Forest

is also known as woods, weald or woodlands. It is cover approximately 30% of land and 9.4% of all the planet earth.

Coniferous forests

Conifers are cone-bearing gymnospermsresinous trees with dark green, needle /scale-like leaves.
Most conifers are evergreen i.e. year-round foliage. They photosynthesize year-round; whenever conditions are favorable

The coniferous forest type has five distinct ecosystems(as described here for North America): 1. The taiga and boreal forest - the largest and most expansive coniferous forest which is generally limited by the summer and winter positions of the Arctic front. The taiga can be further subdivided into four habitat types: two of which are ecotonal regions of boreal forest-tundra habitat & mixed hardwood-conifer forest along the northerly and southerly limits, respectively. The remaining two habitats are open boreal woodland (black spruce in damp areas) and the main boreal forest (continuous stands of white spruce and balsam fir)

2. Temperate needleleaf rain forest - the most luxuriant of the coniferous forests, features trees of unparalleled size and longevity. Overstory trees can be more than 50 meter tall and have diameters greater than two meters.
Longevity is generally greater than 500 years. These characteristics are related to the excessive moisture regimes (more than 600 cm annually with about a third of this occurring as fog drip) and mild temperatures.

3. Woodlands - characterized by the presence of pinyon pine and juniper and a well-developed understory.
This type has been subjected to much human disturbance. 4. Southern pine forests found in the southeastern United States and are not representative of climax vegetation. They occur on sandy soils and are maintained by frequent fires.

5. Montane coniferous forests-these forests are associated with mountainous regions. The subalpine forest is found at the higher elevations and is dominated by spruce and fir species. The montane forest is found at lower elevations and is dominated by pines and some spruces. Montane forests are relatively warmer, wetter, more species-rich, and more productive than subalpine forests.

The existence of coniferous ecosystems is typically related to regions of modest environmental rigor, which have cool temperatures, low rainfall, soils of poor quality, and/or fire frequency.

 The air masses that drop their moisture on the western slopes of the Coastal Range then descend the eastern slopes, gain heat, and absorb moisture, creating conditions that produce the Great Basin Desert.
The same air rises up the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains, cools, and drops moisture again, although far less than on the Coast Range.

Here, in the Cascade, Wasatch, Rocky, and Sierra Nevada mountains, several coniferous forest associations develop. In the southwestern United States these coniferous forest occur between 2500 and 4200 m elevation.

Temperate broadleaf forest

o The temperate broadleaf forests have been used extensively by mankind for centuries; most of what exists today is second- and third-growth forest. o In light of the daily, and winter and summer climatic extremes that must be endured by species in these forests, the use of the term temperate is somewhat misleading.
o They are exposed to droughts and, in places, flooding.

o In spite of their intemperate temperate environment, temperate forest ecosystems are able to maintain high productivity.

The temperate broadleaf forests occur in three general forms: 1. Temperate deciduous forests Temperate deciduous forests once covered large areas of Europe, China, parts of South America, the Middle American highlands, and eastern North America. The deciduous forest of Europe and Asia have largely disappeared, cleared for agriculture and settlement. The dominant trees include European beech, oak, ashes, birches, and elms.

3. Temperate broadleaf evergreen rain forests - these forests occur in subtropical areas, such as the Florida Keys, Australia, South America, etc. Species include as magnolias, palms, eucalyptus, and live oaks. The oaks and other trees support an abundance of epiphytes and the lichen, Spanish moss. o The temperate broadleaf forests have been used extensively by mankind for centuries; most of what exists today is second- and third-growth forest. o In light of the winter and summer climatic extremes that must be endured by species in these forests, the use of the term temperate is somewhat misleading.

Tropical forests experience a steady year-round temperature of about 23oC and a wide variation in rainfall, climatic conditions that are reflected in a diversity of vegetation patterns. The tropical region contains twice as many Holdridge life zones as the temperate zone and seven times the number of the boreal zone.

The tropical forests occur in four forms: 1. Tropical rain forest - the tropical rain forest is found in at least 30 to 40 types including the monsoon forest, the evergreen savanna forest, the evergreen mountain forest, the tropical evergreen alluvial forest, and the lowland tropical rain forest. They once formed a worldwide belt around the equator. Today, the largest continuous rain forest is found in the Amazon basin; other major areas are in west and central Africa and the Indo-Malaysian regions. These forests are found where temperatures are constantly high and every month is wet.

