"Tropical trees" redirects here. For the biome, see tropical forest.
Tropical vegetation is any vegetation in tropicallatitudes. Plant life that occurs in climates that are warm year-round is in general more biologically diverse that in other latitudes. Some tropical areas may receive abundant rain the whole year round, but others have long dry seasons which last several months and may vary in length and intensity with geographic location. These seasonal droughts have great impact on the vegetation, such as in the Madagascar spiny forests.[1] 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]
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 climates can be defined as such. Despite lush vegetation, often the soils of tropical forests are low in nutrients making them quite vulnerable to slash-and-burndeforestation techniques, which are sometimes an element of shifting cultivation agricultural systems.[3] Tropical vegetation may include the following habitat types:
Tropical rainforestEdit
Tropical rainforest ecosystems include significant areas of biodiversity, often coupled with high species endemism.[4] Rainforests are home to half of all the living animal and plant species on the planet and roughly two-thirds of all flowering plants can be found in rainforests.[5][6] The most representative are the Borneo rainforest, one of the oldest rainforests in the world, the Brazilian and VenezuelanAmazon Rainforest, as well as the eastern Costa Paulon rainforests.
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.
^The Regents of the University of Michigan. The Tropical Rain Forest. Retrieved on 14 March 2008.
^Newman, Arnold (2002). Tropical Rainforest: Our Most Valuable and Endangered Habitat With a Blueprint for Its Survival Into the Third Millennium (2 ed.). Checkmark. ISBN0816039739.
tropical, vegetation, tropical, trees, redirects, here, biome, tropical, forest, vegetation, tropical, latitudes, plant, life, that, occurs, climates, that, warm, year, round, general, more, biologically, diverse, that, other, latitudes, some, tropical, areas,. Tropical trees redirects here For the biome see tropical forest Tropical vegetation is any vegetation in tropical latitudes Plant life that occurs in climates that are warm year round is in general more biologically diverse that in other latitudes Some tropical areas may receive abundant rain the whole year round but others have long dry seasons which last several months and may vary in length and intensity with geographic location These seasonal droughts have great impact on the vegetation such as in the Madagascar spiny forests 1 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 Tropical coastline vegetation in Maui with Scaevola taccada bush in the foregroundDense rainforest vegetation in the Itatiaia National Park in Brazil Typical Caribbean vegetation in Cuba Emperor Pedro II of Brazil surrounded by tropical vegetation at Quinta da Boa Vista 1846Plant 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 Contents 1 Description 1 1 Tropical rainforest 1 2 Tropical seasonal forest 1 3 Tropical dry broadleaf forest 1 4 Tropical grasslands savannas and shrublands 2 See also 3 Further reading 4 References 5 External linksDescription EditSee also Tropical ecology and Tropical climate 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 climates can be defined as such Despite lush vegetation often the soils of tropical forests are low in nutrients making them quite vulnerable to slash and burn deforestation techniques which are sometimes an element of shifting cultivation agricultural systems 3 Tropical vegetation may include the following habitat types Tropical rainforest Edit Tropical rainforest ecosystems include significant areas of biodiversity often coupled with high species endemism 4 Rainforests are home to half of all the living animal and plant species on the planet and roughly two thirds of all flowering plants can be found in rainforests 5 6 The most representative are the Borneo rainforest one of the oldest rainforests in the world the Brazilian and Venezuelan Amazon Rainforest as well as the eastern Costa Paulon rainforests Tropical seasonal forest Edit Seasonal tropical forests generally receive high total rainfall averaging more than 1000 mm per year but with a distinct dry season 7 They include the Congolian forests a broad belt of highland tropical moist broadleaf forest which extends across the basin of the Congo River Central American tropical forests in Panama and Nicaragua the seasonal forests that predominate across much the Indian subcontinent Indochina and northern Australia Queensland Tropical dry broadleaf forest Edit 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 Edit Tropical grasslands savannas and shrublands 10 are spread over a large area of the tropics with a vegetation made up mainly of low shrubs and grasses often including sclerophyll species 10 Some of the most representative are the Western Zambezian grasslands in Zambia and Angola as well as the Einasleigh upland savanna in Australia and the Everglades in United States of America Tree species such as Acacia and baobab may be present in these ecosystems depending on the region See also EditBiocoenosis Ecoregion Jungle Vegetation typeFurther reading EditArchibold 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 amp 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 1959References Edit 2006 01 13 Sciencedaily Deep rooted Plants Have Much Greater Impact On Climate Than Experts Thought Park Chris 2002 Tropical Rainforest New York Routledge pp 17 18 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 Newman Arnold 2002 Tropical Rainforest Our Most Valuable and Endangered Habitat With a Blueprint for Its Survival Into the Third Millennium 2 ed Checkmark 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 GrasslandsExternal links EditClassifying Vegetation Condition Vegetation Assets States and Transitions VAST Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Tropical vegetation amp oldid 1167090948, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
