Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests: Difference between revisions

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[[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.

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==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==