SOURCE (S)
http://www.vtaide.com/png/temperateBiomes.htm
Plant Adaptations
Deciduous Trees are trees that shed their leaves once a year during the winter season and later grows their leaves back in the Spring. Deciduous trees have large extensive leaves like ash, beech, birch, maple and oak.
- In the SUMMER the leaves get sunlight through photosynthesis to make food
- When temperature drops, trees cut off supply of the water to the leaves and seals off areas between the leaf stem and tree trunk.
- When leaves have limited sunlight and water it is unable to produce chlorophyll causing the leaves to turn red, yellow and orange. This happens in the FALL
- During the WINTER, the trees can't protect its own leaves from freezing so they just lose them and seal up the place where the leave attaches to the branc
- It helps the trees from water loss through transpiration by losing their own leaves
- Some food material that the leaves contain goes back into the branches before the leaves die so it could be stored and used for the following spring
Animal Adaptations
Animals that are in temperate deciduous forests have to adapt to the changing seasons. They have to deal with cold winters when it's hard to supply food. Migration and hibernations are two adaptations used by animals in this biome.
- Some birds find more food easily by migrating to warmer places
- Some mammals hibernate during the cold winter months
- Animals protect themselves from the cold by hibernating
- Hibernating also reduces the animals need for food
- The body temperature of a hibernating animal is lower than usual and it's heartbeat and breathing slow down greatly
- Animals that hibernate get energy to stay alive by living off fat stored in its body