The geography of deciduous forests includes landforms, elevation, soil, and water resources.

Landforms

In the Northern Hemisphere, the landscape over which temperate deciduous forests grow includes mountains, valleys, rolling hills, and flat plateaus.

In the Southern Hemisphere, dry deciduous forests tend to occur near grasslands where the land is rolling or more nearly level. Moist deciduous forests are often found on mountainsides or rolling hills.

Elevation

On mountainsides, deciduous trees grow up to elevations where the coniferous trees begin, at approximately 9,000 feet (2,743 meters) above sea level. They are not well adapted to the colder, drier conditions higher up. Below this, deciduous forests are found at many different elevations.

Soil

Because it receives a new blanket of leaves every autumn, the soil in temperate deciduous forests tends to be deep and rich with a wide variety of nutrients. The foliage of low-lying plants...