Natural Disturbances

• Natural disturbances continually strip the boreal forest. Winds, fires, ice storms, insect infestation and diseases can wipe away all the mature growth of the forest.
  
  

Early Plants

• Small plants are the first to grow. They include grasses and shrubs that are close to the ground. These plants release seeds each year and die over the winter. The seeds grow into a new plant the following spring.
  
  

Small Trees

• Small trees will start to grow with the grasses over a few years. These include poplars and other deciduous trees. These trees drop their leaves each fall and grow new ones in the spring. The trees block out much of the sunlight from the grasses and shrubs, causing them to die off.
  
  

Coniferous Trees

• Coniferous trees, such as spruce and other evergreens, eventually become the dominant plant in the boreal forest. These trees crowd out most other plant life and do not shed their leaves in winter. They can remain for hundreds of years.
  
  

Mosses and Lichens

• Most small plants cannot survive in a mature boreal forest due to lack of sunlight. Mosses and lichens can live on the forest floor, surviving on the decaying trees and leaves.