Question

The trees of ______ forest shed their leaves during the dry season.
(A) Tidal
(B) Deciduous
(C) Evergreen
(D) Mangrove

Answer 1

Hint: In the fields of horticulture as well as botany, this term means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees as well as shrubs which seasonally shed leaves, generally in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, after flowering; and also to the shedding of ripe fruit. The antonym of this word in the botanical sense is evergreen.

Complete Answer:
Tropical deciduous forests are generally found in large parts of India, Northern part of Australia and America. These types of areas experience seasonal changes and that is why the tropical deciduous trees shed their leaves in the dry season to save water. Therefore they regrow new foliage during the next suitable growing season.
Shedding of leaves helps the trees to save water as well as energy. As unfavorable weather takes place, hormones in the trees trigger the process of abscission whereby the leaves are actively cut-off of the tree through specialized cells. The word abscission shares the same Latin root word as that in scissors, scindere, that means “to cut.” At the beginning of the abscission process, trees do reabsorb valuable nutrients from their leaves along with storing them for later use in their roots. Chlorophyll, which is the pigment which gives leaves their green color, is one of the first molecules to be broken down for its nutrients. This is one of the reasons why trees do turn red, orange, and gold colors during the fall. During the end of the abscission process, when the leaves shed, a protective layer of cells is grown over the exposed area.
Common deciduous trees that are present in the Northern Hemisphere consist of several species of ash, aspen, beech, birch, cherry, elm, hickory, hornbeam, maple, oak, poplar and willow. In tropical and subtropical regions, deciduous trees include several species of acacia, baobab, roble, ceiba, chaca and guanacaste.

Thus, Option B is the correct answer.

Note:
Trees which shed their leaves during the dry season in order to conserve water for transpiration as in dry season there is generally scarcity of water.
Transpiration refers to the process of water movement through a plant also with its evaporation from aerial parts,like leaves and stems. In tropical forests, trees shed all their leaves at the start of the dry season.