. There are marshes, swamps and lakes found throughout the taiga.
There are not a lot of species of plants in the taiga because of the hard conditions. Not many plants can survive the extreme cold of the taiga winter.
There are some _______________________________ but the trees in taigas are mostly _________________ (____________________ ________________), such as larch, fir, spruce and pine trees. Evergreens in the taiga tend to be thin and grow close together. This gives them
protection from the cold and wind. Evergreens also are usually shaped like an upside down cone to protect the branches from breaking under the weight of all that snow.
There are many different kings of animals in the taiga biome. Among them are the wolves, deer, bears, lynx, cougars, moose, and cyotes. Many of these animals are often hunted for sport and also for food. Also, some are poached, which is illegal. The bogs and ponds in the taiga provide a great summertime breeding place for many different insects.
Animals adapt to the cold by hibernating, migrating to lower, warmer areas, or insulating their bodies with layers of fat. Animals will also tend to have shorter legs, tails, and ears, in order to reduce heat loss. Another adaptation that serves some of these animals well is the change of colour of their coat in the winter. A relative of the weasel, the ermine, as well as the snowshoe hare turn from brown to pure, snowy white in the winter.
Perhaps the biggest threat to the boreal forest today is exploration and development of oil and natural gas reserves. Other threats abound. Perhaps the most serious is _____________________; as the planet warms the southern reaches of the boreal forest will become warm enough for deciduous trees to outcompete the conifers and replace them. _____________________ is always a threat; unless carefully managed these forests are very slow to regrow and corporate pressures may reduce the amount of management and/or accelerate cutting beyond what can be sustained.
As we move south from the tundra we encounter the next biome, the taiga. The taiga, or _______________, is the ____________________ terrestrial biome. It covers almost 6800 miles in the Northern Hemisphere, spanning across _______________, _______________ and _______________. Taiga is the Russian word for _______________.
Long, cold winters, and short, mild, wet summers are typical of this region. The length of day also varies with the seasons. Winter days are short, while summer days are long because of the tilt of the earth on its axis. n the winter season, the taiga's temperatures can drop below -76°F (_______________). However, in the summer season temperatures can jump above 104°F (_________________). The average winter temperature is _____________ (-30° F), but the average summer temperature is _________________ (37-54° F) which enables this biome to sustain life. The total precipitation in a year is 30 - 85 cm (12 - 33 in) . The forms the precipitation comes in are _____________________. Most of the precipitation in the taiga falls as rain in the summer. There are marshes, swamps and lakes found throughout the taiga.
There are not a lot of species of plants in the taiga because of the hard conditions. Not many plants can survive the extreme cold of the taiga winter.
There are some _______________________________ but the trees in taigas are mostly _________________ (____________________ ________________), such as larch, fir, spruce and pine trees. Evergreens in the taiga tend to be thin and grow close together. This gives them
protection from the cold and wind. Evergreens also are usually shaped like an upside down cone to protect the branches from breaking under the weight of all that snow.
There are many different kings of animals in the taiga biome. Among them are the wolves, deer, bears, lynx, cougars, moose, and cyotes. Many of these animals are often hunted for sport and also for food. Also, some are poached, which is illegal. The bogs and ponds in the taiga provide a great summertime breeding place for many different insects.
Animals adapt to the cold by hibernating, migrating to lower, warmer areas, or insulating their bodies with layers of fat. Animals will also tend to have shorter legs, tails, and ears, in order to reduce heat loss. Another adaptation that serves some of these animals well is the change of colour of their coat in the winter. A relative of the weasel, the ermine, as well as the snowshoe hare turn from brown to pure, snowy white in the winter.
Perhaps the biggest threat to the boreal forest today is exploration and development of oil and natural gas reserves. Other threats abound. Perhaps the most serious is _____________________; as the planet warms the southern reaches of the boreal forest will become warm enough for deciduous trees to outcompete the conifers and replace them. _____________________ is always a threat; unless carefully managed these forests are very slow to regrow and corporate pressures may reduce the amount of management and/or accelerate cutting beyond what can be sustained.