Question

Consider the following statements

1. The evergreen coniferous trees like spruce, pine and firs dominates the vegetation.

2. It is also known as boreal forests.

The above mentioned statements are characteristics of which of the following biomes?

1. Tundra
2. Temperate deciduous forests
3. Taiga
4. Temperate grassland

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 3 : Taiga

The correct answer is Taiga

Boreal Climate OR Taiga Climate OR Siberian Climate OR Cool Temperate Continental Climate OR Continental Sub-Polar Climate.

• Found only in the northern hemisphere [due to great east-west extent. Absent in the southern hemisphere because of the narrowness in the high latitudes.
• Experienced in the regions just below Arctic circle.
• On its poleward side, it merges into the Arctic tundra.
• The climate fades into the temperate Steppe climate.

Temperature

• Summers are brief and warm reaching 20-25 °C whereas winters are long and brutually cold – always 30-40 °C below freezing.
• Annual temperature range of the Siberian Climate is the greatest [Almost 50-60 °C in Siberia].
• Some of the lowest temperatures in the world are recorded in Verkhoyansk (68°N. 113°E) where -67 °C was once recorded.
• In North America, the extremes are less severe, because of the continent’s lesser east-west stretch.
• All over Russia, nearly all the rivers are frozen. In normal years, the Volga is ice-covered for about 150 days.
• Occasionally cold, northerly polar local winds such as the blizzards of Canada and buran of Eurasia blow violently.
• Permafrosts [a thick subsurface layer of soil that remains below freezing point throughout the year] are generally absent as snow is a poor conductor of heat and protects the ground from the severe cold above.