What is a tropical dry forest?
What is a tropical dry forest?
Tropical Dry Forest & Woodland is dominated by broad-leaved drought-deciduous, semi-deciduous, and small-leaved or sclerophyllous evergreen trees where rainfall is lower, often associated with more strongly seasonal, tropical climates, rainshadows, or drying winds.
Where is tropical dry forest?
Dry forests tend to exist in the drier areas north and south of the tropical rainforest belt, south or north of the subtropical deserts, generally in two bands: one between 10° and 20°N latitude and the other between 10° and 20°S latitude.
What is in a dry forest?
Dry forests are most defined by their low amount of rain, and many by a “pulse rain system” which means no predictable rainy season, and rain that may come in unexpected small or large bursts at any month.
What is the meaning of tropical dry?
The FAO has identified tropical dry forests as a Global Ecological Zone (GEZ), and defines tropical dry forests as those experiencing a “tropical climate, with summer rains … a dry period of 5 to 8 months [and] annual rainfall ranges from 500 to 1500 mm.
Why is the tropical dry forest important?
They have unique species. They’re also important from a carbon storage standpoint. They can hold significant amounts of carbon in the biomass and the soils. The tropical dry forest is considered the most endangered tropical biome, and I think the world would lose a lot if we lose the last tropical dry forests.
What are the features of tropical dry forest?
Trees have thicker bark (antifire adaptation), thicker and smaller leaves (antidesiccation adaptation), thorns (antiherbivore adaptation), longer roots (to reach deeper water table), and other features along a gradient toward the well-developed drought adaptations of woody plants of the savanna and desert zones (which …
What is dryland forest?
Drylands are defined as those regions where water lost by evaporation or used by plants and animals exceeds the amount of water falling as rain. Dryland forests, of course, are forests located in drylands, and they are usually under stress.
Which trees are found in tropical dry forest?
Euphorbiaceae, Sapindaceae, and Rubiaceae are commonly found in neotropical dry forests, while Myrtaceae are common in the West Indies, Combretaceae in Africa, and Dipterocarpaceae in some Asian dry forests. The most common lianas belong to Bignoniaceae.
What kind of plants are in the tropical dry forest?
Drought-resistant epiphytes (orchids, bromeliads and cacti) may be abundant. The trees have thicker, more ridged, bark; deeper roots without buttresses; much more variable leaves, including many compound-leaved legumes; and more species with thorns.
Why is tropical dry forest important?
What’s the temperature of a tropical dry forest?
Temperature. The rainforest biome remains warm all year and must stay frost-free. The average daily temperatures range from 20°C (68°F) to 25°C (77°F).
