Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 08:29, 6 February 2024

Latest revision as of 15:36, 27 August 2025

(7 intermediate revisions by 6 users not shown)

Line 5:

[[File:La Mauricie NP 39.jpg|thumb|right|An example of temperate broadleaf and mixed forest in [[La Mauricie National Park]], [[Quebec]].]]

'''Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest''' is a [[temperate climate]] terrestrial [[habitat (ecology)|habitat type]] defined by the [[World Wide Fund for Nature]], with [[broadleaf tree]] [[ecoregion]]s, and with [[conifer]] and broadleaf tree [[mixed coniferous forest]] ecoregions., <ref name=wwf/> and include [[temperate rainforest]]s.

These forests are richest and most distinctive in central China and eastern [[North America]], with some other globally distinctive ecoregions in the [[Himalayas]], [[Western Europe|Western]] and [[Central Europe]], the southern coast of the [[Black Sea]], [[Australasia]], Southwestern [[South America]] and the [[Russian Far East]].<ref name=wwf/><ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Zhao|editor-first1=Ji|editor-last2=Zheng|editor-first2=Guangmei|editor-last3=Wang|editor-first3=Huadong|editor-last4=Xu|editor-first4=Jialin|year=1990|title=The natural history of China|publisher=McGraw-Hill Publishing Company|___location=New York}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Martin|editor-first1=WH|editor-first2=SG|editor-last2=Boyce|editor-first3=AC|editor-last3=Echternacht|year=1993|title=Biodiversity of the southeastern United States: Lowland terrestrial communities|publisher=John Wiley and Sons|___location=New York}}</ref>

==Ecology==

The typical structure of these forests includes four layers. <ref name=wwf>{{CC-notice|bysa3}} {{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110401124425/http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/ecoregions/about/habitat_types/selecting_terrestrial_ecoregions/habitat04.cfm|archive-date=2011-04-01|url=http://wwf.panda.org:80/about_our_earth/ecoregions/about/habitat_types/selecting_terrestrial_ecoregions/habitat04.cfm|author=World Wide Fund for Nature|title=Temperate Broadleaf and Mixed Forest Ecoregions|access-date=2019-05-29|url-status=dead}}</ref>

* The uppermost layer is the [[canopy (forest)|canopy]] composed of tall mature trees ranging from {{convert|100|to|200|ft|m|abbr=on|order=flip}} high. Below the canopy is the three-layered, [[shade-tolerant]] [[understory]] that is roughly {{convert|30|to|50|ft|m|0|abbr=on|order=flip}} shorter than the canopy.

* The top layer of the understory is the sub-canopy composed of smaller mature trees, [[sapling]]s, and suppressed juvenile canopy layer trees awaiting an opening in the canopy.

Line 17:

==Trees==

In the Northern hemisphereHemisphere, characteristic dominant [[broadleaf tree]]s in this biome include oaks (''[[Quercus]]'' spp.), beeches (''[[Beech|Fagus]]'' spp.), maples (''[[Maple|Acer]]'' spp.), or birches (''[[Betula]]'' spp.).<ref name=wwf/> The term "mixed forest" comes from the inclusion of coniferous trees as a canopy component of some of these forests. Typical coniferous trees include pines (''[[Pinus]]'' spp.), firs (''[[Abies]]'' spp.), and spruces (''[[Picea]]'' spp.). In some areas of this biome, the [[conifer]]s may be a more important canopy species than the broadleaf species. In the Southern Hemisphere, endemic genera such as ''[[Nothofagus]]'' and ''[[Eucalyptus]]'' occupy this biome, and most coniferous trees (members of the [[Araucariaceae]] and [[Podocarpaceae]]) occur in mixtures with broadleaf species, and are classed as broadleaf and mixed forests.

==Climate==

Temperate [[Broadleaf forest|broadleaf]] and mixed forests occur in areas with distinct warm and cool seasons, including climates such as [[humid continental]], [[humid subtropical]], and [[Oceanic climate|oceanic]], that give them moderate annual average temperatures: {{convert|3|to|23|C|F|0}}. These forests occur in relatively warm and rainy climates, sometimes also with a distinct [[dry season]]. A dry season occurs in the winter in East Asia and in summer on the wet fringe of the [[Mediterranean climate]] zones. Other areas, such as central eastern North America, have a fairly even distribution of rainfall; annual rainfall is typically over {{convert|600|mm|in|abbr=on}} and often over {{convert|1500|mm|in|abbr=on}}, though it can go as low as {{convert|300|mm|in|abbr=on}} in some parts of the Middle East and close to {{convert|6000|mm|in|abbr=on}} in the mountains of New Zealand and the Azores. Temperatures are typically moderate except in parts of Asia such as [[Ussuriland]], or the [[Upper Midwest]], where temperate forests can occur despite very harsh conditions with very cold winters.

The climates are typically humid for much of the year, usually appearing in the [[humid subtropical climate]] and in the [[humid continental climate]] zones to the south of [[tundra]] and the generally [[subarctic climate|subarctic]] [[taiga]]. In the [[Köppen climate classification]] they are represented respectively by ''[[humid subtropical climate|Cfa]]'', ''[[humid continental climate|Dfa/Dfb]]'' southern range and ''[[oceanic climate|Cfb]]'',<ref>{{Citation|last=F|first=Beck, H. E., Zimmermann, N. E., McVicar, T. R., Vergopolan, N., Berg, A., & Wood, E.|title=English: Köppen–Geiger climate classification map.Français: Carte de classification climatique de Köppen–Geiger.|date=2018-11-06|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:K%C3%B6ppen-Geiger_Climate_Classification_Map.png|access-date=2019-08-06}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=Terpsichores|title=English: Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests|date=2012-10-28|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Biome_map_04.svg|access-date=2019-08-06}}</ref> and more rarely, ''[[Mediterranean climate|Csb]]'', ''[[semi-arid climate|BSk]]'' and ''[[Mediterranean climate|Csa]]''.