What is the main biome in the Cascades?

What is the main biome in the Cascades?

Temperate coniferous forests
Cascades (ecoregion)

Cascades
Level III ecoregions of the Pacific Northwest. The Cascades ecoregion is marked with (4).
Ecology
Realm Nearctic
Biome Temperate coniferous forests

What biome is the Cascade Mountains?

moist temperate coniferous forest biome
The Cascades extend from southern Oregon to British Columbia. The western slopes are generally considered to be part of the moist temperate coniferous forest biome, with which they were included and discussed in this treatment of biomes.

What is the geography of the Cascade Mountains?

The North Cascades are steep, rugged, glaciated mountains formed by volcanic activity. The highest peaks are volcanoes such as Mt. Baker and Glacier Peak, which rise to more than 10,000 feet. Valleys bottoms go down as low as 500 feet.

What plants and trees live in North Cascades National Park?

Ferns. Ferns thrive in the low light and high moisture forests of the North Cascades. Sword, deer, licorice, lace, parsley, maidenhair, bracken, lady, oak and wood ferns dapple the forest floor. These ancient plants have been living on this planet for more than 300 million years.

What is the climate of the Cascade Mountains?

The climate east of the Cascades is markedly different, a continental climate of cold, snowy winters and warm, dry summers. The continental climate extends into British Columbia, where successive mountain ranges also catch winter storms and snowfall is frequent and heavy, but summers generally are warm and dry.

What is the ecosystem of a mountain?

Mountain ecosystems are characterized by harsh environmental conditions. These include often long lasting snow cover, short growing seasons and topographically related disturbances such as avalanches, rockfall or landslides.

Are the Cascade Mountains a rainforest?

North Cascades National Park Service Complex spans the Cascade Crest from the temperate rainforest of the wet west-side to the dry ponderosa pine ecosystem of the east.

What type of rock is the Cascade Mountains?

volcanic igneous rock
The Cascades are primarily composed of volcanic igneous rock, the youngest of which is found in the active volcanoes of the High Cascades—strikingly large stratovolcanoes that rise high above the landscape of the range.

What formed the Cascade Mountains?

The Cascade Volcanoes were formed by the subduction of the Juan de Fuca, Explorer and the Gorda Plate (remnants of the much larger Farallon Plate) under the North American Plate along the Cascadia subduction zone.

What type of trees are in the Cascade Mountains?

Vegetation. –The Cascade Province is primarily montane, but it ranges from sea level to altitudes above 5,000 ft (1,500 m). At the lowest elevations, there is a dense conifer forest of Douglas-fir, western redcedar, western hemlock, grand fir, silver fir, Sitka spruce, and Alaska-cedar.

What biome is Washington State?

Moist Temperate Coniferous Forest Biome.

What type of climate does Washington have?

Washington has two distinct climate zones. Mild, humid, summer days west of the Cascades rarely rise above 26°C (79°F), and winter days seldom drop below 8°C (46°F) while the east of the state has warm summers and cool winters.