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Plants & Animals Native to the Taiga Forests

Taiga forests, also known as boreal or northern coniferous forests, stretch across the subarctic regions of Europe, Asia and North America. Despite brief summers and a relatively cold climate, taiga ecosystems support a wide variety of plant and animal life, including large herbivores and predators adapted to harsh winters and insects and birds that flourish during the growing season. Today, taiga plants and animals face ecological threats from human causes, including development, resource extraction and climate change.

Conifers and Other Plants
- Cold-adapted evergreen species such as firs, pines, spruces and hemlocks predominate, although the taiga also supports deciduous (broadleaf) trees such as larches and aspens. Conifers flourish in this environment because their needles retain water and allow them to start photosynthesis during the growing season without having to grow new leaves.
  
  Due to thin and acidic soils and limited sunlight, few plants can flourish closer to the ground, but blueberries, junipers and a few species of wildflowers survive. Mosses and lichens also hug the forest floor and surrounding trees and provide food for animals.
Taiga Mammals
- Taiga mammals include large herbivores like caribou, moose and elk, as well as smaller plant-eaters like snowshoe hares, beaver, squirrels, porcupines, and small rodents such as lemmings and voles.
  
  The ecosystem also supports a variety of mammalian predators, including the massive Siberian tiger. Smaller cats, such as bobcats and lynx, call the taiga home, alongside bears, wolves, coyotes, foxes, wolverines and several types of weasel.
  
  Many of these species originated in Siberia, and scientists claim that they spread to North America by crossing the now-vanished ice bridge across the Bering Strait between Russia and Alaska.
Other Taiga Animals
- Several insect species target the plentiful conifers, including Siberian moths, pine moths and a variety of tree-boring beetles. Biting insects, such as mosquitoes and black flies, also thrive during the summer, feasting on the blood of mammals.
  
  In turn, several bird species eat the insects, including wood warblers and woodpeckers, while crossbills and nutcrackers eat the seeds from cones. Owls and hawks fly silently overhead, swooping down on small mammals and other prey.
  
  Few cold-blooded amphibians and reptiles inhabit the taiga because of harsh winter temperatures.
Threats to Taiga Ecosystems
- In "Taiga," April Sayre mentions several trends that jeopardize the health of taiga ecosystems, including the building of massive hydroelectric dams, acid rain, commercial forestry, mining and development. Boreal forests conceal enormous underground oil and gas reserves, but exploitation can cause serious long-term environmental damage. Meanwhile, global climate change opens the door to colonization by broadleaf trees and other species that previously could not survive in the colder taiga temperatures.

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