Largest terrestrial biome

On a global scale biologists divide the world into its major regions of distinctive zones or "biomes", such as desert, tundra, grassland and mangrove. The largest is the taiga (Russian for forest), at 16.6 million sq km (6.4 million sq mi). This great boreal coniferous forest encircles the world’s land south of the northern tundra. It occurs mostly in northern Siberia where it covers around 5.9 million sq km (2.3 million sq mi) – around one third of the world’s forested area.