The taiga

In Canada, as in northern Europe, the taiga forms a wide belt between the tundra and the boreal forest. Taiga ecozones feature average annual temperatures between –10^oC in the cordillera and the Mackenzie delta and 0^oC in Labrador. Permafrost is present but discontinuous. West of Hudson Bay, precipitation is low (200 to 500 millimetres in the plains of the Mackenzie River), but it can reach 1,000 millimetres in Labrador.

Arctic fox ©2003 ICN-RCI / Hemera

On the borders of these ecozones, trees make their appearance. Black spruce, frail and sparse, make a timid foray into the North, among the mosses, sedges, scrub birches and dwarf willows. In places with more favourable climatic conditions, the stands of black spruce are denser and the trees more robust. Here they are joined by white spruce, balsam poplar, grey pine and, in moist environments, willow, larch and alder.

The taiga is frequented both by tundra dwellers, such as the arctic fox and overwintering caribou, and by inhabitants of the boreal forest.