Summary
Taiga is a biome of the Northern Hemisphere, between tundra to the north and broad-leaved forest and temperate grassland to the south. Taiga includes dense forest, open forest, and jigsaw puzzles of forests, wetlands, and lakes that can be found in northwestern and northeastern America, northern Europe, Siberia, and East Asia. Examining its geography, geology, climate, and biodiversity, Taiga describes this unique ecosystem in a clear, complete manner.
Human uses of taiga date back thousands of years to Eurasian hunters and fishers crossing the Bering land bridge into present-day North America. Today, hunting, logging, and mining are a few of the ways this habitat is used. Threats resulting from this development include overharvesting from hunting and logging, clear-felling, and the spread of agriculture. This volume also examines ways of managing taiga, including the movement to conserve taiga habitats through the creation of reservations and sanctuaries.
Specifications
Full-color photographs and line illustrations. Appendixes. Bibliography and further reading. Glossary. Web sites. Index.
About the Author(s)
Trevor Day, a former marine biologist, has served as a research scientist at the Natural Environment Research Council Unit in North Wales and as a fisheries biologist for the United Nations Development Program in Egypt. He has been a teacher, lecturer, and writer in England for more than 20 years. He is also the author or coauthor of more than 35 books and has written hundreds of articles for academic and educational publications, magazines, and respected newspapers. Mr. Day is also the author of Lakes and Rivers and Oceans, two other titles in the Biomes of the Earth set.
Illustrations by: Richard Garratt