A boreal ecosystem is an

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

with a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

located in the

Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined by humans as being in the same celestial sphere, celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the Solar ...

, approximately between 50° and 70°N

latitude In geography, latitude is a geographic coordinate system, geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from −90° at t ...

. These ecosystems are commonly known as

taiga Taiga or tayga ( ; , ), also known as boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces, and larches. The taiga, or boreal forest, is the world's largest land biome. In North A ...

and are located in parts of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. The ecosystems that lie immediately to the south of boreal zones are often called hemiboreal. There are a variety of processes and species that occur in these areas as well. The

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

symbols of boreal ecosystems are Dfc, Dwc, Dfd, and Dwd. Boreal ecosystems are some of the most vulnerable to

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. Both loss of permafrost, reductions in cold weather and increases in summer heat cause significant changes to ecosystems, displacing cold-adapted species, increasing forest fires, and making ecosystems vulnerable to changing to other ecosystem types. These changes can cause

Climate change feedback Climate change feedbacks are natural processes that impact how much global temperatures will increase for a given amount of greenhouse gas emissions. Positive feedbacks amplify global warming while negative feedbacks diminish it.IPCC, 2021Annex ...

cycles, where thawing permafrost and changing ecosystems release more

greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities intensify the greenhouse effect. This contributes to climate change. Carbon dioxide (), from burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, oil, and natural gas, is the main cause of climate chan ...

into the atmosphere causing more climate change.

Boreal Species

The species within boreal ecosystems varies as it consists of both terrestrial and aquatic habitats. The species composition include many generalized and less specialized feeders. From the equator to the poles, species richness decreases, and there is a negative relationship with species richness changes as climate changes. However, despite not being as biodiverse as tropical systems, this area has a variety of species. Boreal ecosystems are filled with a multitude of flora species from

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

and white spruce, to

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions. Most species are known ...

s, wildflowers, and alders. Caribou, although not there year round, come down and into these regions during the winter to forage for

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

. A few fish species include salmonids, smelts, sticklebacks,

lamprey Lampreys (sometimes inaccurately called lamprey eels) are a group of Agnatha, jawless fish comprising the order (biology), order Petromyzontiformes , sole order in the Class (biology), class Petromyzontida. The adult lamprey is characterize ...

and sculpins. For

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

these systems are vital: relying on the riparian systems within boreal ecosystems for multiple life stages in both the beginning and the end of their life cycle, sockeye rely on the provided freshwater environments as eggs, fry and adult stages.

Succession

Success and succession happen in tandem in boreal forests.

Primary succession Primary succession is the beginning step of ecological succession where species known as pioneer species colonize an uninhabited site, which usually occurs in an environment devoid of vegetation and other organisms. In contrast, secondary su ...

, while part of the original landscape formation, is not vital like

secondary succession Secondary succession is the secondary ecological succession of a plant's life. As opposed to the first, primary succession, secondary succession is a process started by an event (e.g. forest fire, harvesting, hurricane, etc.) that reduces an a ...

. Secondary succession consists of varied events: wildfires, flooding, mudslides and even excessive insect foraging act in this progression and cycle of boreal forests.

Boreal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study (BOREAS)

The Boreal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study (BOREAS) was a major international research field study in the Canadian boreal forest. The main research was completed between the years of 1994-1996, and the program was sponsored by NASA. The primary objectives were to determine how the boreal forest interacts with the atmosphere, how climate change will affect the forest, and how changes in the forest affect weather and climate.

Climate change effects

Boreal ecosystems display high sensitivity towards both natural and anthropogenic climate change. Due to

, atmospheric warming ultimately leads to a chain reaction of climatic and ecological effects. The initial

effects of climate change Effects of climate change are well documented and growing for Earth's natural environment and human societies. Changes to the climate system include an Instrumental temperature record, overall warming trend, Effects of climate change on the ...

on the boreal ecosystem can include, but are not limited to, changes in temperature, rainfall, and

growing season A season is a division of the year marked by changes in weather, ecology, and the amount of daylight. The growing season is that portion of the year in which local conditions (i.e. rainfall, temperature, daylight) permit normal plant growth. Whi ...

.Boonstra, R., Boutin, S., Jung, T. S., Krebs, C. J., & Taylor, S. (2018). Impact of rewilding, species introductions and climate change on the structure and function of the Yukon boreal forest ecosystem. Integrative Zoology, 13(2), 123-138. Based on studies from the boreal ecosystems in the

Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...

