What are Adaptations?
Like with any biome, the animals of the Boreal Forest have had to adapt to its unique characteristics and the other animals that live there. But what is an organism's adaptation? An adaptation is a change in structure or habit that an organism undergoes over time to allow it to function better in its environment. This happens through a process known as natural selection, where the more favorable random genetic mutations of an animal survive to reproduce, allowing better traits to be passed down and useless or unfavorable traits to die off. There are two types of adaptations, Structural Adaptations (which are adaptations on the organism's body and are purely genetic) and Behavioral Adaptations (which are changes in behavior or habits, they can be instinctive or learned). See the Glossary for more information.
Animal Adaptations
The snowshoe hare has a few unique structural adaptations. It grows a different color coat of fur depending on the season. For example, during a snowy boreal forest winter, the snowshoe hare’s fur would turn white to help it blend into the surrounding snow and evade predators. Another adaptation that the snowshoe hare has are larger, flatter hind legs. These hind legs have more surface area than the hind legs of similar hares, which allows it to avoid sinking into soft snow during the winter, enabling it to escape predators easily. This gives it the name “snowshoe hare”. These adaptations allow the hare to survive longer, reproduce, and pass on its traits to its children.
Plant Adaptations
The two most obvious adaptations of the Siberian Spruce tree, and indeed many other types of conifers in the boreal forest, are the needle-leaves and the conical shape. The conical shape helps the tree to shed snow in the winter, and prevents the loss of branches. Shedding snow allows the needles to absorb more sunlight unhindered. The thin needles help to prevent water loss through evaporation, and they have a thick, waxy coating that helps to protect them from dry winds. The darker green color of the tree helps to absorb more sunlight, which is needed due to the weak sunlight that hits the Boreal Forest and the short days in the winter. These traits help the tree to survive and produce its spruce cones, which pass on its traits to the next generation of trees.