Temperate Deciduous Forests

1. Temperate Deciduous Forests

2. The deciduous forest has four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

3. In the autumn the leaves change color. During the winter months the trees lose their leaves.

4. During autumn, green chlorophyll in the leaves of trees begins to decompose. This allows oranges, yellows, and reds to show.  Actually, these colors were always there, but had been hidden by the green pigment of the chlorophyll.  

5. Before winter, deciduous trees and plants become dormant.  They lose their leaves and seal the places where leaves were attached with a protective covering called a leaf scar. 

6. These forests are mostly found in the eastern half of the United States, Canada, Europe, and in parts of Russia, China, and Japan.

7. The average annual temperature in a deciduous forest is 50° F. The average rainfall is 30 to 60 inches a year.

8. The animals of the deciduous forest adapt to the climate by hibernating in the winter.

9. The soil in the deciduous forests is usually fertile, because of the falling leaves, twigs, logs, and dead organisms.