The Southern Siberian rainforest is an area of temperate rainforest in South Central Siberia that occurs primarily along the Altai and Sayan mountain ranges in Khakassia and Tuva as well as a small area in the Khamar-Daban Mountains near Lake Baikal in Buryatia.
Ecological zones range from hemiboreal forest to a forest-steppe ecotone[1] and include a wider variety of plant species than surrounding areas.
Geographic features that the forest extends onto include high mountains and ridges as well as valleys carved by glaciers[2] and river basins.
[1] Understory plants include Eurasian baneberry, European wild ginger, Baikal anemone, golden saxifrage, bittercress and grasses of the genera Carex, Brachypodium[1] and Calamagrostis.
[9] Terrestrial animals in the region include brown bears,[10] European adders, moles of the Talpa genus, red foxes and red deer,[11] gray wolves, lynx, mountain hares, and several species of mustelids including stoats and wolverines.
[13] The climate in the Siberian temperate forest is continental and humid along the Altai and Sayan mountain ranges.
[16] Current climate change projections predict that local temperatures will increase, causing the forest to expand into nearby alpine tundra areas.
[19] Fire also is a disturbance that is most common in areas with Scots pine stands and is expected to increase in frequency as temperatures rise due to climate change.
[9] Forest regeneration in these areas is hindered by the faster growth and spread of grasses, particularly the genus Calamagrostis.
One example of this type of disturbance is the Siberian silkmoth, a species of moth that eats the leaves and needles of broadleaf and coniferous trees respectively.