Tropical forest
Tropical forests are forested landscapes in
Some tropical forest types are difficult to categorize. While forests in
More than 3.6 million hectares of virgin tropical forest was lost in 2018.[5]
History
The original tropical rainforests, which covered the planet's land surface, were the type of flora that covered Earth. Other canopy forests expanded north-south of the equator during the Paleogene epoch, around 40 million years ago, as a result of the emergence of drier, cooler climates.
The tropical forest was originally identified as a specific type of biome in 1949.
Types of tropical forest
Tropical forests are often thought of as evergreen rainforests[2] and moist forests, but these account for only a portion of them (depending on how they are defined – see maps). The remaining tropical forests are a diversity of many different forest types including: between the main types.
The nature of tropical forests in any given area is affected by several factors, most importantly:
- Geographical: location and climatic zone(see sub-types), with:
- Temperature profile, which is relatively even in subtropicallatitudes;
- lianas);[7]
- Elevation affects the above, often creating "ecological islands" with high endemism (e.g. Mount Kinabalu in the Borneo rainforest).[8]
- Temperature profile, which is relatively even in
- Historical: prehistoric age of forest and level of recent disturbance (see Indo-China).[9]
- Soil characteristics (also subject to various classifications): including depth and drainage.[10]
The Global 200 scheme
The
- Tropical and subtropical coniferous forests.
- Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests,
- Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests,
Extent of tropical and sub-tropical -
-
coniferous forest regions
-
dry forest regions
-
moist forest regions
Threats
A number of tropical forests have been designated High-Biodiversity Wilderness Areas, but remain subject to a wide range of disturbances, including more localized pressures such as habitat loss and degradation and anthropogenic climate change.
Studies have also shown that ongoing climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of some climate extremes (e.g. droughts, heatwaves and hurricanes) which, in combination with other local human disturbances, are driving unprecedented negative ecological consequences for tropical forests around the world.[11] All tropical forests have experienced at least some levels of disturbance.[12]
Current deforestation in the biodiversity hotspots of North of South America, sub-Saharan Africa, South-East Asia and the Pacific, can be attributed to export of commodities such as: beef, soy, coffee, cacao, palm oil, and timber; there is a requirement for "strong transnational efforts ... by improving supply chain transparency [and] public–private engagement".[13]
A study in
For example, a study in Vietnam indicated that poor and inconsistent data combined with a lack of human resources and political interest (thus lack of financial support) are hampering efforts to improve forest land allocation and a Payments for Forest Environmental Services scheme.[15]
See also
Sources
This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 (license statement/permission). Text taken from Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 Key findings, FAO, FAO.
References
- ^ S2CID 83577100.
- ^ a b Anatoly Shvidenko, Charles Victor Barber, Reidar Persson et al. 2005 "Millennium Ecosystem Assessment." Ecosystems and human wellbeing: a framework for assessment Washington, DC: Island Press
- ^ D'Annunzio, Rémi, Lindquist, Erik J., MacDicken, Kenneth G. 2017 "Global forest land-use change from 1990 to 2010:an update to a global remote sensing survey of forests Forest Resource Assessment Working Paper 187" FAO, Rome.
- S2CID 130116768.
- ^ Human society under urgent threat from loss of Earth's natural life. Scientists reveal 1 million species at risk of extinction in damning UN report 6 May 2019 Guardian [1]
- ISBN 978-90-481-4147-0.
- PMID 25264136.
- S2CID 4447746.
- S2CID 102490131.
- ^ Schulte, A, Ruhiyat D (Eds.) (1998) Soils of Tropical Forest Ecosystems: Characteristics, Ecology and Management. Springer, 204 pp.
- PMID 31983328.
- ^ Robin L. Chazdon 2003 "Tropical forest recovery: legacies of human impact and natural disturbances" Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 6/1,2, pp. 51–71
- S2CID 232420306.
- ^ Gaveau DLA (2016) What a difference 4 decades make: Deforestation in Borneo since 1973 CIFOR (retrieved 29 October 2017)
- ^ Pham TT, Le ND, Vu TP, Nguyen HT, Nguyen VT (2016) Forest land allocation and payments for forest environmental services in four northwestern provinces of Vietnam: From policy to practice CIFOR (retrieved 29 October 2017)
External links
- Media related to Tropical forest at Wikimedia Commons
- Tropical Forests, Project Regeneration, 2021.