A gallery forest is one formed as a corridor along rivers or
wetlands, projecting into landscapes that are otherwise only sparsely treed such as savannas, grasslands, or deserts. The gallery forest maintains a more temperate microclimate
above the river. Defined as long and narrow forest vegetation associated with rivers, gallery forests are structurally and floristically heterogeneous.
The habitats of these forests differ from the surrounding landscapes because they are, for example, more nutrient-rich or moister and/or there is less chance of fires. The forests are sometimes only a few meters wide, because they depend on the water they lie along.
Ecology characteristics
Western Sydney
.
The
riparian zones in which they grow offer greater protection from fire which would kill tree seedlings.[1] In addition, the alluvial soils of the gallery habitat are often of higher fertility and have better drainage than the soils of the surrounding landscape with a more reliable water supply at depth. As a result, the boundary between gallery forest and the surrounding woodland or grassland is usually abrupt, with the ecotone being only a few metres wide.[2]
Gallery forests have shrunk in extent worldwide as a result of human activities, including domestic livestock's preventing tree seedling establishment and the construction of
alluvial soils offer greater fertility and better drainage, as well as greater water supply. As a result, the boundary between gallery forest and surrounding open areas is sharp and abrupt, with the ecotone
only a few meters wide.
The name "gallery" comes from an older sense of that word meaning a narrow passageway;
mine gallery". They are clearly identified in the landscape by sticking to the course of the river, forming a corridor or corridor completely different from the rest of the vegetation, in color and height.[4]
Areas
Afar region
of Ethiopia
Gallery forests are able to exist where the surrounding landscape does not support forests for a number of reasons. Gallery forests are often found along so-called "foreign rivers" in arid areas where no other forest grows due to the lack of water (river-accompanying gallery forest). The gallery forest is an
alluvial forest) as well as on terrain levels (hillside forests in Europe), i.e. plots of land that are not suitable for farming. It is often the small forest as a private economic wood reserve, or unusable or inaccessible fallow land as a natural forest residue. Gallery forests have persisted in North America in prairie-dominated areas along rivers and streams. In dry to temperate zones, the presence of water is not the only factor that determines species. Grassland fires, even where they are rare, have had a high selective pressure value against woody vegetation.[5]
^"gallery". Online Etymology Dictionary. mid-15c., "covered walk or passageway, narrow and partly open passageway along a wall," from Old French galerie "a long portico" (14c.)
