Between Yakutsk and Chokurdakh, Russia Photograph by John Lamoreux   Palaearctic Boreal Forests/Taiga   434,600 square miles (1,125,700 square kilometers) -- about thrice the size of Montana Relatively Stable/Intact

· Frozen Landscape
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
More Photos

Frozen Landscape

Some of the coldest temperatures on Earth have been recorded in this ecoregion. In the Russian town of Verekhoyansk, temperatures have dipped as low as -94° F (-70° C). Birds and mammals that inhabit this land of permafrost are well-suited to this extreme environment.

Special Features

Much of the area falls within the Arctic Circle--and all of it is covered by permanently frozen ground, or permafrost, which greatly influences the region's ecology and limits the growth of diverse forests. Taiga forest makes up the majority of this ecoregion. The trees of taiga forests are widely spaced, and carpets of mosses and lichens cover the ground. Larch trees are found throughout the region but are especially common in the north, with stands of fir and pine farther south. The Yana, Indigirka and Kolyma River systems wind northward through large interior areas of the region before terminating along the northern Arctic coast.

	The forests of the Russian taiga play an important role in the health of the entire world; they have been considered a huge carbon sink. As one of the largest boreal forests in the world, they potentially help reduce global climate change, also known as "global warming."

Wild Side

Northern Siberia may be frozen, but it is far from lifeless. About 200 species of birds, 40 species of mammals, and 15 species of fish have been recorded here. Common mammals include elk, red squirrels, Siberian chipmunks, arctic hares, lynx, red foxes, Siberian weasels, ermines, sable, wolverines, and brown bears. Among birds, hazel grouse, capercaillies, great gray owls, hawk owls, boreal owls, black woodpeckers, northern three-toed woodpeckers, Siberian jays, and nutcrackers are common to the taiga. In more northern zones of sub-arctic tundra, waterfowl species such as black scoters, Baikal teal, and lesser white-fronted geese are common. The northern border of this ecoregion may be one of the only breeding areas for critically endangered Siberian cranes.

Cause for Concern

Northern portions of the region are relatively untouched, due to the lack of human population and resource extraction. But forest fires, mining, reindeer herding, and small-scale logging threaten those areas closer to population centers. Because clear-cut forests are rarely replanted, natural forest habitats are replaced by tundra landscapes.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.