Tropical vegetation
Tropical vegetation is any
Rainforest vegetation is categorized by five layers. The top layer being the upper tree layer. Here you will find the largest and widest trees in all the forest. These trees tend to have very large canopy's so they can be fully exposed to sunlight. A layer below that is the middle tree layer. Here you will find more compact trees and vegetation. These trees tend to be more skinny as they are trying to gain any sunlight they can. The third layer is the lower tree area. These trees tend to be around five to ten meters high and tightly compacted. The trees found in the third layer are young trees trying to grow into the larger canopy trees. The fourth layer is the shrub layer beneath the tree canopy. This layer is mainly populated by sapling trees, shrubs, and seedlings. The fifth and final layer is the herb layer which is the forest floor. The forest floor is mainly bare except for various plants, mosses, and ferns. The forest floor is much more dense than above because of little sunlight and air movement.[2]
Plant species native to the tropics found in tropical ecosystems are known as tropical plants. Some examples of tropical ecosystem are the Guinean Forests of West Africa, the Madagascar dry deciduous forests and the broadleaf forests of the Thai highlands and the El Yunque National Forest in the Puerto Rico.
Description
The term "tropical vegetation" is frequently used in the sense of lush and luxuriant, but not all the vegetation of the areas of the Earth in
Tropical rainforest
Tropical seasonal forest
Tropical dry broadleaf forest
Tropical dry broadleaf forests are territories with a forest cover that is not very dense and has often an unkempt, irregular appearance, especially in the dry season.[8] This type of forest often includes bamboo and teak as the dominant large tree species, such as in the Phi Pan Nam Range, part of the Central Indochina dry forests.[9] They are affected by often long seasonal dry periods and, though less biologically diverse than rainforests, tropical dry forests are home to a wide variety of wildlife.
Tropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands
See also
- Biocoenosis
- Ecoregion
- Jungle
- Vegetation type
Further reading
- Archibold, O. W. Ecology of World Vegetation. New York: Springer Publishing, 1994.
- Barbour, M.G, J.H. Burk, and W.D. Pitts. "Terrestrial Plant Ecology". Menlo Park: Benjamin Cummings, 1987.
- Breckle, S-W. Walter's Vegetation of the Earth. New York: Springer Publishing, 2002.
- Van der Maarel, E. Vegetation Ecology. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2004.
- Geoff Tracey The Vegetation of the Humid Tropical Region of North Queensland. Australia: CSIRO 1982.
- Stork, N. E. & Turton, Stephen M. (2008). Living in a dynamic tropical forest landscape. Malden, MA : Blackwell Pub.
- Leonard Webb A Physiognomic Classification of Australian Rain Forests Journal of Ecology Vol. 47, No. 3, pp. 551-570 (British Ecological Society), 1959
References
- ^ 2006-01-13, Sciencedaily: Deep-rooted Plants Have Much Greater Impact On Climate Than Experts Thought
- ISBN 0-415-06238-1.
- ^ "Underlying Causes of Deforestation". UN Secretary-General's Report. Archived from the original on 2001-04-11.
- ^ Facts about the world's tropical rainforests from The Nature Conservancy
- ^ The Regents of the University of Michigan. The Tropical Rain Forest. Retrieved on 14 March 2008.
- ISBN 0816039739.
- ^ Types of rainforests
- ^ "WWF - Tropical and Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forest Ecoregions". Wwf.panda.org. Archived from the original on 2012-04-25. Retrieved 2012-09-25.
- ^ UNESCO - MAB Biosphere Reserves Directory - Huai Tak Teak Biosphere Reserve
- ^ a b WWF - Grasslands