Lesson video

Hello everyone.

My name's Mrs. Harking.

We're going to be finding out about some specific species of animals and plants that are found in the UK temperate deciduous forest.

Today's lesson is plants and animals from the temperate deciduous forest.

It's taken from the forest biomes units: Why are forest so important? Our outcome today is to describe how animals and plants in temperate deciduous forests adapt to the climate.

Here are some keywords that are useful to know before we start the lesson.

We have climate zone, an area that has similar weather conditions and climate.

For example, the tropics.

We have organism, which is a living thing, so that can be a plant or an animal, for example.

We have migrate, which is to move from one place to another with the intention of staying there for a length of time at least.

It could be just a season in case of the animals we're talking about today.

Then we've got temperate.

Temperate is a region or climate that has moderate rainfall, mild to warm summers and cool to cold winters.

So this temperate climate zone is what we will be covering today.

If there's any of these that you would like to make a note of so that you've got that down, that's absolutely fine.

Maybe pause the video now.

Well done.

Our lesson outline today shows a two section lesson.

We've got plants in temperate deciduous forests as our first section, and then animals in temperate deciduous forests as our second section.

So plants first, then animals.

Let's look at plants.

The temperate deciduous forests are located in the temperate climate zone.

So let's just make sure we can remember where that is first.

I'm going to circle it on the map here so you can see that the majority are in the northern hemisphere, sandwiched between our arctic and polar climate zone, shown by the dark blue shading, and also our desert climate zone to the south.

So the green shows our temperate climate zone.

In the southern hemisphere, there's a small section in South America, but the majority is in the northern hemisphere across North America, across Europe, and parts of northern Asia.

Obviously, this covers the UK.

The temperate climate zone has four seasons, spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

I'm sure you're very familiar with these, but the fact that we have these different seasons means that the temperate deciduous forests look very different at different times of year, and it does affect the adaptations required.

So temperate deciduous forests have warm summers and cool winters.

They don't get as hot as tropical rainforests or as cold as boreal forests.

The winter season is too cold and dark for many organisms to thrive.

So plants and animals have specific adaptations to survive.

Adaptations are changes plants and animals have made over time to help them survive in their environments.

These changes are evolutionary changes, so they're not happening within one specific animal during the animal's lifetime, they're evolving over a series of generations, over time.

Plants and animals have adapted to the climate of temperate deciduous forests in different ways.

Some of these adaptations might be behavioural, so changes to way in which they act, and that can actually be for plants as well as animals, which we will see, and some of these adaptations could be structural, so changes to their body.

To be honest, because of the seasonal changes within the temperate deciduous forest, most of the adaptations we're talking about today are considered behavioural.

Adaptations are really important because they allow animals to overcome a variety of environmental challenges, and that means that we end up with a huge diversity of different species in all biomes, but in particular, temperate deciduous forests that we're talking about today.

Time for a check for understanding.

Can you select the best definition of adapt for me? Is it A, remain the same to suit different conditions? B, make changes to suit different conditions? Or C, make changes to suit different climates? Well done, it's B, make changes to suit different conditions.

So different species can adapt to different climates.

The climate might be the change that is requiring an adaptation, but there can be adaptations that are for more than just climate as well.

So it could be for something like avoiding a predator in the area or something like that.

So making changes to suit different conditions is the official definition of adapt overall.

Deciduous trees have adapted to the seasonal climate by losing their leaves in winter.

This is because, there is less sunlight in the winter, so less photosynthesis occurs.

It conserves energy and it prevents water loss through pores in the leaves.

So many benefits to trees in temperate deciduous forests to do this.

Hence, when you go to a temperate deciduous forest in the winter, there will be.

The majority of trees will be deciduous in this way and will have bare branches.

Examples of deciduous trees includes the beech tree, maple tree and oak tree.

Can you name the type of tree which loses leaves in the autumn? I'm looking here for the name of the type of tree, not specific species like maple and oak.

I want the overall type of tree that loses its leaves in autumn.

Time for a check for understanding.

Can you name the type of tree which loses leaves in autumn? So this is the type of tree which has no leaves on the branches over winter, and I'm not looking for the specific species of tree.

I'm not looking for oak or maple, et cetera.

I'm looking for the overall type of tree.

So the name for all of the trees that leaves their leaves in winter.

Well done, deciduous, very good.

Let's have a look at some plants that aren't trees now.

So herbaceous perennials are plants which die back to the ground over winter, and then they regrow from the roots as the weather warms up.

So perennial means a type of plant that lives for more than one or two years.

If a plants only lives for one year, we call it annual, if it lives for two years, we call it biannual, and perennials last for more than two years.

Herbaceous means a plant that dies back to the ground over winter.

So they have soft stems, not woody stems, and in the winter, all you'll see is a little clump of dead leaves or even nothing, okay? An example of this is the bluebell, and we can see this here in some British woodlands.

They are beautiful species to go and see if you ever get a chance.

In springtime, they'll appear, and they're protected as well in the UK.

So bluebells die back to the grounds over winter, and so the woodland, you would have no idea, would contain these bluebells until spring, when they appear and flower.

Time for a check for understanding now.

Herbaceous perennials are, are they A, A type of plant which dies back to the roots through the winter, B, a type of tree which loses leaves in the autumn, or C, a type of plant that keeps its leaves through the winter.

Well done.

So it is in fact a type of plant which dies back to the roots through the winter.

Time for our practise task now.

Please can you explain what adaptation means? So, give me a definition, and then explain how bluebells and beech trees are adapted to seasonal temperate climates.

You can use a diagram to help you compare organisms in the different seasons if you'd like.

