Read the following passage and answer all questions labeled Classwork below.
Above: Boreal forest (taiga) in early autumn, with white spruce, birch, and low shrubs, near the Fortymile River, a tributary of the Yukon River, east-central Alaska.
Taiga, also called boreal forest, biome (major life zone) of vegetation composed primarily of cone-bearing needle-leaved or scale-leaved evergreen trees, found in northern circumpolar forested regions characterized by long winters and moderate to high annual precipitation. The taiga, “land of the little sticks” in Russian, takes its name from the collective term for the northern forests of Russia, especially Siberia.
The taiga regions of North America and Eurasia are broad belts of vegetation that span their respective continents from Atlantic to Pacific coasts. In North America the taiga occupies much of Canada and Alaska. Although related transition forest types are present in the northern tier of the lower 48 United States, true taiga stops just north of the southern Canadian border. The vast taiga of Asia extends across Russia and southward into northeastern China and Mongolia. In Europe most of Finland, Sweden, and Norway are covered with taiga. A small, isolated area of boreal forest in the Scottish Highlands lacks some continental species but does contain the most widespread conifer of the Eurasian taiga, Scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris).
Above: Map of Taiga in Asia and Europe
Above: Map of Taiga (Borreal Forest) in North America
Classwork Question 1: According to the reading, what is a taiga or borreal forest?
1 point
1
Question 2
2.
Classwork Question 2: What do you predict one of the main producers of this ecosystem is?
1 point
1
Question 3
3.
Classwork Question 3: Using the image above, follow a single food chain in this food web from beginning to end. Record it here in this style:
Exit Ticket: Make an abiotic change to your food chain. Describe what the change is, and how it affects your food chain that you identified in the previous question.