Seasonal tropical forest

Seasonal tropical forest, also known as moist deciduous, semi-evergreen seasonal, tropical mixed or monsoon

Extreme differences are very much evident between the wet and dry seasons in a tropical seasonal forest. The image to the left shows Bhawal National Park in central Bangladesh during the dry season, while the image to the right depicts the same area during monsoon season.

Seasonal (mixed) tropical forests can be found in many parts of the

• In the
  Indochina
  • Eastern Java monsoon forests
  • Wallacea Forest
  • Brahmaputra Valley semi-evergreen forests
  • Mondulkiri Province, Cambodia
  • Cat Tien National Park
    , Vietnam
  • Khao Yai National Park and Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand
  • Northern Australia: Cape York Peninsula (Queensland), Arnhem Land (Northern Territory), The Kimberly (Western Australia)^{[2] [3][4][5]}

• In the Americas
  • Atlantic forests
    of Brazil
  • Central and eastern Panama: with Barro Colorado Island especially well studied ^[6]
• In Africa
  • Coastal
    Gambia to eastern Ghana

The climate of seasonal forests is typically controlled by a system called the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), located near the equator and created by the convergence of the trade winds from the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The position of these bands vary seasonally, moving north in the northern summer and south in the northern winter, and ultimately controlling the wet and dry seasons in the tropics.^[7] These regions appear to have experienced strong warming, at a mean rate of 0.26 degrees Celsius per decade, which coincides with a global rise in temperature resulting from the

Structure

As with

Characteristic biology

The fauna and flora of seasonal tropical mixed forest are usually distinctive. Examples of the biodiversity and habitat type are often well described for National Parks in:

• Africa represented by:
  • the northern part of Korup National Park in Cameroon (central region)

• • the Upper Guinean forests (West Africa)
• Asia represented by
  Indochina
  region)
• Pacific region: including the Queensland forest reserves
• Central American wildlife is well represented in:
  • Costa Rica e.g. Corcovado National Park
  • the Soberanía National Park in Panama.
• South American flora listed and represented in Rio Doce State Park

References

See also

• International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO)
• List of tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregions
• Trees of the world
• Tropical dry forest
• Tropical rainforest
• Tropical vegetation