Forests
Tropical Evergreen Forests
- These forests are also called tropical rainforests. These thick forests occur in the regions near the equator and close to the tropics. These regions are hot and receive heavy rainfall throughout the year.
- As there is no particular dry season, the trees do not shed their leaves altogether. This is the reason they are called evergreen.
- The thick canopies of the closely spaced trees do not allow the sunlight to penetrate inside the forest even in the day time. Hardwood trees like rosewood, ebony, mahogany are common here.
Tropical Deciduous Forests
- Tropical deciduous are the monsoon forests found in the large part of India, northern Australia and in central America.
- These regions experience seasonal changes. Trees shed their leaves in the dry season to conserve water. The hardwood trees found in these forests are sal, teak, neem and shisham.
- Hardwood trees are extremely useful for making furniture, transport and constructional materials.
- Tigers, lions, elephants, langoors and monkeys are the common animals of these regions.
Temperate Evergreen Forests
- The temperate evergreen forests are located in the mid-latitudinal coastal region.
- They are commonly found along the eastern margin of the continents, e.g., In south east USA, South China and in South East Brazil. They comprise both hard and soft wood trees like oak, pine, eucalyptus, etc.
Temperate Deciduous Forests
- As we go towards higher latitudes, there are more temperate deciduous forests. These are found in the north eastern part of USA, China, New Zealand, Chile and also found in the coastal regions of Western Europe.
- They shed their leaves in the dry season. The common trees are oak, ash, beech, etc. Deer, foxes, wolves are the animals commonly found. Birds like pheasants, monals are also found here.
Mediterranean Vegetation
- Most of the east and north east margins of the continents are covered by temperate evergreen and deciduous trees. The west and south west margins of the continent are different.
- They have Mediterranean vegetation. It is mostly found in the areas around the Mediterranean sea in Europe, Africa and Asia, hence the name.
- This kind of vegetation is also found outside the actual Mediterranean region in California in the USA, south west Africa, south western South America and South west Australia.
- These regions are marked for hot dry summers and mild rainy winters.
- Citrus fruits such as oranges, figs, olives and grapes are commonly cultivated here because people have removed the natural vegetation in order to cultivate what they want to. There isn't much wildlife here.
- Mediterranean trees adapt themselves to dry summers with the help of their thick barks and wax coated leaves which help them reduce transpiration.
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Major Rivers and Lakes
