BIOMESTemperate Deciduous Forests

Stephanie Abrahamson

Geography 101, Fall 2015

The scientific community likes to classify things. They have divided the world into

ecoregions which are areas of similar habitat. Biomes group ecoregions into areas that

have similar vegetation AND also consider similar climate, habitat structure, and ecological

similarity. An ecosystem is the interaction of living and nonliving things in an environment.

A biome is a specific geographic area notable for the species living there. A biome can be

made up of many ecosystems. (7)

Our text book simply defines biomes as “a large, recognizable assemblage of

plants and animals in functional interaction with its environment.” (2) While our text

mentions only 11, there are about 12 main, aquatic and terrestrial defined biomes: coral

reef, desert, grassland, lake and pond, ocean, river and stream, seashore, taiga,

temperate deciduous forests, tropical rain forests, tundra, wetland. There are other

sources that define 6-13 varieties, some involving only the land masses.

This graph shows the world wide breakdown of different biomes by percentage.

My focus for this project is on temperate deciduous forest or TDF.

Description

Temperate deciduous forests are located between the polar regions and the tropics.

The regions are exposed to warm and cold air masses, which cause this area to have four

seasons. The temperature varies widely with cold winters and hot, wet summers.

During the fall, trees change color and then lose their leaves. Many different kinds of

broadleaf trees, shrubs, and herbs grow in deciduous forests.

What is it?Temperature-22 to 86 degrees, yearly average is 50 degrees F; hot, wet summers, cold winters

Precipitation29.5 to 59 inches of precipitation per year in rain and snow

VegetationBroadleaf trees (oaks, maples, beeches), shrubs, perennial herbs, and mosses

LocationSE United States, S end of S America, Canada, W Europe, NE Asia, China, and Japan

Temperate deciduous forests are most notable because they go through four seasons.

There are five layers found in the temperature deciduous forest biome.

The ground layer is home to moss and to lichens. The herb layer allows for

short plants to grow. At the shrub layer you will find huckleberries and

many other flora. The small tree layer is where the saplings are found.

The top layer is the tree stratum where you will find them growing up to

100 feet tall including maple and oak trees.

Where is it?

When you look at a map of the world, lines of latitude form invisible belts that circle the

globe. These lines of latitude can be grouped into three different categories as you move

away from the equator. Regions that lie between 0° and 23° north and south latitude are

called the Tropics, regions between 23° and 66° are called the Temperate latitudes, and

regions between 66° and 90° are called the Polar latitudes..

We rely on the oxygen from the trees in the temperate deciduous biome

as well as all forests more than most people realize. We also need to leave

these environments in tact for the oxygen/carbon benefits. There are

some conservation efforts in place but the damage has already had a

severe impact in many of these biome locations around the world.

A good deal of the human population is found in areas that once supported temperate forests. The biggest threat to temperate forests is development and agriculture. Other threats to the forest come from logging; most of the trees here are hardwoods, which means they have a denser wood and may grow more slowly. There is more pressure to cut the trees (clearcutting) to maintain volume at the sawmill.

Acid rain and water pollution from coal/fossil fuel burning is another threat, as is global warming, which in particular may change rainfall patterns.

The issue of forest fragmentation occurs when only small patches of forest are left to maintain species diversity. Diversity is important for all species to remain healthy and resilient toward disease. The EPA estimates that more than 19 percent of all forests in the U.S. consist of smaller patches rather than a "core forest" in which biodiversity can occur.

Read 1st sentence and 1st paragraph of Robert’s paragraph

Read 2nd paragraph fr Robert’s book

Today he has a sustainable, integrated organic farming system that can

be replicated. He uses NO chemicals and gets 20-30% MORE money for

his duck-rice than his neighbors do for their rice crop. His methods have

spread to more than 75,000 farmers in Japan, Korea, China, Vietnam, the

Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Iran, and Cuba.

Farmers using this method also have more time to spend with their

family or doing other things. It has been estimated that manual weeding

of paddies requires about 240 hours of labor per hectare every year. (1)

The Aigamo farming method does not bring back the lost forests BUT, one has to

admit, it is much more favorable to a raped, clear-cut field or a chemically laden

monocrop situation. I think there is a “closed loop” system that is appropriate for

human adaptation in each of the biomes. There is a way humans CAN live in

harmony with nature. The Big Ag and chemical companies may not prosper from

this, but haven’t they profited and damaged enough?