, a territory in northwestern Canada, climate change is having an impact on these abiotic factors. As a consequence, these effects drive changes in forest ecotone as well as marshlands or lakes in boreal ecosystems. This also concerns plant productivity and

predator-prey interaction Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not ki ...

s, which ultimately leads to

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

, fragmentation, and threatens biodiversity. In terms of boreal trees, the poleward limit for any given species is most likely defined by the temperature, whereas the equatorward limit is generally defined by competitive exclusion. As changes in climate occur, change in the corresponding weather variables follows,Woodward, F.I. 1987. Climate and plant distribution.

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

, Cambridge, UK. 188 pp. and ecosystem alterations involving timing for migration, mating, and plant blooming can occur. This can lead to the transition into a different type of ecosystem as the northward shift of plant and animal species has already been observed. Trees may expand towards the tundra; however, they may not survive due to various temperature or precipitation stressors. The rate depends on growth and reproductive rate, and adaptation ability of the vegetation. In addition, the migration of flora may lag behind warming for a few decades to a century, and in most cases warming happens faster than plants can keep up. Due to

permafrost Permafrost () is soil or underwater sediment which continuously remains below for two years or more; the oldest permafrost has been continuously frozen for around 700,000 years. Whilst the shallowest permafrost has a vertical extent of below ...

thaw and disturbance alterations such as fire and insect outbreaks, certain models have suggested that boreal forests have developed into a net carbon source instead of a net

carbon sink A carbon sink is a natural or artificial carbon sequestration process that "removes a greenhouse gas, an aerosol or a precursor of a greenhouse gas from the atmosphere". These sinks form an important part of the natural carbon cycle. An overar ...

. Although the trees in the boreal are aging, they continue to accumulate carbon into their

biomass Biomass is a term used in several contexts: in the context of ecology it means living organisms, and in the context of bioenergy it means matter from recently living (but now dead) organisms. In the latter context, there are variations in how ...

. However, if disturbed, higher than normal amounts of carbon will be lost to the atmosphere. In some areas, boreal ecosystems are located on a layer of permafrost, which is a layer of permanently frozen soil. The underground

root system In mathematics, a root system is a configuration of vector space, vectors in a Euclidean space satisfying certain geometrical properties. The concept is fundamental in the theory of Lie groups and Lie algebras, especially the classification and ...

s of boreal trees are stabilized by permafrost, a process which permits the deeper trapping of carbon in the soil and aids in the regulation of

hydrology Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and drainage basin sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is called a hydro ...

.Bonan, G. B. (2008). Forests and Climate Change: Forcings, Feedbacks, and the Climate Benefits of Forests. Science 320: 1444–1449. Permafrost is able to store double the amount of current atmospheric carbon that can be mobilized and released to the atmosphere as greenhouse gases when thawed under a warming climate feedback. Boreal ecosystems contain approximately 338 Pg (petagrams) of carbon in their soil, this is comparable to the amount which is stored in biomass in tropical ecosystems.

Ecosystem services

In boreal ecosystems, carbon cycling is a major producer of

ecosystem services Ecosystem services are the various benefits that humans derive from Ecosystem, ecosystems. The interconnected Biotic_material, living and Abiotic, non-living components of the natural environment offer benefits such as pollination of crops, clean ...

especially timber production and climate regulation. The boreal ecosystem in Canada is one of the largest carbon reservoirs in the world. Moreover, these boreal ecosystems in Canada possess high

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

potential and are thus able to contribute to the resource-based economy. Through ecosystem assessment, inventory data, and modeling, scientists are able to determine the relationships between ecosystem services and biodiversity and human influence. Forests themselves are producers of lumber products, regulation of water, soil and air quality.Pohjanmies, T., Triviño, M., Le Tortorec, E. et al. Ambio (2017) 46: 743. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-017-0919-5 Within the past decade, the number of studies focusing on the relationships between ecosystem services has been increasing. Bennett, Elena M., et al. �
Understanding Relationships among Multiple Ecosystem Services
” Ecology Letters, vol. 12, no. 12, 21 Nov. 2009, pp. 1394–1404. Wiley Online Library, . This is due to the rise of human management of ecosystems through the manipulation of one ecosystem service to utilize its maximum productivity. Ultimately, this results in the supply decline of other ecosystem services.

References