Balsam Fir
The balsam fir can be found in many biomes across the world
and it is found in the Taiga Biome. It can grow to 40-80 ft tall
and have a maximum of 200 years. The lower branches are
usually dead. The balsam fir’s needles are 1 ½ inches long. They
are flat, rounded at the tip, and usually have sturdy curve. The
bark is smooth and thin, with a grayish color.
Black Spruce
The black spruce is a very tall tree. It can grow to 45 meters tall.
The pinecones are black and the seeds are purple. The needles
are four sided and sharp. They are pointed and their color is
blue-green. This tree lives in the Taiga biome.
Douglas-fir
Douglas firs can grow from 40 to 60 feet tall and 15-25 feet
wide. This is one of the most important lumber trees in the
world. The wood is very hard and durable. The needles are
bright, kind of yellow, with a single groove down the center.
Eastern Red Cedar
The eastern red cedar is a small coniferous tree that commonly
grows about 10-50 feet. Eastern red cedars prefer full sun and
their seedlings do not grow well in forests. It’s older leaves are
flat and only 1/16 of an inch long. The new leaves are sharppointed and can be up to ¾ of an inch long.
Jack Pine
The Jack pine usually grows to be 27 meters tall and have a 16
or 32 diameter of the trunk. The bark is reddish-brown and flat.
The Jack pine has needles. It also has pinecones with seeds. The
seeds are 4 to 5 millimeters long and they are dark brown.
Paper Birch
The paper birch tree has thin bark that separates into thin
sheets, almost like paper. Birch trees can grow in pairs and
clusters. The paper birch grows from 60 to 80 feet tall.
Siberian Spruce
The Siberian spruce is a very beautiful tree that can grow up to
30 meters high. The trunk is 1.5 meters in diameter. It has
somewhat drooping branches that make it look like a pyramid.
Its needles are 10-14 millimeters long.
White Fir
The white fir is 60-100 feet tall and can live up to 300 years
which makes it a very large tree. The leaves are 2 to 3 inches
long and a little flattened. They are silvery blue to silvery green.
They curve up from the stem and they are soft when you touch
them.
White Spruce
White spruce needles are four sided, very stiff, and less that 1
inch long. These trees grow about 60 feet. This spruce tree is
an evergreen color. This tree grows tall and is shaped like a
pyramid. The leaves are stiff and blue green in color. The cones
are long and light brown.
White Poplar
Poplars do not live very long. Poplar wood is whitish or
brownish in color. It is soft and flimsy. The white poplar has
leaves that are silvery white and the bark on the branches is
white. They have three to five lobes like maple leaves.
How do these plants adapt to this biome?
Balsam fir trees’ roots grab water from the surface of the ground
when it is really cold. Balsam fir trees can live in really cold climates and
really hot climates. There are many forest fires in the Boreal forests.
The black spruce tree and jack pine tree reproduces very quickly after a
fire burns. Douglas fir trees have a very good adaptation to fire. They
have a very hard bark, and they have adventitious roots which grow
directly from the trunk; instead of from other roots. The eastern red
cedar can survive in -45 F and can go with less precipitation than in
southern countries. The leaves of the paper birch have very little
surface area reducing water loss and still having enough room for
photosynthesis. The Siberian spruce trees’ dark green leaves soak up as
much sun as they can to start photosynthesis. They also have a waxy
waterproof covering to protect from high winds. The white fir can
tolerate many different types soil to grow in. White spruce tree leaves
do not dry out as easily as other trees’ leaves do. Root systems of the
white poplar tree are rubbery and have suckers to suck up water in the
cold winter.
How do abiotic factors in this environment help
plants live?
The sun, soil, water (in liquid form), and carbon dioxide in the
taiga help these trees to grow. Rocks and minerals however, do not
help these plants live in this type of biome. Fire and lightning help some
of these trees to reproduce and without them they might not thrive.
Gravity helps because it holds everything down and if we didn’t have it
then the trees would float. Precipitation can sometimes help, and
sometimes it will not. If it is rain, it is good. If it is hail, it might damage
the trees. Air has no effect on the plants at all because they produce it.
The temperature of this environment does not help the plants, but they
have learned to adapt to it. The frost on the ground does not help also.
It makes it harder for the plants’ roots to grab water.
Resources:
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/taiga_plant_page.htm
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20111018093801AAPOwAf
http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2009/cook_morg/Adaptations.htm
http://www.naturenorth.com/winter/blspruce/blspruc1.html
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153-10370_12146_12212-60297-,00.html
http://biologyprojectwiki.wikispaces.com/Organisms+and+Adaptations+of+the+T
aiga+(Per+8)
http://www.pnwplants.wsu.edu/PlantDisplay.aspx?PlantID=181
http://www.denali.org/evergreens/
http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/trees/handbook/th-3-135.pdf
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Abiotic_factor?topic=49461
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Name_12_abiotic_things_in_the_ecosystemn
http://www.borealforest.org/trees/tree6.htm
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