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Coniferous Forest
Biome
Cassie Conkwright
And
Raven Tuck
Key Points
Coniferous forest is a terrestrial
biome found in temperate
regions of the world with warm
summers and cool winters and
adequate rainfall to sustain a
forest.
Short summers and long
winters.
Location
• The northern coniferous forest
biome occupies a vast area below
the tundra, extending
completely across Canada and
into interior Alaska. The biome
is also referred to as the boreal
forest or taiga.
Abiotic Factors
• Average Annual Rainfall- 14-29.5 in.
• Average Temperatures in the Summer57.2°F
• Average Temperatures in the Winter14°F
• The weather in this biome is very cold.
• It is stormy in the winter and hot.
• There are usually many lightning
storms in the summer
Abiotic Factors
•The length of daylight is 12 hours
and varies little.
•Clear-cut logging is the biggest
threat to the Coniferous forest
•Land is being cleared for ski slopes,
landfills, housing, new roads, etc.
Biotic Factors
Animals:
White tailed deer,
Reeve's muntjac,
fox,
mice,
owls,
and squirrels.
Biotic Factors
There are many plants in this biome,
but three dominate more than others.
• These are:
• pine,
• fir,
• Cedar
• and spruce trees.
• Mosses are also found almost
anywhere here.
Biotic Factors
☼Major Biotic Factors:
– Disease
• Needle Cast Tree
Disease
• Needle Blight Tree
Disease
– Predation
– Parasitism
Competition
• Coniferous forests cover huge areas but have fewer
kinds of plants and animals than any other forests.
– Therefore, many of the animals in the Coniferous
Forest have to compete for food and shelter.
• Because the plants grow so slowly, animals need to
roam over large areas to find enough food.
– This sometimes causes problems because many
forest animals are very territorial.
Plant Adaptations
• Because the plants grow so slowly, animals need to roam over large
areas to find enough food.
• Some coniferous trees depend on fire as a catalyst for seedrelease
– The heat from naturally occurring fires force the Lodgepole Pine tree's
serotinous cones to burst open, thus releasing the tree's seeds.
• Trees in the Coniferous forest primarily possess pine needles
instead of broad leaves. Needles are an important adaptation to the
extreme conditions present in the climate.
• Pine needles contain very little sap, so freezing is not much of a
problem.
Animal Adaptations
Thick fur to keep warm.
• =
Flat tails to warn other beavers.
Thick fur to help keep warm.
Webbed feet to swim faster
Large teeth the help hunt.
Long legs to run faster.
Human Influence/Impact
• Clearcut logging is the biggest threat to the Coniferous forest!
– Replanting after logging leads to single-species conifer monocultures not conducive to species biodiversity.
• In Canada, one acre of forest is cut every 12.9 seconds!
• Since the mid-1800s, about 320 billion tons of carbon have been
pumped into the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels and the
destruction of the world's forests.
• Over the years, the rain in many areas of the world has become
more acidic.
Land cleared
for ski resort
Affects of acid rain
Interesting Facts
The largest Coniferous forest exists in a ring
in Alaska, Canada, northern Europe, and
northern Asia, in a ring in the Northern
Hemisphere. This forest is called the "Taiga".
Most of the world's commercial softwood
timber, used for paper, comes from the
Coniferous Forest.
Coniferous Forests are the largest
land Biome of the World.
Works Cited
• http://www.inchinapinch.com/hab_pgs/t
erres/coniferous/c_forest.htm
• http://lsb.syr.edu/projects/cyberzoo/con
iferous.html
• http://www.fw.vt.edu/dendro/Forsite/ncf
biome.htm
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/snas/conifer
ous.html