I see a tree . . . it is branched in all directions, full of acorns and broad leaves. I see a tree . . . it is an old giant, reaching toward the sky, home to flowers, monkeys, and frogs. I see a tree . . . it is coniferous, with pine needle leaves and red bark, home to porcupines, grouse, and mice. I see a tree.
Greetings! Are you ready to explore a new biome? Then gear up, we’re headed to the forests. Can you guess one thing we’ll see there?
A biome is a community of plants and animals that live together in a certain climate.
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Trees! Lots of them! On our journey we will see trees of all sizes and shapes.
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Leafy trees and trees with pine needles. Towering trees and squat little trees. Trunks with red bark, brown bark, and white bark. What we see will depend on the type of forest we’re in—tropical, temperate, or boreal.
There are more than 60,000 tree species in the world.
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Close to the equator we’ll find tropical rainforests. Temperate forests are between the equator and the polar regions. And we’ll bundle up and visit the boreal forests in the far north.
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Forest communities cover about onethird of the land on Earth. That’s more than 3 trillion trees!
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Let’s start our journey in the world’s largest tropical rainforest—the Amazon. This warm, humid forest is called a rainforest because—you guessed it—it rains there.
A LOT. Like other tropical rainforests, the Amazon is warm all year round.
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Some tropical rain forests receive as much as 300 inches of rain per year!
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The forest floor you’re standing on is the darkest and quietest of the four layers of life in the rainforest. It is covered by decomposing matter. Keep an eye out for leafcutter ants as they go marching one by one . . . hurrah!
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The next layer is the understory, full of shrubs, small trees, and flowering plants. Listen for a wild pig snuffling about. And don’t touch those colorful poison dart frogs!
More than half the species of animals on Earth live in rainforests.
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Let’s explore the higher layers on a canopy walkway! The canopy is the busiest part of the rainforest. Lots of different species chirp, screech, bark, swing, slither, and fly up here.
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The emergent layer is where only the tallest trees reach above the canopy.
Scan the trees for sloths, monkeys, and toucans.
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Time to head north to a temperate forest in the eastern United States. Unlike the rainforest, this forest has four seasons with cold winters and warm summers.
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And there’s a lot less precipitation.
There are also temperate rainforests. These are found in cooler, coastal, mountainous regions. 13
These trees are called deciduous trees. All the leaves you see on the oaks, maples, birch, and beech trees turn color in the autumn— yellow, red, and oranges. The leaves fall off before winter and regrow in the spring.
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Can you spot another type of tree? Yes! Some trees have needles instead of leaves. Most coniferous trees don’t lose their pine needles in the winter.
Other plants that grow on the shady temperate forest floor are ferns, mushrooms, mosses, and wildflowers.
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Let’s sit quietly for moment. What animals do you see and hear? Chickadees singing, squirrels scampering, and woodpeckers peck, peck, pecking. And watch out for your snack—a chipmunk might grab it! There are also shy animals we probably won’t see, including bears, foxes, and mountain lions. Some animals—skunks, racoons, opossums, and owls—come out after dark.
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Squirrels bury thousands of nuts to help them survive the winter. They use memory and smell to find them.
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The final stop on our forest journey is the boreal forest of Canada. Bring a jacket! Even in the summer, it doesn’t get very warm here. And in the winter? It’s parka weather! This forest is the coldest and driest of the three types of forest.
Because boreal forests are so far north, the growing season is short, and the winters are long and dark.
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What do you notice about the trees here? That’s right, they’re mostly coniferous trees. Since the needles don’t fall off before winter, the trees can soak up sunlight all year round. We’re lucky to be here when ferns, mosses, and berries are growing too.
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In many forests, trees are connected by an underground network made of thin, hair-like fungi. Trees communicate and share resources through this network. 21
If you’re thinking it might be hard to live here, you’re right. But many animals have adapted to survive the cold, snowy winter. Snowshoe hares and lynx have large feet that help them stay on top of snow. They also have thick, warm fur coats. 22
Moose have warm coats too. Bears sleep away the winter by hibernating. Other animals are only parttime residents. Canadian geese, along with millions of other birds, migrate south in the winter.
Hundreds of species of birds breed in the boreal forests every year. 23
These forests may seem vast and untouched. But deforestation is a big problem. For centuries, people have cleared forests for farming, logging, and cities. Climate change is also making forests less healthy.
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All of this destroys forest habitats and harms wildlife.
Trees play an important role in absorbing greenhouse gasses and regulating Earth’s climate. 25
More and more people, though, are learning how to better manage the forests so they are sustainable. Fewer places allow clear cutting. And around the world people are planting new trees. The hope is to protect and celebrate trees and wildlife in tropical, temperate, and boreal forest so we can all enjoy them now and in the future.
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Eighty percent of plants and animals on land live in a forest. 27
Activity Time! Temperate forests have four different seasons: winter, spring, summer, and fall. During each season, the forest looks different and there may be different animals and insects around. WHAT YOU WILL NEED: paper, colored pencils Begin by researching what is going on in a temperate forest during each season. Pay attention to precipitation, what is going on with the different plants and trees, and what the animals are doing each season. Remember, there will be active full-time residents, animals that hibernate, and animals that migrate. Divide your paper into four equal parts. Label the rectangles winter, spring, summer, fall. Then, draw a picture of what the forest looks like during that season. Write a poem or short story based on your drawing of the four seasons in a temperate forest.
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Glossary
adapt: change to survive in new or different conditions. biome: a community of plants and animals that live together in a certain climate. boreal forest: the coniferous forest biome. canopy: an umbrella of trees over the forest. climate change: a big change to the climate that lasts over a long period of time. coniferous: plants and trees that do not shed their leaves each year. deciduous: a plant that sheds its leaves each year. decompose: to rot or break down. deforestation: the act of completely cutting down and clearing trees. emergent layer: where the tallest trees can be found, poking above the canopy layer just below. equator: an imaginary line around the earth that is equally between both poles. forest: an area with lots of trees and wildlife. hibernate: to sleep through the winter in a cave or underground. migrate: to move from one place to another. precipitation: any form of water that falls from clouds. rainforest: a forest in a hot climate that gets a lot of rain every year, so the plants are very green and grow a lot. sustainable: able to continue with little effect on the environment. temperate forest: a biome with a hot summer, cool spring and fall, and a cold winter. tropical forest: a biome where it is warm all the time. understory: the second layer of the forest, made up of saplings.
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Connections
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