Vegetation of the Boreal (Cold–Temperate) Zone

Abstract

The largest contiguous forest areas on Earth are located in the boreal zone which occurs exclusively in the Northern Hemisphere. They largely consist of evergreen coniferous forests of spruce, Scots pine and fir. The summergreen larch is a stand-forming tree only in Central and Eastern Siberia, where the climate is extremely cold and precipitation is low. The boreal forests are highly affected by fire and windthrow. At a mean interval of about 200 years between fire events, regeneration phases of different ages exist next to each other in a mosaic-like manner. Forests of summergreen broad-leaved trees (birch, poplar) only occur as pioneer phases and (zonally) in extremely oceanic regions of Eurasia.