Okay, anyone who read my last blog, “Minnesota Has 52 Native Tree Species” will remember that I made a lot of promises about following up on some loose threads. Since there were so many unfulfilled branches (wink wink) of exploration, let’s list them and decide what to write about today.
- Deciduous
- Forest Biome Known as Taiga
- Tree Allies
- Drupelike Seeds
Okay, since I am writing this, I choose, FOREST BIOME KNOWN AS TAIGA! I gotta go that route. Even though I’m sure it will be super science-y, it is just too intriguing to not pick first. Let’s go.
A BIOME is the type of habitat in certain places, like mountain tops, deserts, and tropical forests, and is determined by the climate of the place.
The TAIGA is the biome of the needleleaf forest. Taiga is the Russian word for forest and is the largest biome in the world. It stretches over Eurasia and North America (including Minnesota). Other major taiga forests include North America (Canada and Alaska) and Scandinavia (Finland, Norway, and Sweden). The taiga is located near the top of the world, just below the tundra biome. Overlying formerly glaciated areas and areas of patchy permafrost on both continents, it is on the globe between 50 degrees latitude north and the Arctic Circle. The largest taiga forest covers much of northern Russia and Siberia. The winters in the taiga are very cold, and the summers are warm, rainy, and humid. A lot of coniferous trees grow in the taiga.
The taiga is also known as the boreal forest or the coniferous forest. Boreal was the name of the Greek goddess of the North Wind! Also, the word boreal means northern or “of the north wind”. The Taiga is one of the three main forest Biomes. The other two are the temperate forest and the tropical rainforest. The taiga is the driest and coldest of the three.
I love this! If I am understanding correctly, Minnesota is part of the forest biome known as the Taiga or Boreal Forest. Technically only northeast Minnesota is in the southern edge of the boreal forest biome, but I’m still claiming it. The other biomes on the planet are other terrestrial biomes, freshwater biomes, and marine biomes. No worries, I willnever be tackling the last two.
Now that I know we are part of the Boreal forest it brings to mind some wonderful books I read by Juliet Marillier. The first book is called Daughter of the Forest (Book 1 of the Sevenwaters Trilogy). It is a retelling of ancient Celtic legend and takes place in a deep forest known as Sevenwaters. It is a really wonderful series that I highly recommend.
Am I straying too far off the topic of Monster Tree Service? I think not. Everything is harmoniously relevant and we are happy to help.