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Life Science
Animal and Biomes Basics Theme Unit

What Is a Taiga?

What Is a Taiga?
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 6 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   6.81

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    antifreeze, swarms, covering, pungent, organic, soils, waxy, hemisphere, upside-down, evergreen, temperate, wildflowers, general, tundra, diversity, environment
     content words:    Rocky Mountains

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What Is a Taiga?
By Cindy Grigg 		  
1     Earth has a large variety of climates. Climate describes such things as the general weather, daily temperatures, and rainfall in an area over a long period of time. Earth also has a large variety of plants and animals. But all plants and all animals don't need the same kind of conditions to grow their best. Usually the climate of a place determines what kind of plants and animals live there. Scientists have divided the Earth into different areas. Each area has plants, animals, and climates that are specific to that area. Each of these areas is called a biome. A biome is a complex community of organisms that live in a specific area with a specific climate, such as a desert or grasslands.
 
2     The largest of Earth's land biomes is the taiga (TY guh). It is sometimes called a boreal forest. These forests are found in the northern Rocky Mountains and Alaska in the US and all across Canada, northern Europe, and northern Asia. Taigas are found south of tundra areas and north of temperate forests. They are also found in the high mountain regions of warmer climates. All of the taiga biomes are found in the northern hemisphere. Taiga is the Russian name for forest because so much of it is found in that country.
 
3     Because of the colder climate in the taiga, most of the trees in this forest are conifers. Conifers are trees that produce their seeds in cones and have leaves that are shaped like needles. Conifers are often called "evergreen" trees because they keep their green needles all year long. A few deciduous trees and shrubs live there also.

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