Taiga

Taiga Forest. Or the Boreal Forest: The world’s largest forest mass bands the northern section of the world approaching the arctic circle. Not many animals live in this region because the winters are so prolonged and cold. But some do, with annual stores of fat, and well insulated coats. Due to the cold, only coniferous trees with their steely thick needle leaves can withstand the snows and cold, using their energy to produce sap, photosynthesize, and bring up nutrients and water through their trunks. In the southern taiga region some hearty broadleaf trees like birch and poplar grow. The soil in these forests are generally permafrost, which means they are frozen for most of the year. Because of the permafrost tree roots expand horizontally. These forests produce about one third of the world’s oxygen.