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Boreal Forests: Distributions, Biodiversity, and Management

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Life on Land

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals ((ENUNSDG))

Definitions

Boreal ecosystem is dominated by vast forests, wetlands, and lakes encircling the northern hemisphere including Canada, Scandinavia, Russia, and China. The dominant plants in the boreal forest are cold-tolerant and fire-adapted conifer trees (pines, spruces, larches, fir), deciduous trees (maples, aspen, poplar), tall shrubs (mountain ash, pin cherry, alder, hazel), dwarf shrubs, grasses, and ground species such as ferns, mosses, and lichen. In the United States and Canada, the boreal forest refers to the more southerly biome, while taiga refers to treeless barren areas of the northernmost part of the biome close to the tree line and the tundra biome.

Introduction

Boreal forests or taiga (as it is called in Russia) is the earth’s second largest land biome after desert and xeric shrub lands covering about 17 million square kilometers representing 29% of global forest area. The boreal forest covers most of inland Canada and Alaska; most of Sweden, Finland, and inland Norway;...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, ON, Canada

    Imrul Kayes & Azim Mallik

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  1. Imrul Kayes
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  2. Azim Mallik
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Correspondence to Azim Mallik .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. European School of Sustainability, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. Center for Neuroscience & Cell Biology, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Anabela Marisa Azul

  3. Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Passo Fundo University Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Passo Fundo, Brazil

    Luciana Brandli

  4. HAW Hamburg, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Amanda Lange Salvia

  5. International Centre for Thriving, University of Chester, Chester, UK

    Tony Wall

Section Editor information

  1. Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Anabela Marisa Azul

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Kayes, I., Mallik, A. (2020). Boreal Forests: Distributions, Biodiversity, and Management. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A., Brandli, L., Lange Salvia, A., Wall, T. (eds) Life on Land. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71065-5_17-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71065-5_17-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71065-5

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