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Most forest habitats in temperate regions support relatively few animal and plant species, and species that tend to have large geographical distributions, while the montane forests of Africa, South America, Southeast Asia, and lowland forests of Australia, coastal Brazil, the Caribbean islands, Central America, and insular Southeast Asia have ...
Habitat types are environmental categorizations of different environments based on the characteristics of a given geographical area, particularly vegetation and climate. [2] Thus habitat types do not refer to a single species but to multiple species living in the same area.
Forest fragmentation – occurring when forests are cut down in a manner that leaves relatively small, isolated patches of forest, resulting in high amounts of edges and subsequent loss in wildlife habitat and biodiversity; Forest transition – shift from a period of net forest area loss (deforestation) to a period of net forest area gain ...
An evergreen forest is a forest made up of evergreen trees. They occur across a wide range of climatic zones, and include trees such as conifers and holly in cold climates, eucalyptus , live oak , acacias , magnolia , and banksia in more temperate zones, and rainforest trees in tropical zones.
The forest canopy layer supports a diverse range of flora and fauna. It has been dubbed "the last biotic frontier" as it provides a habitat that has allowed for the evolution of countless species of plants, microorganisms, invertebrates (e.g., insects), and vertebrates (e.g., birds and mammals) that are unique to the upper layer of forests. [12]
The forest is a natural system that can supply different products and services. Forests supply water, mitigate climate change, provide habitats for wildlife including many pollinators which are essential for sustainable food production, provide timber and fuelwood, serve as a source of non-wood forest products including food and medicine, and contribute to rural livelihoods.
The forest canopy reduces solar radiation, so the ground does not heat up or cool down as rapidly as open ground. Consequently, the understory dries out more slowly than more exposed areas do. The greater humidity encourages epiphytes such as ferns and mosses, and allows fungi and other decomposers to flourish.
An intact forest landscape (IFL) is an unbroken natural landscape of a forest ecosystem and its habitat–plant community components, in an extant forest zone. An IFL is a natural environment with no signs of significant human activity or habitat fragmentation, and of sufficient size to contain, support, and maintain the complex of indigenous biodiversity of viable populations of a wide range ...