Soil
The soil in the coniferous forest is called podzols, which originally comes from the Russian word for ash. Podsols have a compacted humus layer, known as Mor which contains a lot of fungi. The soils in the taiga are low in mineral content, organic material, and number of invertebrate (the animals lacking a backbone) animals such as earthworms. Podsoliation occurs as the result of the acidic soil solution. Taiga soils vary tremendously. Many of the soils in the Taiga, are geologically very young are are poorly developed. They tend to be acidic, and all are nutrient poor and don't have nutrients for plants because the soil is so cold. Decomposition of organic materials such as dead plants and animals-is slow. As a result, thick layers of undecayed vegetation build up on the forest floor.