Temperate Deciduous Forest

The Temperate Deciduous Forest

Biologist&Environmentalist:Makenna Harvey

Climatologist & Geologist: Nicole Huff

Biologist&Environmentalist

Countries within the biome

Deciduous forests can be found in the eastern half of North America, and the middle of Europe. Deciduous trees are trees that

shed their leaves annually and then grow them back. There are many deciduous forests in Asia. Some of the major areas that they

are in are southwest Russia, Japan, and eastern China. South America has two big areas of deciduous forests in southern Chile and Middle East coast of Paraguay. There are deciduous forests

located in New Zealand, and southeastern Australia also.

Natural Disasters

Forests fires start in many temperate deciduous forests. They are started

by lightning striking a tree.

Water Sources

Rivers are the way to get water in a temperate deciduous forest.

Medicines

The bark of the cinchona tree was used to reduce fever. They still us it to make

quinine, a drug used to treat malaria and other diseases. Another drug is digitalis, it is used in treating heart disease. It’s made

from the dried leaves of the purple foxglove plant. The roots of the Mexican yam are used for cortisone, which is a

drug useful in treating arthritis.

Plants, animals, and other living things

Animals: American bald eagle, American black bear, coyote, duckbill

platypus, eastern chipmunk, European red squirrel, fat dormouse, least

weasel, white tailed deer. Plants: Carpet moss, common lime,

lady fern, guelder rose, pecan, white oak, white birch, northern arrowwood.

Animals and Plants continued

The largest animal in a temperate deciduous forest are the bears. The

smallest animals are mice. The largest plants in a forest are the sequoia trees.

Problems with plants

Overdoses of lady fern can cause weakness and blindness.

Deforestation

Deforestation is the loss of forest by over cutting trees.

Many trees in temperate forests are being cut down for firewood, construction, and art. This is leading to the

decline and loss of these forests.

Climatologist & Geologist:

Annual Temperature: 20oC-FreezingTemperature is the degree or intensity of heat present in a substance or

object, esp. as expressed according to a comparative scale and shown by a thermometer or perceived by touch.

Annual Precipitation: 30-60 inches/yearPrecipitation is the action or process of precipitating a substance from a

solution. Ex: Rain, snow, sleet, or hail that falls to the ground.

Weather is sometimes unpredictable, it can go from snowing one day, to rain, then sunny. Weather is the state of the atmosphere at a given time and place, with respect to variables such as temperature, moisture, wind velocity, and barometric pressure.

All four seasons are shown: Winter, Summer, Spring, Fall. Summers are hot and Winters are cold. In the winter, once the ground begins to freeze the trees can not absorb the water so they drop their leaves.

Leaves change in the fall, lose their leaves in the winter, and then grow back in the spring.

The Five Zones:First Zone: Three Stratum Zone; contains trees such as oak beech, maple,

chestnut hickory, elm, basswood, linden, walnut, and sweet gum trees. 60-100 feet tall.

Second Zone: Small Tree & Sapling Zone; young and short trees.

Third Zone: Shrub Zone; Shrubs such as rhododendrons, azaleas, mountain laurel, and huckleberries.Fourth Zone: Herb Zone; short plants such as herbal plants.

Ground Zone: Lichen club mosses, and true mosses.

Temperate Deciduous forests are found in: The eastern one third of North America Western EuropeChinaKoreaJapanAustraliaThe Southern tip of South America.

They are found anywhere from 60S to 60N. However most are located in 20N to 60N.

The tilt of the earth’s axis and the angle of sunlight hitting the temperate deciduous forest because it creates the seasons that allow the trees to change.

The varying seasons allows the trees to change their leaves color, shed their leaves, and then grow them back after the warm weather is back.

Seasons are the four natural divisions of the year, spring, summer, fall, and winter, in the North and South Temperate zones. Each season, beginning astronomically at an equinox or solstice, is characterized by specific meteorological or climatic conditions.

The growing season length for the typical temperate deciduous forest is 140-200 days during 4-6 frost-free months.

Growing season is the period of the year when climatic conditions are favorable for plant growth, common to a place or an area.

CITES NICOLE:

http://www.marietta.edu/~biol/biomes/tempded.htm

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/deciduous_forest.htm

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/tempdecid/tempdecid.shtml

http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/Forsite/tdfbiome.htm

http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/nwep8c.htm

http://www.mbgnet.net/sets/temp/index.htm

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Experiments/Biome/biotemperate.php

Makenna’s worksited page

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/deciduous-forest-biome.html

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/deciduous-forest-animals.html

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/deciduous-forest-plants.html

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/deciduous-forest-climate.html

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