Taiga (/ta/; Russian: ; IPA: [tja]; from Turkic[1]) also known as boreal forest or snowforest,is

a biomecharacterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces and larches. The taiga is

the world's largest terrestrial biome[citation needed]. In North America it covers most of

inland Canada and Alaskaas well as parts of the extreme northern continental United States

(northern Minnesota through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to Upstate New York and northern New

England), where it is known as the Northwoods.[2] In Eurasia, it covers most of Sweden, Finland, much

of Norway, some lowland/coastal areas of Iceland, much of Russia from Karelia in the west to the Pacific

Ocean (including much of Siberia), and areas of northern Kazakhstan, northern Mongolia, and

northernJapan (on the island of Hokkaid). However, the main tree species, the length of the growing

season and summer temperatures vary. For example, the taiga of North America mostly consists of

spruces; Scandinavian and Finnish taiga consists of a mix of spruce, pines and birch; Russian taiga has
 spruces, pines and larches depending on the region, while the Eastern Siberian taiga is a vast larch

forest.

A different use of the term taiga is often encountered in the English language, with "boreal forest" used in

the United States and Canada to refer to only the more southerly part of the biome, while taiga is used to

describe the more barren areas of the northernmost part of the biome approaching the tree line and

the tundra biome. Hoffman (1958) discusses the origin of this differential use in North America and why it

is an inappropriate differentiation of the Russian term. Although at high elevations taiga grades into alpine

tundra through Krummholz, it is not an alpine biome only like subalpine forest, and much of taiga is

lowlands.

Contents
[hide]

1 Climate and geography

2 Soils
3 Flora
4 Fauna
5 Fire
6 Threats
o 6.1 Human activities
o 6.2 Climate change
o 6.3 Insects
o 6.4 Pollution
 7 Protection
8 Natural disturbance
9 Taiga ecoregions
10 See also
11 References
12 Further reading
13 External links

1. The temperate deciduous forest is a biome that is always changing. It has four distinct
seasons: winter, spring, summer and fall. Winters are cold and summers are
warm. Temperate deciduous forestsget between 30 and 60 inches of precipitation a
year.
Lakes and Ponds Biome
Lakes and Ponds represent a freshwater biome type that is generally referred to in the
scientific community as a lentic ecosystem (still or standing waters). Scientists that
study lakes and ponds are known as limnologists. In this overview we hope to describe
a few of the biotic (plant, animal and micro-organism) interactions as well as the abiotic
interactions (physical and chemical).

The River and Stream Biome

Rivers and Streams are places where water is being transported from one place to
another. With few exceptions, rivers take the water that collects in a watershed and
ultimately deposits that water in the ocean. Along the way, the river biome serves as an
important life-giving source to many plants and animals

The aphotic zone (aphotic from Greek prefix - + "without light") is the portion of a lake or
ocean where there is little or no sunlight. It is formally defined as the depths beyond which less than
1% of sunlight penetrates. Consequently, bioluminescence is essentially the only light found in this
zone. Most food comes from dead organisms sinking to the bottom of the lake or ocean from
overlying waters.

The depth of the aphotic zone can be greatly affected by such things as turbidity and the season of
the year. The aphotic zone underlies the photic zone, which is that portion of a lake or ocean directly
affected by sunlight

The photic zone (also known as the euphotic zone) is the name for the depth of water, be it in lake,
sea or ocean, which is exposed to sufficient sunlight to allow photosynthesis to take place. It extends
from the Atmosphere-ocean interface downward to a depth where the light intensity is 1% of that at
the surface. Its exact depth is dependent, therefore, on the extent of the light reduction within that
water column, or in other words, it depends on how transparent the water is. The depth of the Photic
zome typically ranges from only a few centimetres, normally in muddy, nutrient rich lakes, to around
200 meters, normally a depth found in the open ocean.
rom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean or
a lake, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. Organisms living in this zone
are called benthos, e.g. the benthic invertebrate community,
including crustaceans and polychaetes.[1] The organisms generally live in close relationship with the
substrate bottom and many are permanently attached to the bottom. The superficial layer of the soil
lining the given body of water, the benthic boundary layer, is an integral part of the benthic zone, as
it greatly influences the biological activity which takes place there. Examples of contact soil layers
include sand bottoms, rocky outcrops, coral, and bay mud.