19. deciduous forests

To give the most in depth explanation of what a deciduous forest is , we must first look at geography and its characteristics. Deciduous forests fall under the category of physical geography. Physical geography describes the environment of a certain location or region. Though forests are different depending on their location and the environment that they reside in, two things can help determine the kind of forest that they are: climate and the types of trees that live in the forest. There are two main kinds of trees: evergreen and deciduous. Deciduous forests are normally found in the eastern half of America, the middle of Europe, and all over Asia. More specifically, deciduous forests are common in areas such as southwest Russia, Japan, eastern China, southern Chile, New Zealand, southeastern Australia, and the Middle East coast of Paraguay. Deciduous forests usually have four distinct seasons. During the summer, temperatures usually average at around 70°F, beginning in June and ending in August. Winter does not really begin until December, with temperatures averaging at a little below freezing. Year round, the average temperature in a deciduous forests is around 50°F. The average amount of rainfall is from around 30-60 inches a year. Deciduous forests include a large variety of plant life. Many have three layers of plants. On the forest floor, plants such as Lichen, moss, ferns, and wildflowers, along with several other kinds of small plants can be found. Shrubs can usually be found in the middle level and hardwood trees such as maple, oak, birch, magnolia, sweet gum, and beech tend to be the most common trees in the top layer. In the fall season, many of the trees will have their leaves change color from green to red, gold, and yellow leaves, due to the shortage of water, until winter, when many of these plants will lose their leaves. A few evergreen trees can be found scattered throughout deciduous forests. Animals that live in deciduous forests must be able to adapt to the changes in the seasons. For this reason, many of the animals residing in deciduous forests will go into hibernation during the winter or will migrate to another location. Many species of birds such as broad-winged hawks, cardinals, snowy owls, pileated woodpeckers, and bald eagles are commonly found in these areas. Mammals such as raccoons, opossums, porcupines, red foxes, bears, squirrels, and deer can be found living in deciduous forests. For many species of animals, such as bobcats, mountain lions, timberwolves, and coyotes, as well as elk and bison, deciduous forests are their natural habitat. But many of these species have been hunted almost to extinction, and cannot make the deciduous forests their home due to the human threat.

CF Manual pages 12-13

"Deciduous Forest Biome" http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/deciduous_forest.htm

"Deciduous Forest" http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/msese/earthsysflr/dforestp.html

"Temperate Deciduous Forests" http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/nwep8c.htm

Camila Sabisky