| Geography as well as climate, plays an important role in determining what species will be found in different areas. Animals and plants evolved separately in North and South America, but then came into contact over the land bridge which is now Central America. Certain types of plants, such as the several thousand species of bromeliads, thrive in the Americas but are completely absent from other continents. |
| No communities of plants and animals are stable. Many factors are constantly disrupting these ecosystems -- weather, predation, food supply, and, above all, humans. Conditions are favorable to different species at different times. Ecosystems are constantly changing, and after every change, it is impossible to re-create the ecosystem that existed before. That is one of the problems humans face when trying to "manage" forests. As hard as they might try, people can't mold the forest into something that has been, or keep the forest at the state it is now. |
forests through time -- page 4 of 5
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
sub-topics
[humans & forests] [temperate regions] [tropical regions] [prehistoric forests & amber] [ecological succession] [seasons]
related topics
[climate] [forest life]
view the condensed version of the forests through time article for faster printing/reading
return to the main menu