Temperate coniferous forest

Extent of Temperate coniferous forest

Temperate coniferous forest is a terrestrial biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Temperate coniferous forests are found predominantly in areas with warm summers and cool winters, and vary in their kinds of plant life. In some, needleleaf trees dominate, while others are home primarily to broadleaf evergreen trees or a mix of both tree types. A separate habitat type, the tropical coniferous forests, occurs in more tropical climates.

Temperate coniferous forests are common in the coastal areas of regions that have mild winters and heavy rainfall, or inland in drier climates or montane areas. Many species of trees inhabit these forests including pine, cedar, fir, and redwood. The understory also contains a wide variety of herbaceous and shrub species. Temperate coniferous forests sustain the highest levels of biomass in any terrestrial ecosystem and are notable for trees of massive proportions in temperate rainforest regions.

Structurally, these forests are rather simple, consisting of 2 layers generally: an overstory and understory. However, some forests may support a layer of shrubs. Pine forests support an herbaceous ground layer that may be dominated by grasses and forbs that lend themselves to ecologically important wildfires. In contrast, the moist conditions found in temperate rain forests favor the dominance by ferns and some forbs.

A pine forest is an example of a temperate coniferous forest

Forest communities dominated by huge trees (e.g., giant sequoia, Sequoiadendron gigantea; redwood, Sequoia sempervirens), unusual ecological phenomena, occur in western North America, southwestern South America, as well as in the Australasian region in such areas as southeastern Australia and northern New Zealand.

The Klamath-Siskiyou ecoregion of western North America harbors diverse and unusual assemblages and displays notable endemism for a number of plant and animal taxa.

There are small, temperate conifer forests in New Zealand.

Ecoregions

Eurasia

Alps conifer and mixed forests	Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Switzerland
Altai montane forest and forest steppe	China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia
Caledon conifer forests	United Kingdom
Carpathian montane conifer forests	Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine
Da Hinggan–Dzhagdy Mountains conifer forests	China, Russia
East Afghan montane conifer forests	Afghanistan, Pakistan
Elburz Range forest steppe	Iran
Helanshan montane conifer forests	China
Hengduan Mountains subalpine conifer forests	China
Hokkaido montane conifer forests	Japan
Honshū alpine conifer forests	Japan
Khangai Mountains conifer forests	Mongolia
Mediterranean conifer and mixed forests	Algeria, Morocco, Spain, Tunisia
Northeastern Himalayan subalpine conifer forests	China, India, Bhutan
Northern Anatolian conifer and deciduous forests	Turkey
Nujiang Langcang Gorge alpine conifer and mixed forests	China
Qilian Mountains conifer forests	China
Qionglai–Minshan conifer forests	China
Sayan montane conifer forests	Mongolia, Russia
Scandinavian coastal conifer forests	Norway
Tian Shan montane conifer forests	China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan

See also

• Cedar hemlock douglas-fir forest
• Temperate deciduous forest

References

• Waring, Richard H (2002). "Temperate coniferous forest" (PDF). Volume 2, The Earth system: biological and ecological dimensions of global environmental change. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pp. 560–565. Retrieved April 18, 2012.

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
• Temperate forest