We've got a bluebell, which is a herbaceous perennial and a beech tree, which is a deciduous tree.

Feel free to pause the video now.

Well done, let's take a look at some answers.

Your answers might include, adaptations are changes in plants and animals that they have made over time to help 'em survive in their environment.

For question two, herbaceous perennials, such as bluebells, are plants which die back to the ground over winter, and then regrow from their roots as the weather warms up.

So if you were to do this in diagram format, you would have a diagram which showed simply roots underneath the ground for the winter.

Deciduous trees such as beech trees lose their leaves in winter because there is less sunlight in the winter, so less photosynthesis occurs.

So it's important to give these reasons, remember.

This conserves energy and prevents water loss through pores in the leaves.

Can you make sure that you've given a really good explanation for both of these? If you need to pause the video now, that's fine.

Well done, now we're moving on to our second section of the lesson.

I'm going to start looking at animals.

So animals in temperate deciduous forests now.

Many animals can be found in temperate deciduous forests, for example, squirrels, hedgehogs, and nightingales.

These animals have their own specific adaptations to cope with the lack of food and cold temperatures in the winter months.

Our first adaptation we're going to look at is that of storing food.

Some animals adapt their behaviour by storing food for winter when there'll be less available food to feed on.

For example, squirrels store multiple caches of nuts and seeds underground and in holes in the trees.

There are also many other animals that do this in temperate deciduous forests.

For example, honeybees which store honey, obviously.

Moles actually, underground, they have insect stores which they can use throughout the winter, on top of feeding on insects that are available.

And then woodpeckers, woodpeckers peck those holes in trees and actually store nuts within those in order to survive the winter months.

There are some other species like beavers and chipmunks, which we see less of in the UK, but appear more in North America, Europe, Asia, and they can actually do this as well.

So beavers and chipmunks are other examples.

Hibernation is our next adaptation.

Some animals, such as hedgehogs, hibernate throughout the winter.

They build up their fat stores during the warmer months and then hide and fall into a deep sleep until the spring.

Some other examples of animals that would do this within temperate deciduous forests are the wood mouse and also bats.

Migration is our next adaptation to look at for animals.

So many birds, but also interestingly, butterflies, migrate to warmer climates during the winter months, and then they fly back in the spring when the temperatures get warmer.

Nightingales, which you can see on the left hand side here, migrate from the UK to northern Africa to avoid the cold winter months.

You can see here, the white arrows on the map show us the route that they take in order to travel to Africa.

And it's actually really quite far for such a small species to travel, so it's pretty impressive that animals do make these migrations.

But butterflies are even smaller, and it's the red admiral butterfly and the painted lady butterfly, specifically within the UK, that do migrate to southern Europe and Africa in order to avoid the winter months.

Right, time for a check for understanding now.

For each of these adaptations, can you give an example of a species? A, storing food for the winter, B, hibernation, and C, migration.

Well done.

So we've got squirrel, for storing food in the winter.

Hedgehog for hibernation and nightingale for migration.

You may have come up with some of the other species that I've mentioned there as well, and that's brilliant.

Climate change is causing temperate forests to experience warmer temperatures, changing rainfall patterns and more extreme weather events.

This is going to have an effect on species that we've talked about, as well as the other species that are found in temperate deciduous forests.

One example is oak trees, a key species in the UK temperate forests, and they're struggling with increased drought stress and are more vulnerable to diseases like oak decline.

This impacts the wildlife that relies on the oak trees for food and habitat.

So this is just one example of a species that is affected by climate change.

But it is thought that climate change could have an impact on many species by changing the behaviour, maybe hibernation patterns or migration patterns, but also the species present in the temperate deciduous forests.

Right, time for our practise task.

I would like you to create a fact file for each of the animals that we have discussed.

So the first one would be a squirrel, and then we have a hedgehog and then a nightingale.

So with each of these fact files, I would like you to include the habitats that they have, so temperate deciduous forest.

It's worth writing it down for each one, and then I would like you to tell me how they're adapted and then explain that adaptation.

Why have they done that? How does that benefit them? How does it help them survive, okay? Right, I suggest you pause the video now and good luck with your fact files.

Brilliant.

Hopefully you've had a good attempt at that.

Let's see how your answers compare to mine.

So we've got squirrel first, so the habitat is a temperate deciduous forest.

Don't forget to make sure you've written that down.

Then we need to look at the adaptation.

So storing food, this is what squirrels do to survive the winter months, and the explanation we expect to see here is, nuts and seeds from stores are eaten when there is less food in the winter.

Hedgehog next, so again, habitat is temperate deciduous forest, and the adaptation is hibernation this time.

Now, if we explain that, we should say that they build up fat stores and then hide and fall into a deep sleep over the winter months until it is spring.

Finally, we have nightingale.

Again, temperate deciduous forest.

Don't forget to write that down.

It's important to know where they're located.

And then the adaptation would be migration, and we can explain that from the UK to the northern reaches of Africa to avoid the cold or winter months.

Did yours look like mine? Is there anything you need to add? I'll pop back to the previous slide for two seconds just so you can take a look at that one as well.

If you need to pause the video now, feel free.

And I'll pause here for you as well just in case.

Well done everyone.

We have reached the summary.

Animals such as squirrels, hedgehogs, and birds such as nightingales, can be found in temperate deciduous forests.

Plants such as oak trees, beech trees, and bluebells can be found in temperate deciduous forests.

And animals and plants adapt to living in seasonal conditions in different ways.

I hope you've enjoyed learning about the temperate deciduous forests and the animals and plants that we find there, and I'm looking forward to seeing you next time.

Great job everyone, bye.