forest types
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Most transition zones between forest types are very gradual. However, when the forest changes because of altitude instead of latitude, the transition is much more sudden. This can be seen very graphically by the "treeline" on temperate mountains. In some tropical forests, there is quite a sudden gradation from rainforest to higher level "montane forest".
Two thirds of the world's 250,000 species of vascular plants grow in tropical regions, and most of those occur only in moist tropical forests. Tropical rainforests are home to over half of earth's plant and animal species, but cover only 7% of the land area, and every hour at least 4,500 acres of tropical forest are destroyed.
diagrams
How do forests function and what effects do they have on the surrounding ecosystems? Different types of forests contain different kinds of trees, but what makes them different and how are they put together? Diagrams illustrate the basic structures of trees and forests.
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The transition zones where forests meet different types of habitats are called ecotones. These ecotones can be very broad, and contain species from both of the surrounding habitats. This means that the diversity of both plants and animals in ecotones is very high. These transition habitats are often overlooked when parks and nature reserves are created, and are simply dismissed as not being a true forest. However, ecotones are not only home to many species that are not found in either of the adjacent habitats, they may also be important to the evolution of species. For example, many rainforest animals will colonize an ecotone between a tropical rainforest and a savanna. While they continue to breed with those animals still in the rainforest, the conditions are so different in the two habitats that those animals in the ecotone will begin to develop differently.

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sub-topics
[boreal forests] [temperate forests] [tropical forests]
[forest walk] [diagrams]

related topics
[forest life] [biodiversity]

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