By: Juwan Brooks, Timmy Lord

 Deciduous forests can be found in the eastern half of North America, and the middle of Europe.  There are 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 Middle East coast of Paraguay.  There are deciduous forests located in New Zealand, and southeastern Australia also.

 The average annual temperature in a deciduous forest is 50° F. The average rainfall is 30 to 60 inches a year.  In deciduous forests there are five different zones.  The first zone is the Tree Stratum zone.  The Tree Stratum zone contains such trees as oak, beech, maple, chestnut hickory, elm, basswood, linden, walnut, and sweet gum trees.  This zone has height ranges between 60 feet and 100 feet.

 The small tree and sapling zone is the second zone.  This zone has young, and short trees.  The third zone is called the shrub zone.  Some of the shrubs in this zone are rhododendrons, azaleas, mountain laurel, and huckleberries.  The Herb zone is the fourth zone.  It contains short plants such as herbal plants.  The final zone is the Ground zone.  It contains lichen, club mosses, and true mosses.

 The deciduous forest has four distinct seasons, spring, summer, autumn, and winter.  In the autumn the leaves change color.  During the winter months the trees lose their leaves.

 The animals adapt to the climate by hibernating in the winter and living off the land in the other three seasons.  Animals found in the forest include: American Bald Eagle  American Black Bear  Coyote  Duckbill Platypus  Eastern Chipmunk  European Red Squirrel  Fat Dormouse  Least Weasel  White-tailed Deer

 The soil type is brown forest soil, the abundance of falling leaves in Autumn enriches the soil and turns it brown.

 The Red Fox has adapted because it can live in many different habitats and it can eat many different things.  Rabbits usually only live about one year in the wild so they have developed an extremely fast reproduction rate.

 Due to logging, development of residential areas, and over hunting many deciduous forests are being destroyed.

 The creation of Shawnee National Forest, located between the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers in the southern portion of the state, was prompted by the public's interest in having a national forest in Illinois.  Private individuals preserved Funk's Grove, southwest of Bloomington on Old Route 66 in central Illinois.  A portion of these woods, Thaddeus-Stubblefield Grove, is a dedicated Illinois Nature Preserve established in  It contains 1600 acres of oak savannas, woodlands, and forests.  It has some of the largest trees in the state, and the best example of a bur oak grove.  A secondary forest of maples is present; local people harvest and sell maple syrup.

 North American forests have five times as many species of trees as the forests of Europe.  The temperate deciduous forest Biome has four seasons of winter, fall, summer, and spring.  Animals and plants have special adaptations to cope with these early changes.  The largest tree in the world is found in the United States. You can find it in California. This giant sequoia tree is 275 feet tall and 95 feet around.  One of the most interesting features of the temperate forests is the changing seasons.

 Name a animal found in this forest.  What are some conservation effort.  What is the greatest human influences.  Name the seasons.  What type of forest is it.