East Siberian taiga

This ecoregion spans the entire island of Iceland in the North Atlantic, lying just south of the Arctic Circle on volcanic terrain with basaltic soils. Much of it is tundra and sparsely vegetated arctic desert, with vegetation concentrated in the coastal lowlands and interwoven with woodlands of white (downy) birch, Betula pubescens, much of it shrub-like and under two meters tall; rowan and tea-leaved willow are the other characteristic native woody plants, and forest now covers only about one percent of its original extent after centuries of timber cutting and sheep grazing. Most of the region has a tundra climate, with no month averaging above 10 degrees Celsius, though the Gulf Stream keeps conditions milder than the latitude would suggest. It is renowned for birdlife, with over three hundred species recorded, many of them migrants, and the pink-footed goose serves as its flagship species, while the Arctic fox is the only land mammal native to the island. For cold-climate gardeners, its hardy native genera, including birch (Betula), rowan (Sorbus aucuparia), and willow (Salix phylicifolia), are familiar ornamental and amenity plants.

The Kamchatka taiga forms a conifer "island" within the central valley of the Kamchatka Peninsula in far-eastern Russia, set along the Kamchatka River between the Sredinny Mountains to the west and the Eastern Ranges to the east. It is the easternmost outpost of Siberian-style taiga, where comparatively continental conditions in the sheltered Central Kamchatka Depression allow stands of Dahurian larch (Larix cajanderi), Yeddo spruce (Picea jezoensis), and Asian white birch (Betula platyphylla) to grow, giving way to Erman's birch at higher elevations. The climate is humid continental with cool summers, and the wider peninsula carries some of the heaviest cloud cover on Earth. The region is renowned for its Kamchatka brown bears, the largest in Eurasia, which feast on the salmon that crowd the rivers each year; the sockeye salmon is its flagship species.

This Palearctic ecoregion occupies the Russian Far East, covering the coastal zones of the Kamchatka Peninsula, the northern Kuril Islands, and the Commander Islands. Despite sitting in the boreal forests/taiga biome, it is defined less by dense conifer stands than by open, parkland-like country: sparse "stone birch" forests of Betula ermanii, dwarf thickets of Siberian dwarf pine and Siberian alder, expanses of moss-and-lichen tundra, and famously tall-herb meadows where giant meadowsweet (Filipendula camtschatica), Angelica ursina, and Parasenecio hastatus can top three meters. The climate is cool and oceanic, with mild brief summers, cold snowy winters, and abundant Pacific moisture that falls fairly evenly through the year. The region supports an exceptionally large brown bear population sustained by salmon-rich streams, vast seabird colonies, and breeding fur seals, with the Steller's sea eagle as its flagship bird. For gardeners in cool, damp climates, its native tall-herb flora includes ornamental moisture-lovers such as Filipendula meadowsweet.

The Northeast Siberian taiga stretches across northeastern Russia between the Lena and Kolyma rivers, a vast Palearctic boreal landscape framed by the Verkhoyansk and Chersky ranges and underlain throughout by permafrost. Its sparse forests are dominated by Dahurian larch, accompanied by dwarf Siberian pine and silver birch, with seasonal thaw depressions called Alasy supporting meadow vegetation. The climate is extreme subarctic, with long, brutally cold winters and short warm summers; this is among the coldest inhabited regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with recorded lows reaching about minus 68 degrees Celsius. Thanks to its remoteness and difficult access, it remains one of the largest tracts of virgin boreal forest on Earth, home to flagship species such as the Amur lemming and the critically endangered Siberian crane, though only a small fraction is protected and climate change and logging pose growing threats. Gardeners in cold climates may recognize silver birch (Betula) among its native flora, valued as a hardy ornamental.

The Okhotsk-Manchurian taiga is a boreal forest ecoregion of the Russian Far East, spanning the lower Amur River and its wetlands, the west coast of the Sea of Okhotsk, and more than half of the rugged Sikhote-Alin range along with parts of the Badzhal and Dzhugdzhur mountains. It is the southernmost taiga in Eurasia, where "light taiga" of Dahurian larch at lower elevations gives way to "dark taiga" of Yeddo spruce and fir higher up, mixed with broadleaf trees such as Manchurian oak, Manchurian ash, and Amur linden. Pacific maritime influence brings warmer winters and cooler summers than the continental interior, with heavy snow cover of one to two meters near the coast by winter's end. The ecoregion is notable for blending northern Okhotsk-Kamchatka species with southern Manchurian flora and fauna, supporting reindeer, Siberian musk deer, brown bears, and the critically endangered Kaluga sturgeon of the lower Amur. Gardeners may recognize ornamentally familiar genera native here, including birch and linden.

The Sakhalin Island taiga covers most of Sakhalin, a long, narrow island in the Russian far east that separates the Sea of Okhotsk from the Sea of Japan. Its forest cover shifts with latitude, grading from light larch (Larix) taiga in the north, through dark spruce (Picea) forest in the middle, to fir (Abies) forest dominated by the Sakhalin fir in the south, with birch, alder, and willow in the lowlands. A maritime influence keeps the region somewhat milder than the continental Siberian taiga to the west, though winters are long and freezing and summers short and humid. The island is home to brown bears and is the stronghold of the Sakhalin taimen, a critically endangered salmonid that serves as the ecoregion's flagship species, while extensive oil and gas development poses a growing threat to its flora and fauna. Gardeners may recognize Sakhalin as the native home of dramatic giant meadow herbs, including the towering Cardiocrinum glehnii lily and giant knotweed, which can reach several meters tall.