Temperate Deciduous Forests Biome
Deciduous trees lose their leaves in autumn.

The leaves change colour before they fall.

The fallen leaves are good for the soil.

In spring, new leaves grow and the forest is green again.

The leaves are wide to catch more sunshine.

'Deciduous' means to shed - deciduous trees shed their leaves once a year.

Why do deciduous trees shed their leaves?
The leaves of deciduous trees are broad and quite light. This gives the leaves a bigger surface to capture sunlight to help produce food for the plant. This is called photosynthesis (say photo-sin-th-essis). However, broad leaves are not good when the weather gets cold, as they lose too much moisture and get damaged. So the cooler autum temperatures are a signal to the trees to cut off the water supply to the leaves and seal off leaf stems where they join onto the tree trunks. The leaves are not able to produce the chlorophyll (say claw-roe-fill) that makes them green. The leaves become yellow, red or gold before they dry up and fall off the trees. The leaves decay on the ground and make the soil very fertile.

Where are deciduous forests found?
This biome is located between the polar regions and the tropics, so large air masses from both cold and warm areas of the Earth affect the climate. Deciduous forests are found in the eastern part of the USA and large areas of Europe.

There are four seasons in this biome, with warm summers and cold, often snowy, winters. There is about 90-180 cm of rain falling evenly through the year. Many people live in this biome.

In autumn, the leaves change color and fall from the trees. The leaves decay on the forest floor, so the soil is very rich. Because of this, and because of the long growing season, many deciduous forests have been cut down for farming purposes.

Deciduous Forest: Plants
Trees of this biome include hardwoods such as maple, oak, hickory, and beech. There are often some evergreens, such as hemlock, spruce, and fir growing amongst them.

A deciduous forest generally has 3,4 or even 5 layers of plants:
Top layer, or canopy: tall deciduous trees.
Although the canopy is quite thick, it does allow sunlight to reach the forest floor, which encourages the other layers to grow.
The 2nd layer: saplings and shorter kinds of trees
The 3rd layer, or understorey: shrubs.
The 4th layer: forest herbs, such as wildflowers and berries. In spring, before the leaves develop on the deciduous trees, these herbs bloom and grow quickly while they are getting a lot of sunlight.
The 5th layer: mosses and lichens that grow on tree trunks.

Deciduous Forest: Animals
A wide variety of mammals, birds, insects, and reptiles can be found in the deciduous forest biome. Mammals that can be found include bears, raccoons, squirrels, skunks, wood mice, and deer. Animals like bobcats, elk, bison, mountain lions, timberwolves, and coyotes used to be found in the deciduous forests, but have been hunted down by humans and almost wiped out.

Melting snow in spring and rain during summer provide water for streams and ponds. Many water birds, insects, and fishes are found in this biome, along with amphibians such as frogs and salamanders, and reptiles such as lizards and small snakes.

Animal Adaptations
The animals have developed different ways of surviving in this biome. Many of them migrate to warmer places to escape the cold winter months, while others hibernate (sleep) through the winter when food is scarce.

Some animals such as squirrels, chipmunks and jays store food when it is plentiful, using hollows of trees as storehouses for nuts and seeds. In winter this store of food keeps them fed. have adopted is food storage.

More information about the temperate deciduous forest biome:
http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/msese/earthsysflr/dforest.html
http://www.mbgnet.net/sets/temp/index.htm
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/ne_asian_decid_forest.htm

Read about some of the animals that are found in the temperate deciduous forest biome, depending on which country they are located, here: http://lsb.syr.edu/projects/cyberzoo/animtemp.html

Find out about other biomes:water .. rainforest .. tundra .. desert .. taiga ..grassland

updated October 2008 ©kidcyber