Page 19 - The World About Us

Woodland
2.1.2
1.1.1

What is life like in the temperate woodlands?

While tropical forests have the
highest levels of biodiversity,
temperate woodlands tend to have
many fewer species of trees. In Britain,
oak is the dominant tree species,
although it is found growing alongside
ash, elm, sycamore and horse chestnut
trees. An oak can reach heights of 40
metres or more but may take 200 years
to reach maturity. Smaller, faster
growing trees such as mountain ash
(rowan) or birch, may only reach 15 to
30 metres but can achieve such heights
in just a few decades.
Many of the trees in the temperate
woodland are deciduous. This means
that they lose their leaves in winter
and grow new, broad but thin leaves in
the following spring. These broad fig.49 Black bears survive the cold and lack of food in winter by hibernating.
leaves are able to collect lots of
incoming solar radia on and convert growth to maximise their access to of tree may dominate. In some parts of
this into living biomass through sunlight filtering through the trees. the world, such as Korea, Japan and
photosynthesis. The long summer days Small snowdrops flower in mid-winter, South America, coniferous and
allows for a longer growing day than in followed by slightly larger wood evergreen species of trees dominate
the tropics, making up for the loss of anemones. These, in turn, are followed the temperate forests. In much of
photosynthesis in the winter. by taller wild garlic and bluebells. These North America and Europe it is
begin to die back once the overhead broadleaved trees which are most
Deciduous trees in the temperate
woodlands have evolved to lose their leaf canopy of the trees is fully formed common. These trees, in turn, support
in early summer. Ferns, which can grow a different range of forest species living
leaves in winter. This is to avoid
in low light levels, can dominate the in, and beneath, the tree canopy.
damage to the trees if they try to
photosynthesize when the ground is forest floor in the summer months. As broadleaved woods have
frozen and water is unavailable. As the The annual supply of thin leaves is evolved in many con nents, the
leaves only need to last six months they rapidly integrated into the soil by animals found in those forests are the
are thin and easily break down once earthworms. In the soil (known in this product of a diverse evolu onary
discarded in the autumn. region as an acid, brown earth) the history. Marsupials, such as koalas and
nutrients become available for the opossums, are only found in Australia
As deciduous trees will grow a
dense canopy of leaves in the summer, trees to use again. and the Americas respec vely.
smaller flowering bulbs must me their In each con nent different species Bears are s ll rela vely common in
North America but have mostly been
fig.50 Woodland plants such as bluebells flower before the leaf canopy is fully formed.
hunted to ex nc on in most of
Western Europe. Different varie es of
deer, such as roe deer, inhabit the
woodlands. They are hunted by cats
such as lynx and mountain lions.
Smaller mammals have adapted to
human influence be er, with squirrels,
rabbits, mice and moles being
common. These are hunted by
predators such as foxes, owls and other
birds of prey. Surprisingly, the food
which most foxes and badgers rely on
for the majority of their diet is
earthworms.
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Ecosystems have distinct distributions and characteristics.