TAIGA
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, United States, is classified as part of the biome: Taiga. However, due to it's size and location, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem can also share part in other biomes such as the Northern Temperate Coniferous Forest and Grassland prairies. Yellowstone Park has a latitude and longitude of 44.6°N and -110.5° W respectively. In the North American continent, A large amount of the park is above 2,286m in elevation due to its situation in the middle of the American Rockies and spans 12-22 million acres. The mountain environment is typically categorized into three main sub-environment types: Montane, Sub-alpine and Alpine. In each environment, there are different communities to exploit the different niches available and required. The Congressional Research Service, 1986, defined the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem as, "the high mountainous region centered around Yellowstone National Park and surrounded by dry regions".
The taiga biome is the largest terrestrial biome on earth. Important factors that are significant to the taiga as maybe not to other similar biomes, is their evergreen (coniferous) trees such as spruces, fir and pines. These trees have needle-like leaves that, though they do drop, never do so enough to leave the tree leaf-less. The needles are very dark so they can soak up more sun for photosynthesis. The taiga has a very low annual average temperature and low precipitation of only 30-85 cm per year. Taiga soil is relatively poor, or at least there is a thinner layer of good soil for two reasons: firstly, because the leaves do not fall for extended periods of the year like in other types of forests, and secondly because it's colder, rate of decay is slower.
Due to the location of the taiga in the north of the northern hemisphere, temperatures remain quite low and seasons are more commonly categorized into the growing season and the winter season. The growing season generally only lasts three months, whereas the winter season lasts for up to six months with temperatures averaging below freezing.
A distinctive feature to the taiga regarding it's climate is the huge temperature range of -54 to 29 degrees celsius annually, where it's 'summers' are quite warm and it's winters are extremely cold.
Due to the location of the taiga in the north of the northern hemisphere, temperatures remain quite low and seasons are more commonly categorized into the growing season and the winter season. The growing season generally only lasts three months, whereas the winter season lasts for up to six months with temperatures averaging below freezing.
A distinctive feature to the taiga regarding it's climate is the huge temperature range of -54 to 29 degrees celsius annually, where it's 'summers' are quite warm and it's winters are extremely cold.
Altitude accounts for much of the climate trends in the taiga biome. As elevation increases, temperature decreases, and in lower temperatures, conifers are most adapted. Between approximately 3,000 and 10,000 feet is the elevation for conifers, above 10,000 feet and the land shows features more of tundra, and below about 3,000 feet, the land is more temperate forest/foothills.
Precipitation in the boreal forests of western North America is more abundant due to the influence of the Bering sea and Pacific Ocean, which generate storms. Dissimilarly, further northern regions of the taiga experience lower precipitation and therefor account for varying species of flora and fauna. Taiga is generally classified to fit within latitudes of 50 to 70 degrees N in circumpolar regions. This accounts for the reason there are no taiga regions on the southern hemisphere. |