The most common plants of the taiga

Forests play a huge role in human life.Recently, their number on Earth has been reduced by almost half. A man cuts down trees for his needs, not paying attention to what destroys a forest and all its inhabitants.

The most extensive forest zone of our planet andthe richest source of oxygen is taiga. It extends south of the tundra over a large territory of Siberia and the Far East and stretches across almost the entire Northern Hemisphere. Taiga is in Finland and Canada. It occupies more than a third of all the forests of the planet.

Someone taiga may seem monotonous -some conifers, occasionally birches. In the vast space you can not find housing and roads. Only trees and swamps. Sometimes this forest looks dark and dark, because coniferous spreading trees obscure the light. Therefore, almost nothing grows in the lower tier, except for mosses and lichens.

Taiga plants are not very diverse.In the southern part of the zone, many relict species have survived, but some of them, due to man’s fault, are on the verge of extinction. For their preservation, the Cedar Span Reserve was created on the shores of the Amur Bay and the Ussuri Reserve.

Природа таежных лесов на юге Сибири необычна и beautiful They are somewhat reminiscent of the jungle due to the fact that taiga plants are located on several levels. There are even creepers in the taiga. This is actinidia. It is also called taiga grapes, and it is a relict plant. There is also lemongrass, which has a very strong unusual taste and is used in medicine. In this zone lives another plant, which is considered the best healer for many diseases in the world - it is ginseng. Animals also remain on the territory of the reserves. They are the Amur leopard, the Ussuri tiger, the mandarin duck, the Amur snake and many others.

The soils of the taiga are not very rich in humus and often ondeep frozen. Winter in these lands lasts a very long time, and only conifers, mainly cedar, fir and spruce, can survive, mosses and lichens grow on the soil, which often form a thick carpet. There is almost no underbrush in the taiga. A lot of precipitation falls out, which flush nutrients from the upper layer. These soils are also called podzol for their light color.

Siberian taiga supplies about 90% of all stocksconiferous forest. It even surpasses rain forests in its area. On its territory there are many swamps and various rivers and lakes. Taiga plants feed the inhabitants of the north. It is rich in berries and edible mushrooms, there are many small and large animals, and rivers and lakes are rich in fish.

Moose, deer, wolverines, beavers, bears and wolves are the most common inhabitants of taiga. There are also many fur animals (mink, sable, marten, ermine), which are exterminated because of their valuable fur.

The most valuable plant found only ina taiga, - the Siberian cedar. Furniture, pencils and musical instruments are made from its wood, nuts and juice are used in medicine, and cedar oil is also very useful. Other common taiga plants are pine, larch and fir. They are also used by man in traditional medicine.

If a person continues to cut down the forest uncontrollably, then soon there will be no places that enrich the entire planet with oxygen.