deciduous summer forest

views updated

deciduous summer forest One of the two kinds of broad-leaved forest in the middle latitudes, the other being broad-leaved and evergreen (see evergreen forest). The deciduous summer forest is by far the more important of the two in the northern hemisphere, and is absent from the southern hemisphere. The deciduous nature of the forest is believed to be principally an adaptation to drought in winter, when the soil is frozen.

More From encyclopedia.com