2. Tropical montane rain forest - found in mountainous regions above the lowland tropical rain forest.

The lower montane forest is found on the highest mountains and is an ecotone between the broad leafed-dominated lowland forest (with an uneven billowing canopy) and the small leafed-dominated upper montane forest.
The montane forest has a lower, more even canopy, a dense lower canopy, and smaller trees with gnarled limbs heavily covered in bryophytes and ferns.

3. Tropical seasonal forest - these forest grade into semi-evergreen and semideciduous seasonal forests. They are characterized by less rainfall, more variable temperatures, and

a dry season during which about 30% of the upper canopy species lose their leaves.

4. Tropical dry forest - these forests make up about 42% of all tropical forests, with the most found in Africa and on tropical islands. Most of the original forests have been converted to agriculture and grazing lands or have regressed through disturbance to thorn woodland, savanna, and grassland. These forests experience a dry period, with the length depending on latitude.

The greater the distance from the equator, the longer is the dry season.

Coniferous forest structure Coniferous forests fall into three broad classes according to growth form that influences their structure: 1. Pines with straight, cylindrical trunks, whorled spreading branches, and a crown density that varies from the dense crowns of red and white pine to the open thin crowns of Virginia, jack, Scots, and lodgepole pine. 2. Spire-shaped evergreens, including spruce, fir, Douglas-fir, and (with some exceptions) the cedars, with more or less tall pyramidal open crowns, gradually tapering trunks, and whorled, horizontal branches. 3. Deciduous conifers, such as larch and bald cypress, that have pyramidal, open crowns and shed their needles annually.

 Coniferous forests
Vertical structure and stratification in coniferous forests

Vertical structure is not well developed in many coniferous forestsBecause of high crown density and deep shade, the lower strata are often poorly developed in spruce and fir forests. Pine forests with a well-developed high canopy may lack lower strata. However, older stands and forests of open-crowned pines many have three strata: an upper canopy, a shrub layer, and a thin herbaceous layer. The litter layer in coniferous forests is usually deep, poorly decomposed, and lies on top of instead of being mixed with the mineral soil.

Temperate deciduous forest structure Highly developed, uneven-aged and older even-aged deciduous forests usually consist of four strata:

1. The upper canopy of dominant tree species.

2. Below the upper canopy is the lower tree canopy of saplings and understory trees. 3. The shrub layer. 4. The ground layer consisting of herbs, ferns, and mosses. The litter layer is variable, depending on the lignin-tonitrogen ratio. It ranges from a thin, rapidly decomposing layer in sugar maple and yellow-poplar forests to more slowly decomposing oak leaves.

Old-growth coniferous and deciduous forest structure

Old-growth forests are often, compositionally and always structurally, different from earlier successional stages. o Old-growth consists of a wide range of tree sizes and spacing that results in a high degree of patchiness and heterogeneity.

Old-growth stands are dominated by long-lived individuals and contain significant amounts of woody debris and downed logs. Old-growth stands possess more diversity in structure and function than secondary forests, and are characterized by highly evolved complex relationships between animals and plants.

Deciduous forests The greatest concentration and diversity of life in the forest occurs on and just below the ground layer. o Soil and litter invertebrates are found in the upper levels of soil. o Mice, shrews, ground squirrels, and forest salamanders, burrow into the soil or litter for shelter and food. o Larger mammals, such as deer, live on the ground layer and feed on herbs, shrubs, and low trees. Other species occupy the upper stratashrub, low tree, and canopy layers. o Birds move freely among several strata, but they favor one layer over another. o Squirrels inhabit the canopy, and woodpeckers, nuthatches - range up and down tree trunks in a space bounded by shrubs below and the canopy above.

Function The structure of a forest, built from the accumulation of carbon (net primary production) at the various levels, provides the framework for the functional processes critical to net primary productionnutrient cycling. The various processes include: 1. Atmospheric inputs of dust, precipitation, and nitrogen fixation and outputs in drainage water;

2. Uptake of nutrients from the soil and return of nutrients to the soil by plants through leaching, litterfall, and death of individuals and decomposition; and
3. Redistribution of nutrients within the plant, or internal cycling. The uptake of nutrients includes those nutrients returned to soil made available through leaching and decomposition, and nutrients from soil reserves.

 FUNCTION

A schematic diagram of nutrient cycling in a forest