Temperate deciduous forests are located primarily in eastern North America, Europe and part of Russia, parts of China and Japan. The largest such forest, in northern Russia and Scandinavia, covers 3.5 million square miles. Smaller forests are located in southern South America, southeastern Australia and New Zealand. In addition to four seasons, temperate deciduous forests are characterized by rainfall in the range of 30 to 60 inches annually, placing them between the wetter rainforests and drier grasslands and taiga, and have an average temperature of around 50 degrees Fahrenheit with 60- to 80-percent humidity.
Plants in the temperate deciduous forest make use of the long days of summer to photosynthesize sugars for energy. Some of this energy is metabolized to produce growth while some is stored for the following spring. As winter approaches, trees and other deciduous plants shed their leaves and become dormant until the longer hours of sunshine and warmth of spring signal that it's time to start growing again.
The biome of the tropical deciduous forest can be divided into five ecological zones: the tree zone, the small tree and sapling zone, the shrub zone, the herb zone and the ground zone. Trees in the first zone reach heights between 60 and 100 feet and include such species as oak, beech, maple, elm, walnut and chestnut. Smaller trees and saplings fill the small-tree zone, while shrubs like rhododendron, azalea and huckleberries inhabit the next-lower zone. The herb zone is home to short plants. Lichens, mosses and club mosses have their fiefdom in the ground zone.
Animals inhabiting the temperate deciduous forest include the smallest and simplest, like insects and earthworms, familiar mammal species like chipmunks, bear, deer and wolves, and innumerable species of birds. The plants of the forest biome provide food for many of them, whether berries for bears, grass for grazing animals like deer, or nuts for chipmunks and squirrels. Humans have also opted to settle in the temperate deciduous forest biome, in part because the land tends to be quite fertile. Over the centuries, farmland has replaced much of the forest.
