Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests cover some 7.5 million km2 of the earth’s surface. They include such forest types as the mixed deciduous forest of the United States and their counterparts in China and Japan, the broadleaf evergreen rainforests of Japan, Chile, New Zealand and Tasmania, and the sclerophyllous forests of Australia, the Mediterranean and California.
The largest of the temperate broadleaf and mixed forest ecoregions is the New England/Acadian Forest, which forms a mosaic of mixed forest types that cover half of New Brunswick; most of Nova Scotia, except for the Cape Breton Highlands; all of Maine, except for the southwestern corner; northwestern Massachusetts; the Champlain Valley of Vermont and the coastal plain of New Hampshire.
Red spruce and red pines are the dominant conifer species, with eastern hemlock and eastern white pine also present and a mixture of sugar maple, American beech and yellow birch characterizes the hardwood component.
Many different types of herbivores and carnivores live in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forest. Common animals include squirrels, rabbits, skinks, deer, mountain lion, bobcat, timber wolf, fox and bears. Many birds are found in this biome and some reptiles and amphibians also exist here.
Nutrients rich brown forest soils characterize the temperate broadleaf and mixed forest biome. Tree cover promotes the accumulations of organic materials in a well developed humus layer.
Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest
