The taiga biome, also known as the boreal forest, is characterized by long, bitterly cold winters and short, cool summers. It forms a continuous belt of coniferous forests across northern regions of Europe and Asia and North America. Key abiotic factors include low temperatures, heavy snowfall, and soil that is frozen for months each winter. The water and nitrogen cycles play important roles in supporting the ecosystem by circulating water and transforming nitrogen into usable forms for plants. An earthquake could severely impact the taiga by destroying plant and animal habitats, causing avalanches, and disrupting the ecosystem until gradual regeneration occurs through decomposition, scavenging, and reseeding over time.

2.  Taiga is a Russian word that means, a forest which covers so much of that
country.
 The boreal forest is mostly consisted of coniferous forest.
 It is a continuous belt from North America to Eurasia. Totally absent in the
southern hemisphere because of narrowing trend of the continents towards the
South Pole.
 Abiotic (non-living) factors: Temperature, sunlight, soil, air, water.
 Very long, bitterly cold winter, always below freezing point, soil water is frozen
for 5-7 months during winter, and heavy snow fall.
 Cool, brief summers with precipitation in liquid form.

19. The Living Factors of an Environment

20. In the taiga biome, the water cycle is very active.
It helps circulate the water in the biome to create a stable source of water.
With the forests’ cold state and low growing seasons, the cycle of water is very important to
help support a lively ecosystem and produce a good community of species.
http://www.southtippcoco.ie/water/images%5CwaterCycle.png

21. The nitrogen cycle helps to transform the non-usable nitrates in the ground to useable nitrogen
for the plants’ intake. If the cycle was not present, then the dead and decayed organisms
would overflow the increase of useless nitrates in the soil and plants and animals would die due
to the increase in nitrates. Creating these nitrates help the plants constantly have a supply of
nitrogen.
http://www.h2ou.com/h2images/NitrogenCycle-lgr-F.jpg

23. Effects of an Earthquake (Natural Disaster):
With this natural disaster, most tall plant life will be destroyed, causing tall trees and shrubs to
fall over. In higher altitudes, it will cause a possible crack in ice or there could be an avalanche
in the mountainous regions.
With the loss of the habitat of trees and shrubs, and the possible damage from flooding and
avalanche, the normal ecosystem of life will be affected greatly. Birds and other animals with
homes in the trees will die out or migrate. Other animals that rely on those animals will lose
their food source and dwindle in size. In this scenario, there would be no sign of primary
succession in this biome.
In secondary succession, the boreal forest would look like a normal forest up to the day of the
earthquake. The forest would be densely populated, covered in evergreen trees, with pine
needles and pine cones on the floor of the forest. Then when the earthquake hits, plant life will
be uprooted, animals killed and scared away, and predators starved.
In order for the biome to rebuild its structure, 1st, the decomposing bacteria will decompose
animals and dead plant life that litters the forest floor, causing nutrients to be given off, and
used by the soil to re-grow plants. Scavengers like squirrels will appear and pick the extras
from the debris and help carry seeds/pollen to recreate growth in the area. They will find
acorns and bury them, which will grow new trees. Also, animals that come across a pine cone
will have its seeds stuck to their bodies, spreading the seeds across the deserted forest, and
planting new flora. With the large trees out of the way, most of the undergrowth will have a
time to thrive. And with sunlight, grasses and shrubs will thrive and create rooted areas for
animals to live and regroup their population.

26. Bibliography
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Experiments/Biome/graphs.php
http://www.tutorvista.com/biology/abiotic-factors-of-the-taiga-biome
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/taiga_plant_page.htm
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/taiga_climate_page.htm
http://biomesfirst.wikispaces.com/Taiga+Facts
http://www.radford.edu/~swoodwar/CLASSES/GEOG235/biomes/taiga/taiga.html
http://www.radford.edu/~swoodwar/CLASSES/GEOG235/biomes/main.html
http://www.mbgnet.net/sets/taiga/index.htm
http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/nceas-web/kids/biomes/tundra.htm
http://www.runet.edu/~swoodwar/CLASSES/GEOG235/biomes/taiga/taiga.html
http://www-eosdis.ornl.gov/NPP/guides/Busing_GSM_NPP.html
http://www.s-cool.co.uk/topic_principles.asp?loc=pr&topic_id=2&subject_id=6&ebt=192&ebn=&ebs=&ebl=&elc=13
http://edtech.kennesaw.edu/web/taiga.html
http://www.slusarczyk.net/winter/
http://www.wildnatureimages.com