Boreal ecosystem

Boreal ecosystems are filled with a multitude of flora species from black and white spruce, to willows, wildflowers, and alders.

[8] For salmon these systems are vital: relying on the riparian systems within boreal ecosystems for multiple life stages in both the beginning and the end of their life cycle, sockeye rely on the provided freshwater environments as eggs, fry and adult stages.

[10] Secondary succession consists of varied events: wildfires, flooding, mudslides and even excessive insect foraging act in this progression and cycle of boreal forests.

Due to greenhouse gas emissions, atmospheric warming ultimately leads to a chain reaction of climatic and ecological effects.

[13] Based on studies from the boreal ecosystems in the Yukon, a territory in northwestern Canada, climate change is having an impact on these abiotic factors.

[13] As a consequence, these effects drive changes in forest ecotone as well as marshlands or lakes in boreal ecosystems.

[14] This also concerns plant productivity and predator-prey interactions, which ultimately leads to habitat loss, fragmentation, and threatens biodiversity.

This can lead to the transition into a different type of ecosystem as the northward shift of plant and animal species has already been observed.

The underground root systems of boreal trees are stabilized by permafrost, a process which permits the deeper trapping of carbon in the soil and aids in the regulation of hydrology.

[20] Moreover, these boreal ecosystems in Canada possess high hydroelectric potential and are thus able to contribute to the resource-based economy.