There
are 5 different types of forests: coniferous forests,
midlatitude forests, temperate forests, tropical
rain forests, and chapparral.
TROPICAL
RAIN FOREST
In areas near the Equator, where the temperature
is warm and great amounts of rain fall, tropical
rain forests grow. The largest are in the amazons
River Basin in South America and in the Congo River
Basin in central Africa.
MID-LATITUDE FOREST
Broadleaf deciduous forest once covered much of
the globe, a large part of these areas have been
cleared by humans over the centuries. Very little
of the natural vegetation still remains, in some
areas, fields for agriculture have been created.
CONIFEROUS
FOREST
The northern forests are named coniferous after
the cones that carry and protect their seeds. Coniferous
forests cover huge areas stretching across northern
North America, Europe and Asia.
TEMPERATE FORESTS
Some small areas of the world have unique forest
vegetation. In most places, however, forest regions
overlap. A mixed region has coniferous and broadleaf
deciduous trees growing together in the same area.
Clusters of such forests are common in may places.
They grow in cool parts of the middle latitudes
or at high elevations where winters are mild or
very cold.
CHAPARRAL
Regions of chaparral are found on the coasts of
the Mediterranean Sea, Southern California, Chile,
South Africa, and Australia.
The chaparral includes small evergreen trees and
low bushes. Chaparral is a Spanish word meaning
"an area of small evergreen oak trees."
VOCABULARY & KEY TERMS
coniferous,
decidious, chaparral
::: SEE
Stuff
:::
Did you know that the fog is actually an important
source of humidity?
Did you know
that during winter most forests loose their leaves?
Did you know
that in the rain forests the sunlight only hits
near the rivers?
Did you know
that hunters need to wear bright colors to avoid
getting shot by other hunters?
There
are 5 different types of forests: coniferous forests,
midlatitude forests, temperate forests, tropical
rain forests, and chapparral.
TROPICAL
RAIN FOREST
