Taiga Biome

Question 1

Where is the Taiga biome located on the earths surface?

Answer 1

Between 50 and 70 degrees north and right the way across the north of Asia and America. Largest biome on the earths surface

Question 2

How does the taiga refresh the worlds atmosphere?

Answer 2

Because it produces so much oxygen

Question 3

How long is the growing season in the Taiga and how long does it take for a tree to grow from a sapling?

Answer 3

One month so it can take 50 years for a tree to grow from a sapling

Question 4

What fraction of the worlds trees does the taiga have?

Answer 4

One third

Question 5

Define productivity

Answer 5

The measure of all an ecosystems biotic components

Question 6

Why is there low productivity and biodiversity in the taiga? 4 points

Answer 6

When there are harsh cold temperatures, productivity is low because growth is stunted. There is a low biodiversity because few plants are adapted to these dry and cold conditions. Decomposition of the litter layer is slow and stops during the winter deep freeze so the taiga soil has low nutrient levels and only few specialist plants can survive.

Question 7

Where are the most nutrients in the taiga and why?

Answer 7

Litter because pine needles decay slowly in cold temperatures

Question 8

Which is the biggest nutrient store?

Answer 8

Litter

Question 9

How are conifer trees adapted to the taiga? 6 points

Answer 9

Don’t drop leaves til autumn because leaves take energy to grow each year and energy is in short supply in the taiga and trees need to photosynthesise straight away in spring, specially adapted needle shaped leaves (pine needles) which have a very small surface area meaning they lose much less water than TRF plants, leaves have a waxy coating to absorb sunlight, needles contain very little sap so they don’t freeze easily and can operate in cold conditions, conifers grow close together to gain protection from wind damage, downward facing branches so heavy snow slides off instead of breaking the branches

Question 10

What happens to the number of animal species in the Taiga in winter?

Answer 10

The number drops dramatically. Canadian Taiga has more than 300 bird species in summer because it’s numerous lakes produce billions of insects during warm months but only 30 species stay in winter.

Question 11

How are mammals adapted to the taiga? 5 points

Answer 11

Thick coats for insulation, smaller ears and short tails to avoid frostbite, bears build up fat reserves in summer and hibernate in a den through much of the winter when they enter a sleep like state and allow body temperature to fall, animals develop winter camouflage (white coat or plumage) so they dont stand out in white snow, white fur fibres provide better insulation that fur with dark pigment

Question 12

Give a fact which proves the taiga accounts for most of the worlds deforestation and the TRF is second highest

Answer 12

Canada’s rate of deforestation between 2000-2013 was highest in the world at 21.4%. Brazil accounted for 14.2% (most from a TRF)

Question 13

What does the high rate of deforestation in the taiga tell us?

Answer 13

The taiga is more threatened than it is presented to be in the media which could be due to its size and amount of trees

Question 14

Give 4 facts which show the demand for softwood trees

Answer 14

Every year the world used about 400 million tonnes of paper, almost all comes from softwood trees (80% of all trees cut down each year are softwoods). Softwood is used for construction timber (roof beams, window and door frames), and board (chipboard and fibreboard used for flooring and furniture)

Question 15

How is paper made?

Answer 15

Softwood is turned into pulp. It is crushed and ground, sometimes using chemicals to produce a sludge that is made into paper. A constant supply of timber is needed to run pulp and paper making factories

Question 16

Identify a direct threat to the taiga forest

Answer 16

Deforestation for softwood trees

Question 17

Identify 3 indirect threats to the taiga

Answer 17

Exploitation of minerals, fossil fuels and hydro electric power (dams)

Question 18

Give a fact which shows that mining is big business in Canada

Answer 18

There are over 4000 mines (for extracting oil, gas, silver, gold, iron ore and other metals) in Ontarlo, Canada. Each of these destroys an area of taiga and they need roads and infrastructure which destroys more forest

Question 19

What are the Athabasca tar sands in Canada?

Answer 19

A mixture of fossil fuel oil and sediment that can be mined and heated to separate the oil. They lie under an area of about 150000km^2 of taiga, they could hold an estimated 1.7 trillion barrels of oil

Question 20

How do the Athabasca tar sands affect the taiga? 5 facts

Answer 20

500km^2 have been mined so far, the tar sands are extracted by deforesting the taiga and strip mining the surface or by steaming out tar so it melts and can be collected, both methods destroy the forest and produce toxic waste collected in tailings ponds, mining uses 2-4 tonnes of water for every tonne of oil produced plus natural gas to heat water into steam

Question 21

Where does the demand for oil come from?

Answer 21

The USA because trump doesn’t believe in climate change

Question 22

Identify three factors which reduce biodiversity in the taiga

Answer 22

Acid precipitation, pests and diseases, forest fires

Question 23

How does acid precipitation reduce biodiversity in the taiga? 3 ways

Answer 23

Plants are damaged by acid because acid gets into taigas soil, lakes and ponds. Insects and their eggs are killed which means fewer insects are present to feed migrating bird populations in summer. Acid kills soil microbes and prevents nutrients entering the soil; this weakens plant species leaving them less resistant to extreme winters, forest fires and attacks from pests and diseases.

Question 24

What 3 things cause forest fires?

