Which one among the following covers the highest percentage of forest area in the world?

Answer: (a) Temperate coniferous forest

The taiga (boreal coniferous forest) spans Russia, Canada and Scandinavia — the largest forest biome.

The idea

The temperate coniferous forest, or taiga, runs as an almost unbroken belt across the north of North America, Europe and Asia. Few people live there and little of it has been cleared for farms, so it remains the largest forest on Earth.

Alaska and Canada → Scandinavia → Russia and Siberia → One continuous belt of pine, spruce, fir and larch

Why the others are wrong

(b) Temperate deciduous forests are mostly cleared for farms.

(c) Monsoon forests are limited to South and South-East Asia.

(d) Rainforests are the richest, but not the largest in area.

The trap

Rainforests get the attention; the taiga has the area.

Also know

It exists only in the northern hemisphere, because the southern hemisphere has almost no land at those latitudes. The trees are softwoods growing in large stands of one kind, ideal for timber, paper and pulp. The soil below is acidic podzol.