The Deciduous Forest
The deciduous forest is characterized by its changing of seasons and leaf fall. Deciduous forests are spread out all around the world. They are on the eastern coast of the United States, the southern coast of Canada most of Europe, parts of Japan, China, and Australia.
A Deciduous forest's weather cycle changes drastically every season. There is enough rainfall year round. In the winter, plants stop growing for a few months. In the spring and summer plants start to come up and bloom quickly. In the autumn, the trees shed their leaves..
Numerous amount of organisms live in the deciduous forest. In the kingdom Plantae, two organisms are the oak tree and the elm tree. There is bacteria which represents Monera, and mushrooms in the kingdom Fungi. In the Protista kingdom there are amoeba and paramecium which live in lakes which exist in the deciduous forest.
Some examples of invertebrates are arthropods. Arthropods have exoskeletons, jointed appendages, a segmented body, and an open circulatory system. An example of an arthropod is a Margophus annulatus. Another invertebrate phylum is Molluska. Mollusks are soft bodied, and usually have a hard shell secreted by a mantle. They have a muscular foot and a digestive system with two openings. An example is a snail. Some vertebrates in the deciduous forest are from the class reptilia. Reptiles have dry covered skin, and most lay eggs. Some examples are the Desmognathus fuscus, which is a salamander, and the Rana syluatica, which is a frog. Another example of vertebrates in the deciduous forest are found in class mammalia. Mammals are warm blooded, use lungs for respiration, and have four legs. Some examples of mammals are S. carolinensis, which is a squirrel, Tamias netscheri, which is a chipmunk, and Oryctolagus cuniculus, which is a rabbit. The last example of vertebrates are called Aves. Birds have feathers on most of their body, and scales on legs and feet. Some of them move by flying. Examples of Aves are Picoides pubescens, which is a woodpecker, and Anas platyrhynchos, which is a duck.
There are many examples of adaptation in the deciduous forest. Some birds are able to survive the winter by flying south where it is warmer and easier to get food. That way they have a greater chance of existing longer. Trees shed leaves every fall because the chlorophyll in the leaves breaks down. When leaves, fall it puts the tree to sleep for the winter, which helps it survive because, during the winter, there are not enough nutrients for it to feed on. When a dandelion pollinates, it spreads its seeds very far for a greater chance at reproducing.
A big environmental issue in the deciduous forest is deforestation. Trees are cut down for paper, which destroys the habitat for many animals, which puts them at risk of extinction. Some endangered species in the deciduous forest disappeared for a while but are finally coming back because of conservation measures being taken to save the forest.
An example of symbiosis involves fungi(mycorrhizae) and green plants, specifically orchids. The relationship is that orchids seeds can only survive with the help of a certain species of fungi. These fungi come through the seed and provide it with moisture and food during the early stages of the seed's growth. In turn, the orchid seed provides the fungus with food, the products of photosynthesis.