Answer 24

Lightening strikes, hunters lighting camp fires, gas flares in oil fields

Question 25

How do forest fires reduce biodiversity in the taiga? 3 points

Answer 25

Taiga biome is adapted to forest fires occurring every 80-100 years. The ash left after a fire is nutrient rich and plant species can benefit but as forest fires become more frequent as global temperatures rise, young saplings have burnt before they grow to replace old trees

Question 26

How do pests and diseases reduce biodiversity in the taiga? 3 ways

Answer 26

Taiga has fungus and mound species which damage conifer needles, trunks and roots. Insects eat their pine cones, needles and young shoots. New pests and diseases spread through taiga biomes

Question 27

Give 2 examples of pests and diseases impact on the taiga

Answer 27

The silkworm spread into eastern Siberia from Mongolia in early 2000s. The taiga forest had been affected by forest fires and drought and the silkworm infestation killed many plants weakened by these stressors. In North America plagued of spruce bark beetles have killed large numbers of taiga trees. Over 6 million acres of Alaska’s forest show signs of spruce bark beetle activity (invasive species)

Question 28

Why is protecting biodiversity in the Taiga important?

Answer 28

Slight changes like introduction of a new disease lead to drastic effects as there is already such little biodiversity, plants grow very slowly because of the lack of nutrients and cold winters but pollution remains in the Taiga for decades, taiga animals and plants are highly specialised so struggle to adapt to climate change

Question 29

What is the strategy of national parks/ protected wilderness area?

Answer 29

These areas prevent commercial development of the Taiga within their boundaries. This involves active ecosystem management. For example park rangers sometimes have to reduce the numbers of elk means saplings get eaten instead of growing into trees. Vegetation that other species rely on is eaten by elk

Question 30

What are the 6 challenges to implementing the strategy?

Answer 30

Big predators need large territories to survive so national parks may not be big enough, big predators do not want to see tourists who are attracted by national parks so they seek remote areas, visitors often damage the ecosystem, ‘human wildlife conflict occurrences’ involve grizzly bear attacks on tourists, taiga species often migrate and can’t be protected when they leave the area, where the taiga has oil and gas governments face pressure to develop the area because exporting these resources can lift countries out of extreme poverty, taiga is easily damaged by pollution but slow to recover from it as temperatures are so low but tourists will not visit the national park if it is far from the city

Question 31

What is the strategy of sustainable forestry?

Answer 31

Trees that are cut down are replanted with native taiga species. Whole forest area is managed to prevent biodiversity being damaged. Habitat areas are preserved and corridors of forest maintained so species can migrate from one forested area to another

Question 32

What are the 2 challenges of sustainable forestry?

Answer 32

Sustainable management is expensive and requires long term planning. Only possible for large companies or when international organisations provide funding. In Russia, for example, most of the taiga forest is leased to hundreds of small to medium sized companies for a 25-50 year period which is shorter than it takes for new trees to grow, companies are not interested in sustainable management they want to maximise by clearing as much timber from the taiga as they can within the period of the lease

Question 33

Give 6 points for exploiting the taiga forest

Answer 33

Canada and Russia have a lot of mining and energy production in the taiga for example 380,000 Canadians in mining industries, paper we use mainly comes from taiga forestry, energy for many countries comes from taiga oil and gas fields, brings jobs to remote areas, some exploitation is renewable for example hydroelectric power, can export resources to increase GDP

Question 34

Give 5 points against exploitation of the taiga

Answer 34

Indigenous taiga people wish to maintain aspects of traditional uses of resources e.g hunting, loss of tourism and recreational activities, caused more problems like pollution, last untouched biome, vital carbon sinks

Question 35

What is the James Bay HEP project in Canada?

Answer 35

Water is stored behind dams and is used to generate hydro electric power. Located close to Hudson Bay in Quebec, Canada. One of the worlds largest HEP plants generating 16,500 MW of electricity. Built between 1974 and 2012 and cost US$20 billion

Question 36

How does the James Bay HEP project impact the Taiga?

Answer 36

11,000km^2 of taiga forest has been flooded during construction, Mercury (a poison) was released as the flooded forests decayed in the reservoir which polluted the Rupert and La Grande rivers and gets into the food web and via fish gets into the local Cree Indian population, the roads and dams and electricity pylons have disrupted migration routes of Caribou

Question 37

Which 6 groups have majorly conflicting views about exploitation of the taiga?

Answer 37

Tourists and government, tourists and mining companies, tourists and logging companies, government and indigenous people, logging companies and indigenous people, mining companies and indigenous people

Question 38

Which 3 groups have no conflict over exploitation of the taiga?

Answer 38

Government and mining companies, government and logging companies, mining companies and logging companies

Question 39

Which groups have the most conflict and why?

Answer 39

Indigenous people and the government because the government considers economic impacts where as indigenous people think about environmental and social effects

Question 40

Describe the taiga nutrient cycle in 4 points

Answer 40

Plants can only grow in the short 3-5 month summer, litter accumulates because decomposition only happens in summer, soils are thin/low in nutrients/acidic, plants grow very slowly due to short growing season and low nutrient soil

Question 41

How does acid precipitation reach the Taiga biome?

Answer 41

When power plants and factories burn coal or oil the smoke contains pollutants such as sulphur dioxide and carbon dioxide and nitrous oxides which react with water vapour in the clouds and fall to the surface as acid precipitation, prevailing winds carry pollution from industrial areas to taiga forests

Question 42

How does global warming affect the taiga biome? 3 ways

Answer 42

Animals like the Siberian tiger have high levels of body fat and thick fur coats which makes them heat intolerant, warmer winter temperatures allow new diseases and pests to spread to the taiga which animals/plants have no resistance to so species could die out, forest fires in Russia’s Taiga forest are 30-50% more common than they were 20 years ago which correlates with global warming but taiga species are not adapted to frequent fires and new trees need years to grow