Temperate coniferous forest

Temperate coniferous forest is a terrestrial biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Temperate coniferous forests are found predominantly in areas with warm summers and cool winters, and vary in their kinds of plant life. In some, needleleaf trees dominate, while others are home primarily to broadleaf evergreen trees or a mix of both tree types.^[1] A separate habitat type, the tropical coniferous forests, occurs in more tropical climates.

Temperate coniferous forests are common in the coastal areas of regions that have mild winters and heavy rainfall, or inland in drier climates or montane areas. Many species of trees inhabit these forests including pine, cedar, fir, and redwood. The understory also contains a wide variety of herbaceous and shrub species. Temperate coniferous forests sustain the highest levels of biomass in any terrestrial ecosystem and are notable for trees of massive proportions in temperate rainforest regions.^[1]

Structurally, these forests are rather simple, consisting of 2 layers generally: an overstory and understory. However, some forests may support a layer of shrubs. Pine forests support an herbaceous ground layer that may be dominated by grasses and forbs that lend themselves to ecologically important wildfires. In contrast, the moist conditions found in temperate rain forests favor the dominance by ferns and some forbs.^[1]

Forest communities dominated by huge trees (e.g., giant sequoia, Sequoiadendron gigantea; redwood, Sequoia sempervirens), unusual ecological phenomena, occur in western North America, southwestern South America, as well as in the Australasian region in such areas as southeastern Australia and northern New Zealand.^[1]

The Klamath-Siskiyou ecoregion of western North America harbors diverse and unusual assemblages and displays notable endemism for a number of plant and animal taxa.^[1]^[2]

Ecoregions

Eurasia

Carpathian montane conifer forest, Slovakia.

Forest south of Munich

v t e Palearctic temperate coniferous forests ecoregions
Alps conifer and mixed forests	Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Switzerland
Altai montane forest and forest steppe	China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia
Caledon conifer forests	United Kingdom
Carpathian montane conifer forests	Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine
Da Hinggan–Dzhagdy Mountains conifer forests	China, Russia
East Afghan montane conifer forests	Afghanistan, Pakistan
Elburz Range forest steppe	Iran
Helanshan montane conifer forests	China
Hengduan Mountains subalpine conifer forests	China
Hokkaido montane conifer forests	Japan
Honshū alpine conifer forests	Japan
Khangai Mountains conifer forests	Mongolia
Mediterranean conifer and mixed forests	Algeria, Morocco, Spain, Tunisia
Northeastern Himalayan subalpine conifer forests	China, India, Bhutan
Northern Anatolian conifer and deciduous forests	Turkey
Nujiang Langcang Gorge alpine conifer and mixed forests	China
Qilian Mountains conifer forests	China
Qionglai–Minshan conifer forests	China
Sayan montane conifer forests	Mongolia, Russia
Scandinavian coastal conifer forests	Norway
Tian Shan montane conifer forests	China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan

Cedrus deodara in the Western Himalayan subalpine conifer forests,

Indomalayan temperate coniferous forests ecoregions v t e
Eastern Himalayan subalpine conifer forests	Bhutan, India, Nepal
Western Himalayan subalpine conifer forests	India, Nepal, Pakistan

North America

A temperate coniferous forest ecosystem in Petroglyphs Provincial Park, Ontario.

Nearctic temperate coniferous forests ecoregions v t e
Alberta Mountain forests	Canada
Alberta-British Columbia foothills forests	Canada
Arizona Mountains forests	United States
Atlantic coastal pine barrens	United States
Blue Mountains forests	United States
British Columbia mainland coastal forests	Canada, United States
Cascade Mountains leeward forests	Canada, United States
Central and Southern Cascades forests	United States
Central British Columbia Mountain forests	Canada
Central Pacific coastal forests	Canada, United States
Colorado Rockies forests	United States
Eastern Cascades forests	Canada, United States
Fraser Plateau and Basin complex	Canada
Florida scrub	United States
Great Basin montane forests	United States
Haida Gwaii	Canada
Klamath-Siskiyou forests	United States
Middle Atlantic coastal forests	United States
North Central Rockies forests	Canada, United States
Northern California coastal forests	United States
Northern Pacific coastal forests	Canada, United States
Northern transitional alpine forests	Canada
Okanagan dry forests	Canada, United States
Piney Woods forests	United States
Puget lowland forests	Canada, United States
Sierra Juárez and San Pedro Mártir pine–oak forests	Mexico
Sierra Nevada forests	United States
South Central Rockies forests	United States
Southeastern conifer forests	United States
Wasatch and Uinta montane forests	United States

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e This article incorporates text available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license. World Wide Fund for Nature. "Temperate Coniferous Forest Ecoregions". Archived from the original on 2011-01-02.
^ Kauffmann, Michael (2012). Conifer Country. Kneeland: Backcountry Press. ISBN 978-0-578-09416-8.

Waring, Richard H (2002). "Temperate coniferous forest" (PDF). Volume 2, The Earth system: biological and ecological dimensions of global environmental change. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. pp. 560–565. Retrieved April 18, 2012.

External links

Media related to Temperate coniferous forests at Wikimedia Commons
Temperate forest

[wwf-1] This article incorporates text available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license. World Wide Fund for Nature. "Temperate Coniferous Forest Ecoregions". Archived from the original on 2011-01-02.

[2] Kauffmann, Michael (2012). Conifer Country. Kneeland: Backcountry Press. ISBN 978-0-578-09416-8.

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