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Major plant communities in this biome include: Forest: Mediterranean forests are generally composed of broadleaf trees, such as the oak and mixed sclerophyll forests of California and the Mediterranean region, the Eucalyptus forests of Southwest Australia, and the Nothofagus forests of central Chile. Forests are often found in riparian areas ...
Forest ecology shares characteristics and methodological approaches with other areas of terrestrial plant ecology, however, the presence of trees makes forest ecosystems and their study unique in numerous ways due to the potential for a wide variety of forest structures created by the uniquely large size and height of trees compared with other ...
Kelp forests provide important habitats for many fish species, sea otters and sea urchins. Directly and indirectly, marine coastal ecosystems provide vast arrays of ecosystem services for humans, such as cycling nutrients and elements, and purifying water by filtering pollutants. They sequester carbon as a cushion against climate change.
Forests form distinctly different biomes at different latitudes and elevations, and with different precipitation and evapotranspiration rates. [10] These biomes include boreal forests in subarctic climates, tropical moist forests and tropical dry forests around the Equator, and temperate forests at the middle latitudes.
Mangrove plants require a number of physiological adaptations to overcome the problems of low environmental oxygen levels, high salinity, and frequent tidal flooding.Each species has its own solutions to these problems; this may be the primary reason why, on some shorelines, mangrove tree species show distinct zonation.
For comparison, the tropical rainforest biome contains thousands of tree species, but this is not to say mangrove forests lack diversity. Though the trees themselves are few in species, the ecosystem that these trees create provides a home (habitat) for a great variety of other species, including as many as 174 species of marine megafauna .
The Florida mangroves ecoregion, of the mangrove forest biome, comprise an ecosystem along the coasts of the Florida peninsula, and the Florida Keys.Four major species of mangrove populate the region: red mangrove, black mangrove, white mangrove, and the buttonwood.
In these forests, winter is a time of dormancy for plants, [8] when broadleaf deciduous trees conserve energy and prevent water loss, and many animal species hibernate or migrate. [1] Preceding winter is fruit-bearing autumn, a time when leaves change color to various shades of red, yellow, and orange as chlorophyll breakdown gives rise to ...