Transcript coniferous forests - GeographyinActionSHSS

GEOGRAPHY
Nekelle De Coteau
What is a coniferous forest?
 Coniferous forests also called Boreal forest
 Coniferous forests is a forest that is made up of mostly conebearing or coniferous trees.
 The leaves are small and needle like or scale like.
 Coniferous forests are mostly evergreen.
 The northern coniferous forests are called taiga (Russian name)
 They are softwoods and are able to survive in cold temperatures
and acidic soils.
 In conclusion a coniferous forest is a forest that is made up of
trees that survive in cold temperatures, acidic soils, leaves that
are small and needle like and cone bearing trees.
What kinds of trees are found in
coniferous forests?
Pine trees
Spures
Hemlocks
Firs
Lypresses
Cedar
Redwood
Where are coniferous forests found?
 They are found between 55° and 66° where winters are long and very
cold summers are short and warm and annual precipitation is around
600mm.
 Coniferous forests are found mainly in the Northern Hemisphere
 Some are found in Southern Hemisphere
 They cover large areas of the North America
 Ranges across Northern Europe, Scandinavia
 Asia, Russia
 Northen China, Northern Japan
Map of the distribution of
coniferous forest
Characteristics of coniferous trees and
forests
 The trees are of a conical shape
 Leaves are needle like which have waxy cuticle that
prevents water loos
 The branches are soft and flexible and usually points
downwards, so that snow slides of them easily
 The trees are evergreen
Climate of coniferous forests
 The climate is a cool climate or cold continental climate
 Rainfall is low, 2500 mm per year with no real seasonal pattern
 Snowfall is frequent and frost occur in summer
 Summer temperature maximum is 10-15 degrees celcius
 Winter temperature remains below freezing up to six months
 The growing season is limited to six to eight months
 Long hours of daylight in summer (16-20 hrs), to allow photosynthesis
Forest floor of the coniferous forest
 Little light can penetrate through the canopy of trees to
reach the forest floor
 Because of the gloom only ferns and few herbaceous
plants grow there
 Mosses, liverworts and lichens are also found on the
forest floor and tree trunks and branches
 There are few flowering plants
Soils of coniferous forests
 The soils of coniferous forests are podzol
 Precipitation is greater than potential evapotranspiration
 Leaching occurs due to snow melt
 There is a raw acidic humus with a pH of 4.5-5.5
 The acidic water releases ion and aluminum oxides and
moves them down the soil
 Few earthworms, due to the acidity of the soil
 Thick litter layer develops, due to low temperatures and
resistant acidic nature of soils
Vegetation of coniferous forests
 Coniferous vegetation occurs in the stands of one
species
 Pine favours sandy soils; spurce favours damper soils
 Ground vegetation is limited because it too dark
 Biomass is 20kg/m (much woody matter) due to
structure of trees
Adaptions to the environment and
organisms found in coniferous forest
 Being evergreen enables photosynthesis when
temperature rise above 3°C
 The conical shape enables trees to shed snow and
reduce rocking by wind
 Needle-like leaves have a small surface area
therefore, water loss is reduced
 Animal species are dominated by insects and seedeating rodents; larger animals include deer, bear and
wolves
References
 Oxford Dictionary of Geography
 Earthobservatory.nasa.gov
 Kellyspage11.tripod.com
 En.wikipedia.org
 Wwf.panda.org
 Advanced Geography Nagle
 Geography an Integrated Approach by David waugh