Mid-Latitude Temperate Forest
After the glaciers from the Ice Age retreated from North America, Asia, Europe,
the Alps, the Balkan Mountains, and the Pyrenees about 10, 000 years ago,
seeds from a forest 180 million years old that survived the cold started to
germinate. Almost all tree species survived the Ice Age. It did not take long for
the temperate forest to return to its former beauty.
Temperate forests, as the name implies, are found in the temperate zone. The
temperate zone is where the climate and amount of sunlight can vary
tremendously between each season. However, variations in the climate and sun
make the temperate forest one of the most densely populated biomes on Earth.
There are four different types of temperate forest: Deciduous forest, Evergreen
forest, temperate rain forest, and mixed evergreen and deciduous forests. In
deciduous forests, trees such as the maple, beech, basswood, oak, and hickory,
along with many other types, thrive here. These trees lose their leaves in the fall
and regrow them in the spring. In contrast, evergreen forest trees, found in North
America, keep their needle like leaves all year long. Some of these trees include
the spruce, fir, pine, and hemlock. The evergreen forests in the Southern
Hemisphere, however, have eucalyptus trees. They have broad leaves like that
of a deciduous tress, and are the dominating tree for that region. The temperate
rain forest is home to the coastal redwoods found in California and Oregon. The
coastal redwoods are the world's tallest growing trees. Lastly, mixed forest are
comprised of both evergreen and deciduous trees.
Climate
Each temperate forest experiences great differences in temperature from season
to season. The only temperate forest which maintains an average temperature
throughout each season is the temperate rain forest, which remains at 60° F (15°
C). The other forests experience a change with each season.
Vegetation
There are four different types of temperate forests. These four types include the
deciduous forest, temperate evergreen forest, mixed forest, and temperate rain
forest. Each forest has different dominating trees and plants. They also
experience different temperatures from season to season. On the next few
pages, you will find tables of each forest explaining their dominating growth
forms, and a short description.
Broadleaf Forest
Vegetation: Dominating trees' oak, hickory, American chestnut trees, sugar
maple, American beech, American basswood, birch, black cherry, magnolia, ash,
and buckeye.
Description: Deciduous forests can be found across north-central sections of the
eastern United States, central Europe, eastern Asia, and parts of southeastern
Canada. The deciduous has four distinct seasons. During these four seasons the
forest receives up to forty inches (100 centimeters) of rain. The growing season
in a deciduous forest can be several months long. The deciduous forest is home
to a large array of plants and animals. Sometimes only one type of tree will
dominate the forest. However, most commonly, two trees will co-dominate the
forest. For example, maple and beech trees co-dominate the deciduous forest
around the southern Great Lakes and in southeastern Canada. In some
circumstances, seen in sheltered coves in the Appalachian Mountains, no tree is
dominant. In these deciduous forests, which have been evolving for millions of
years, dozens of different trees form the canopy.
Needleleaf Temperate Forest
Vegetation: Dominating trees' eucalyptus, pine, fir, hemlock, spruce, giant
sequoia, and cypress.
Description: Temperate evergreen forests are characterized by their hardy trees.
Trees need to withstand sandy, rocky, and basically poor quality soil, occasional
fires, droughts and cold weather. These forests are generally dominated by pine
trees, but also support many other kinds of vegetation. Broad-leaf evergreens
dominate forests in eastern Asia, coastal regions of New Zealand and Australia,
and parts of Chile. Deciduous trees are found in evergreen forests in the Rocky
Mountains. Sequoia's, which are the worlds largest living thing, are found in
Kings Canyon National Park in California. Swampy cypress, giant sequoia, and
dry pine forests are some of the different types of temperate evergreen forests.
Mixed forest
Vegetation: Trees' pine, spruce, hemlock, yew, birch, maple, and oak.
Description: Mixed forests are found in New England, the upper Midwest parts of
the southeastern United States, parts of Russia, central Canada, Asia, and
northern Europe. Mixed forests are typically found in high elevations, or northern
locations. This explains their relatively short growing seasons, cold temperatures,
and longer winters.
Temperate Rainforest
Vegetation: Giant tree species' coastal redwood, big-leaf maple, giant hemlock,
Douglas fir, sitka spruce, and giant eucalyptus.
Human Impact
Logging of the temperate forests is a major threat to the biome and
everything thereby inclusive. In North America loggers have devastated many
temperate forests. For instance, of the ninety-five percent of forest covering the
state of Ohio in 1800, only fifteen percent remains. deforestation not only affects
the trees, but it also affects every plant and animal living in the area. Because of
deforestation, the Carolina parakeet became extinct in the early 1900's. Other
animals, like the Mississippi sandhill crane, bears, woodland caribou, goshawks,
wolves, fox, and mountain lions, are also becoming endangered .
Logging also ruins the soil. When trees that hold the soil together are cut
down, the soil can easily be eroded. The ground under the soil is a mixture of
clay and rock, which most plants cannot grow in.
Also, logging pollutes the water and the air. As soil is washed away by water, it
usually ends up in fast, clear water streams. The excess soil slows up streams
and threatens fish species.
Air is polluted when the trees are cut down. Trees act as natural filters of
pollutants from cities and factories. These pollutants end up on the leaves of the
tree and are eventually brought back down to the soil. When trees once filtering
air pollutants are cut down, the pollutants remain in the air. These pollutants,
especially those that are released from burning petroleum products, can mix with
water vapor and form acid rain. Acid rain can destroy a forest by killing some
types of trees and leeching nutrients from rich soil.
Another problem that arises when trees are cut down is the green house
effect and global warming. Some scientists believe that the over abundance of
greenhouse gases in the earth's atmosphere will cause global warming of the
earth's climate within the next fifty years. Trees help limit harmful greenhouse
gases by absorbing carbon dioxide, one of the most prevalent greenhouse gases
on earth. If trees in the temperate forest are destroyed, more amounts of carbon
dioxide will escape into the atmosphere. As gas levels go up, the earth's
temperature will also rise, affecting the whole world's climate.
Although logging is permitted in some temperate forest areas, national
parks have been established to save the natural beauty of these forests. Some
examples of these popular national parks can be found all over Canada and the
United States. Some include the Yosemite National Park in California, Great
Smoky National Park in Tennessee, Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada, and
Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.