CHAPTER II 



THE TAIGA, OR CONIFEROUS FOREST, AND 

 ITS FAUNA 



Strikingly dififerent from the fauna of the tundra 

 is that of the temperate forest, which forms a wide 

 belt in the northern hemisphere, lying just south of 

 the tundra. Here the climate is more fav^ourable, 

 especially in the southern portion, and the flora far 

 more luxuriant. Nevertheless here, as in the tundra, 

 the ebb and flow of plant life is caused by the seasons, 

 that is, by the varying amounts of heat received. In 

 subtropical countries, with their winter rainfall, it is 

 water, not heat, which determines vegetative activity. 

 In the tropics, except where there is a well-marked dry 

 season, vegetative life is practically continuous, but in 

 the temperate forest zone, no less than in the drier 

 steppes, it is the alternation of summer and winter 

 which is of importance. As all animal life in these 

 regions ultimately depends upon land plants, this means 

 that there are periodic alternations of plenty and 

 scarcity. In the forest zone, however, this is less 

 marked than in the steppe zone. In the coniferous 

 forests the trees for the most part keep their leaves all 

 the year round. However deep the snow, the twigs 

 and branches of the trees are exposed, and these twigs 

 and branches very often carry nuts, berries, or seeds, 

 which persist throughout the winter, and thus prolong 

 the summer abundance into the time of scarcity. 

 Further, the forest gives shelter, and thus diminishes 



