Where Is, The Biome Located, And Distributed?

Where is, the biome located, and distributed?

coniferous forests also known as taiga or boreal forests

They are covered with coniferous trees, such as pine trees.

Coniferous forests are unique Biomes located around the 50-60 latitude mark so basically in between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic circle although Temperate Coniferous Forests also distribute and are in Europe, Asia and North America with high rise mountains. The Northern Boreal Forest is usually in countries like Canada and Russia.

Temprature

How does this biome function?

coniferous forests temperature differ from one to another depend on their location.

They include very hot temperatures to very cold temperatures range between -40C to 20C

The temperate coniferous forests are quite modest temperatures and do experience changes because of the seasons, plenty of rain, cool winter and warm summer. Tropical coniferous forests are areas with a very humid climate. The temperatures are commonly hot. Boreal coniferous forests have mixed temperatures. This means that once a season changes, a whole different temperature is changed, it has extremely cold winter and mild to hot summer.

Precipitation

Precipitation in coniferous forests ranges from 300 to 900 mm annually,

Life at coniferous forests isn’t fully active as much compared to other Biome. Coniferous forests consist of conifer trees which have needle shaped leaves. Conifer trees grow very close to one another. the pine needles are acidic, when the pine needles fall to the ground it transfers the acid to the soil. Therefore only plants with acidic conditions can survive in Coniferous forests.

Ferns and few herbaceous plants grow in few areas where little light enter the thick forest to reach the floor.

Mosses, liverworts and lichens found on the forest floor and grow on tree trunks and branches.

Only herbivores that lives on acidic plants inhabit coniferous forests.

You will notice lots of insects inhabit coniferous forests and they build their nests in trees.

Deer and elk also found in coniferous forests they eat the berries that grow on the shrubs. Large predators such as bears and wolves also inhabit coniferous forests, they hunt large herbivores.

Mammals found in the northern coniferous region like moose, deer, reindeer or caribou, mice and squirrels. Predators like wolves, lynxes, bears, foxes and wolverines.

Mammals adapted to the icy winters and they survived it in many ways. Some like foxes grow thick winter coats. Some animals stay under the snow to stay warm and live on stored food.

Other hibernate mammals like bears stay asleep all the winter and living on fat reserve in their bodies during the summer. Moose and deer survive the winter by eating mosses, lichens and bark.

A few birds like woodpeckers, owls hawks and grouse are permanent residents of the evergreen forest. While many other birds migrate to warmer regions in winter.

When spring begins, thousands of insects swarms the forest attracting birds migrating to warmer areas.

Many species of insects inhabits the forests including wasps, bees, and sawflies. Most of them stay underground or inside tree.

The coniferous forest has a big food web for the biome. A food web is where multiple food chains exist and make a whole food web for this biome. The producers in a coniferous forest are basically green plants like Evergreen trees, Shrubs, Grass, Ferns etc. Carnivores are also part of this food web or a food chain. These are usually small animals. They include small rodents, squirrels, chipmunks, mice, birds, insects (decomposers, elk and moose. Furthermore, there are small predators. They are usually carnivores (animals that eat meat from animals). These include Birds, Skunks, Owls, Weasels and foxes. The birds eat insects and so does the skunks. Owls eat birds. Weasels and foxes eat small rodents etc. Finally, there are large predators (tertiary consumers). These are usually omnivores. These include wolves, lynx etc.

Energy Pyramid

Coniferous forest has a short growing season. It produces about 6000 Kilocalories of plant material that animals can eat per square meter per year.

The majority of its energy goes to respiration. they make all the food from sunlight, carbon dioxide in the air, water, and minerals. They are the primary producers and all the animals are dependent on them.

Herbivore are next level up on the trophy. they eat the plants, Only 10% of the energy is stored in the animals bodies, which means 600 kilocalories of animal flesh and bone are turned into animals per each square meter of ground

secondary consumers are next level on the pyramid. These animals eat the bodies of other animals. only 69 Kilocalories makes the bodies of these animals.

tertiary consumers are on the top of the Pyramid. These predators eat anything they catch and only 6 Kilocalories are used to build bone and muscle in their bodies.

This Energy pyramid shows that only 10% of the kilocalories move up to the next trophic level to make the animal bodies and 90 %of the energy gets burned.

Adaptations to my very own animal

• It resists, overcomes bushfires.

• It camouflages in certain areas to keep safe from predators. They change their colour once seasons change from time to time.

• They are omnivores.

• They usually hibernate from different areas.

• Moose, Insect, Wolf, Squirrel

• Name – Squimina.

This animal adapts to a coniferous forest and has a variety of role/arrays of what it can do. It is also part of the main food web in a common coniferous forest. This animal is part of the ‘Small Predators’ group or Secondary consumers. This animal can migrate but doesn’t need to. It has thick fur which protects their skin from any harm and it also keeps them warm since the biome it lives in, usually has mixed temperatures like cold then hot temps. It eats green plants and insects. The green plants are usually plants like Evergreen trees, Shrubs, Grass, Ferns, Moss etc. The insects it also eats are worms, bugs etc. Its mouth has a mouth of an ant. It can prick animals which then release a painful wound. Then it eats it up quickly with the help of the sharp beaks. It lives in caves or the insides of a tree. This links to how a wolf lives. This animal also has thick fur to keep warm from high levels of precipitation and low temperatures.

This animal has threats and so does every animal. It is hunted by wolves, lynx. They are hunted by Tertiary Consumers. It also must keep away from bushfires since this animal has thick fur. It can attract fire which can then burn the animals. There are a few ways to stop them from being hunted and that is that this animal has a brain of a human and it creates traps to kill its predator. This happens rarely though. So, what this animal does it that it swims in rivers which wolves hate. This animal has the legs of a jaguar, that can paddle but not the fear of a jaguar/wolf to swim in the water. To keep away from bushfires, they climb on trees until they are safe from the bushfire.

Human impact

Human have great impact on coniferous forests in many ways.

Clear cutting

Clear cutting and deforestation is the biggest threat in coniferous forests.

Negative effects

Trees cutting leads to loss of habitat for the organisms that live that area.

it leads to less fertile soil due to soil erosion which impact the plant growth.

It leads to less water vapor is able to return to the atmosphere, causes climate Change

Road construction

Road construction isolate organisms from each other. It can also affect their feeding grounds, migration routes and breeding opportunities.

Acid Rain

The smoke and fumes released by the burning of fossil fuels produces acidic rain which damaged the trees and limits nutrients.

Hunting and Trapping

hunting and trapping can create a negative effect on the population of some species. it can leads to unbalance ecosystem.

Global Warming

The combination of burning of fossil fuels and cleat cutting increases the concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere therefore increase in Earth’s climate temperature which make it challenging for organisms to survive.

We may be able to save these evergreen forests by making human aware of the consequences of their actions and limits them. Thanks to the international organisations which they make lots of effort to protect our forests.

Some of the strategies to protect Coniferous forests can be:

Limit cutting trees and this only can be done if human gets approval from the concerned council of how and where they can cut the trees.

Limit trapping and hunting and hunters needs permits to go trapping or hunting by doing that we can protect animals.

Limit road construction: limiting road construction by underground lots of research to identify the importance of the road to be constructed and its side effect to the forests and weighting up the effects.

Issue huge fines and possible jail sentences to whomever break any of the laws or limitations.

Make continuous studies and research to prevent any damage to the ecosystem within coniferous forests.

Issue continuous awareness to the side effect of tempering in the forests and its consequences through media.