Assignment task: Located in the United States, Canada, Europe, China, and Japan, the temperate deciduous forest is a biome of deciduous trees that lose their leaves in the fall and regrow them in the spring. Below is a climatograph of a temperate deciduous forest in Canada. Temperature is shown in the line graph, and precipitation is shown in the bar graph below:
1. Use the climatograph above to answer the following:
- Identify the lowest average temperature and its corresponding month.
- Describe the weather expected during the month identified in (i) based on its level of precipitation.
- Analyze the patterns of temperature and precipitation change in the climatograph. Describe the seasonal changes of this biome.
- Explain how the geography of this temperate deciduous forests affects its climate.
- Describe how the patterns of temperature and precipitation of a temperate deciduous forest compare to temperate rainforests.
2. Plants and animals adapt over generations to their environment.
- Identify the mechanism that allows species to change over time.
- Explain the role of natural selection in adaptation.
- Describe one adaptation a plant or animal would develop in a temperate deciduous forest.
3. Because the soil in the temperate deciduous forest is naturally deep and rich in nutrients, it provides human beings with specific ecosystem services.
- Describe two ecosystem services provided by temperate deciduous forests.
- Describe why the conversion of temperate deciduous forest to farmland has unintended consequences to the environment.
- Propose one alternative to clearcutting forests for the ecosystem services described in (i) of part c.