Richard Nelson
Kaushika Vayyala
Niloofar Siahpolo
Shanee Singer
! helpful terms and definitions regarding this biome ! :
~Deciduous forest - type of forest characterized by trees that shed their leaves seasonally.
~fertile soil - in this context it refers to soil that has abundant plant nutrients
~raptor – a bird of prey (ex. A peregrine falcon)
~adaption – a behavioral or physical characteristic that allows to organism to succeed in its environment
~epiphyte – plant that likes to grow on another plant
~ food storage – small mammals and birds gathering and storing seeds, grains, or nuts for future usage
~angiosperms – flowering plants
A. General biome information:
1)Where is this biome found?
 Deciduous forests can be found in the eastern half of North America and the middle of Europe.
 There are also 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 the coast of Paraguay.
 There are deciduous forests located in New Zealand and southeastern
Australia.
2) Environmental conditions:
 Appropriate environmental conditions such as climate, soil characteristics, water characteristics (salinity, depth, flow, layering, etc).
 average rainfall is 30 to 60 inches a year.

Deciduous forests have almost 14 inches of rain in the winter months and more than 18 inches of rain in the summer
 Mild summers and cool winters

During the winter months the trees lose their leaves
 Very fertile soil

 Some of the best agricultural land in world
 6 month growing season
B. Distinctive features of one sub-biome of biome
3)plants and algae:
 dominant plants are deciduous trees
 few epiphytes
 soil freezes in the winter that makes water uptake almost impossible
 evergreens can dominate these forests due to their winter hardiness
 beech trees have shallow roots so they can take advantage of topsoil
 vertical layers of closed canopy, one or maybe two strata of lower understory trees, layer of shrubbery, and herbaceous stratum on bottom
 many plants have thicker bark that insulates internal liquid well
4)Animals and their adaptions:
 hibernation is common of many animals here
 birds migrate to warmer climates at less extreme latitudes
 food storage is practiced squirrels, jays, and chipmunks
 evolution has given the black bears the feeding characteristics of omnivores so it can increase its functional palate
 rabbits have dirt colored coats in the warm seasons to better avoid predators
 bald eagles can pick up large prey with very sharp hook-like talons
5) The food web
 main producers are angiosperms

food chain has four trophic levels : primary producers (plants), primary consumers (herbivores), secondary consumers, and a tertiary consumer, the cougar

primary consumers in this system include insects, birds, rodents and deer
 predators are foxes, owls, skunks, bears, etc
 biome produces 6000 kilocalories of plant tissues per M 2 per year
 a fairly diverse ecology

6) Threats to the Biome
 People live too close to the deciduous forest biome
 Acid Rain - Caused by industrial and vehicle emissions. Damages leaves and causes them to produce less seeds.
 Cutting of Trees - Trees cut for timber and to clear land for agriculture. It leaves thousands of species of animals without a home.
 Inroduction of Non-native Organisms - Upsets the balance of the ecosystem, by competing for food with native organisms.
Where: We can find deserts in North and South America, Africa, Asia and
Australia. Deserts cover about one fifth of the Earth's surface and occur where rainfall is less than 50 cm/year. Although most deserts, such as the Sahara of
North Africa and the deserts of the southwestern U.S., Mexico, and Australia, occur at low latitudes, another kind of desert, cold deserts, occur in the basin and range area of Utah and Nevada and in parts of western Asia.
There are four major types of deserts: Hot and dry, Semiarid, Coastal and Cold.
Climate:
From 32 °F at night and 113 °F at day. Precipitation in the desert is very scarce. It rains below 25 cm per year. Since the desert is located in plains it gets up to 38C in the daytime and 0C at night.
Soil Characteristics : Soils are course-textured, shallow, rocky or gravely with good drainage and have no subsurface water. They are coarse because there is less chemical weathering. The finer dust and sand particles are blown elsewhere, leaving heavier pieces behind. Soils often have abundant nutrients because they need only water to become very productive and have little or no organic matter Disturbances are common in the form of occasional fires or cold weather, and sudden, infrequent, but intense rains that cause flooding.