Evergreen forest

An evergreen forest is forest made up of evergreen trees. They occur across a wide range of climatic zones, and include trees such as conifers, live oak, and holly in cold climates, eucalypts, acacias and banksias in more temperate zones, and rainforest trees in tropical zones.

Characteristics

Species of trees

Coniferous temperate evergreen forests are most frequently dominated by species in the families Pinaceae and Cupressaceae. Broadleaf temperate evergreen forests include those in which Fagaceae, such as oaks, are common, those in which Nothofagaceae predominate, and the Eucalyptus forests of the Southern Hemisphere. There also are assorted temperate evergreen forests dominated by other families of trees, such as Lauraceae in laurel forest.

Regions

Temperate evergreen forests, coniferous, broad leaf, and mixed, are found largely in the temperate mid-latitudes of North America, Siberia, Canada, Australia, Africa, Scandinavia, Himalayas and western ghats of India. Broadleaf evergreen forests occur in particular in southern China, southeastern Brazil, parts of southeastern North America and the Pacific Northwest,[1] and in countries around the Mediterranean Basin, such as Lebanon and Morocco. Other examples include the wet temperate conifer forests of northwestern North America.

Tropical evergreen forests (or tropical rain forests) are usually found in areas receiving more than 234 cm of rainfall and having a monthly mean temperature of 18 °C or higher in the coldest months. They occupy about seven percent of the Earth's surface and harbour more than half of the planet's terrestrial plants and animals. Tropical evergreen forests are dense, multi-layered, and harbour many types of plants and animals. These forest are found in the areas receiving heavy rainfall (more than 200 cm annual rainfall). They are very dense. Even the sunlight does not reach the ground. Numerous species of trees are found in these forests. Different types of trees shed their leaves at different times of the year. Therefore, these forests always appear green and are known as evergreen forests. These forests are found in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, along the slopes of Western Ghats and parts of Northeastern states of Assam, West Bengal and Odisha. These areas experience hot and humid climate with short dry season. The important trees of these forests are rosewood, ebony, mahogany and also western ghat

See also

References

  1. ↑ Waring, R.H. and J.F. Franklin (June 29, 1979). "Evergreen Coniferous Forests of the Pacific Northwest". Science Magazine. Retrieved April 28, 2017.
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