Plants For Biome Project

Soils Ÿ Acidic Plants Ÿ Drosera Rotundifolia and Drosera Anglica Ÿ White Fir Ÿ Fireweed ______________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________ Ÿ Soils: Often the soils of the Taiga are acidic. Pine needles decay with water and the

acidic soil’s water creates more acidic soil.

The pine needles come from the many coniferous trees. The plants need to get oxygen from a source other than the soil because it has low nitrogen levels. The plant life is limited, though the plants still do grow in the areas.

Ÿ Plants: Since the soils and climate is that of a bog, the soil is acidic. Certain plants have adapted for the boggy conditions. Drosera Rotundifolia and Drosera Anglica are some carnivorous sundews that grow in the Taiga biome. They catch insects with glands that suffocate or burn their prey. The sundews lure the insects with the scent of sweet nectar. The White Fir is also a tree that grows in the Taiga regions. It has

strong, thick branches and grows up to 100 feet tall. These trees have thin bark and are the only native fir trees to the North American Taiga. If the forest happens to burn down in the Taiga region, the fireweed is often the first to populate the charred remains. This is an example of ecological succession. They use rhizomes to spread quickly as colonies. The burnt plants provide good minerals for the plant. Citation: Elisabeth Benders-Hyde, Taiga Plants, Taiga, June 2000, 6:29 PM, Friday, November 25, 2005, http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/taiga_plant_page.htm Another citation: Susan L. Woodward, Taiga or Boreal Forest, Major Biomes of the World, October 1996, 6:34 PM, Friday, November 25, 2005, http://www.radford.edu/~swoodwar/CLASSES/GEOG235/biomes/taiga/taiga.html Another citation: Michael Ritter, Soil Systems, The Physical Environment, 2003-2005, 6:41 & 10 seconds PM, Friday, November 25, 2005, http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/ritter/geog101/textbook/soil_systems/soil_orders_p2.ht ml