Natural Vegetation 2: Temperate

This blogpost is on the lesson conducted on 27 July.

This is Ms Lie's last lesson with us, and she taught us on the Natural Vegetation Types: Temperate Deciduous Forests and Temperate Coniferous forests. Let's do a recap:

Difference between temperate and tropical:

1. Temperature

• Temperate: Not so hot all year round, experiences the 4 seasons
• Tropical: High temperature all year round

2. Rainfall

• There is more rainfall in the tropical climate than the temperate climate.

Okay. Here we come to the temperate deciduous forest. They can be found in countries that experience all 4 seasons (duh, it's in the temperate climate!). Its characteristics are linked to the weather and climate, just like its name. Deciduous mean to fall off. I'm sure it is referring to its leaves. Its leaves fall off during autumn. Here are some photos of the trees during different seasons:

Autumn

Summer

Winter

Spring

Beautiful, aren't they? Okay, as I was saying,the deciduous trees drop their leaves to prevent transpiration ( to minimize water loss. During winter there isn't much water.) Thus, the trees are NOT evergreen, which means that their leaves fall off.

Next up, we have the coniferous forests. These forests are full of what we call 'Christmas Trees'. If you realize, whenever you put up your Christmas trees, they are full of needle-like leaves. This is to minimize water loss due to transpiration. They have supple (flexible) branches, too, so that any snow that is collected can just slide off without the branches snapping. This is also the reason why the trees are cone shaped. The trees are evergreen too. Some of the beautiful trees:

See you soon, Ms Lie!