Forests represent a third of the earth's land,
and are found in the four corners of the globe. The major
attribute of the forest biome is its trees. While they are
different from animals in many ways, they share one common
characteristic: they breathe. While humans and
animals breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, trees take
in carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. Deforestation
represents a great threat to the future of the earth's
atmosphere, and the only way this can be avoided is by careful
management of this resource. Once a tree is cut down,
another should take its place, but there is still too large a
number of trees being cut down as opposed to the number of trees
being planted.
Boreal,
or Taiga biomes
The largest of the land biomes
is the boreal, or Taiga biome. Taiga biomes can be found
in areas with shorter, warm summers and long winters; there are
Taiga Biomes in Europe, Asia, Siberia, and North-America.
Because of the cold climates, plant life in the boreal forest is
sturdy, consisting mainly of evergreens and other resilient
vegetation. Because the forests' canopy is dense, forest floor
vegetation is thin. Animal life in the boreal forest
consists mainly of birds and mammals, such as deer, wolves, and
various rodents, and very few reptiles. Most of the boreal
forests' creatures are well adapted to the cold climate, and
hibernate during the long winters.
Temperate Deciduous
Temperate deciduous forest are
a close relative of the Taiga biome, and can be found in areas
with a milder, shorter winter season. In addition to
evergreens, trees in the temperate forest include maple, elm,
oak, cedar and other trees which shed their leaves in the
fall. The temperate forest's soil in richer than that of
the boreal forests' and features a larger assortment of forest
floor plan life; this is also due to the fact that the forests'
canopy is thinner, allowing more light and heat to penetrate,
permitting photosynthesis in the forest floor plants, and the
survival of smaller, and cold blooded animals such as garter
snakes, turtles, and a few amphibians. Again, several of
the temperate forests' species hibernate, and/or burrow in the
ground to pass the winter months.
Other forests which fall
between the boreal and temperate classification include moist
evergreen forests, moist evergreen and broad-leaf forests,
dry evergreen forests, mediterranean forests, temperate
evergreen forests, and temperate broad-leaf forests.
