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Deciduous Forest Biomes

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A biome is a large community of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat. Every biome has a certain group of animals and plants and they are able to live because they can adapt to the environment in that biome. There are biomes on land (terrestrial) and underwater (aquatic). All plants and animals that live in a biome are interdependent, meaning they depend on each other in one way or another. The two biomes being compared are the taiga biome and the deciduous forest biome. These two have similarities and differences and are both a big part of human life. However, uninformed people are negatively affecting these biomes even though they are very important to life on Earth.

According to the New York Living Environment Biology textbook, the …show more content…

Taigas have less diversity in plants compared to other biomes. The most common tree is the conifer. Conifers include Pines, Spruces and Firs. However, there might be some deciduous species in a taiga, too. As I mentioned earlier, the soil is very acidic and poor in nutrients so plants have to adapt to the environment. Although it precipitates enough to water the trees, the precipitation is often frozen. Conifers have adapted to their frozen environment by having thin needles with a waxy coating. This reduces the amount of water lost through transpiration. Conifers have a cone structure so the heavy snow can easily slide off. If they did not have this adaption, the branches would break off. Instead of flowers, fungi and mosses cover the ground. Deciduous forests have five different zones. The first zone is the Stratum zone. In this zone, there are Oaks, Beeches, Maples, Chestnut Hickories, Elms, Basswoods and Sweet Gum trees. The second zone has young, short trees. The third zone is called the shrub zone. Some of the shrubs that live here are Rhododendrons, Azaleas and Huckleberries. The fourth zone is the herb zone and it contains herbal plants. The last zone is the ground zone. Mainly mosses and lichens grow here. The trees have adapted to the forest by having thick bark. This keeps pesky animals out and it prevents the tree form dying. Also, the leaves fall off during the winter and the trees go into a state of dormancy to

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