Temperate rainforest
For example, Australian definitions are ecological-structural rather than climatic: Australian definitions would exclude some temperate rainforests of western North America that are Coast Douglas-fir dominant, such as parts of the Klamath Mountains in southern Oregon and northern California, the Puget Lowlands of western Washington and the Georgia Depression in British Columbia,[4][5] as their dominant tree species, the Coast Douglas-fir, requires stand-destroying disturbance to initiate a new cohort of seedlings.
[citation needed] For forests, canopy refers to the upper layer or habitat zone, formed by mature tree crowns and including other biological organisms (epiphytes, lianas, arboreal animals, etc.).
Through satellite data, the radiation use efficiency (RUE) calculates the annual amount of photosynthesis that occurs in temperate rainforests.
A common feature of Pacific temperate rainforests of North America is the Nurse log, a fallen tree which as it decays, provides ecological facilitation to seedlings.
The Valdivian forests are a refuge for the Antarctic flora, and share many plant families and genera with the temperate rainforests of New Zealand, Tasmania, and Australia.
[15][16][17] Despite being located in the temperate zone, the Azores rainforest is similar in many ways to the cloud forest environments of the tropics and subtropics.
[15] They are dominated by dense formations of endemic juniper, laurel, holly and tree heaths[15][16] with several species of epiphytic ferns[19] and an abundance of mosses and rainforest lichens (such as Erioderma).
[21] Since human settlement in the 15th century, these rainforests, which once covered most of the high altitudes of the archipelago, have gradually been reduced to relics and are now found almost exclusively on three of the nine islands (Flores, Pico and Terceira).
[16] Temperate rainforest occurs in fragments across the north and west of Europe in countries such as southern Norway (see Scandinavian coastal conifer forests) and northern Spain.
The majority of surviving fragments of Atlantic Oakwoods in Britain occur on steep-sided slopes above rivers and lakes which have avoided clearance and intensive grazing pressure.
[23] There are also small areas on steep-sided riverine gorges in Snowdonia and Mid Wales, such as found at the Dolmelynllyn Estate in Gwynedd.
[24][25] In England, they occur in the Lake District (Borrowdale Woods) and steep sided riverine and estuarine valleys in Devon and Cornwall and the Microclimate disused slate & granite quarries in these counties.
[23] Derrycunnihy Wood, located in the Killarney National Park, is the best example of the ancient damp-climate oceanic forest that covered an estimated 80 percent of Ireland prior to the arrival of humans in 7,000 BCE.
[33][34][35] The area has multiple representatives of disjunct relict groups of plants with the closest relatives in Eastern Asia, southern Europe, and even North America.
The protected area extends along the valley of the river Eume within the Ferrolterra municipalities of Pontedeume, Cabanas, A Capela, Monfero and As Pontes de García Rodríguez.
Being under strict protection means not only that the trees that die of old age are not being cleared or removed, but even picking herbs or mushrooms is forbidden.
In southeast Azerbaijan, this ecoregion includes the Lankaran Lowland and the Talysh Mountains, the latter being evenly divided with Iran to the south.
barbata), hornbeam (Carpinus betulus and C. orientalis), Caucasian wingnut (Pterocarya fraxinifolia), chestnut-leaved oak (Quercus castaneifolia), Caucasian oak (Quercus macranthera), oriental beech (Fagus orientalis), Persian ironwood (Parrotia persica) and Persian silk tree (Albizia julibrissin).
Higher elevations give way to temperate forests with large stands of old growth Taiwan Cypress (Chamaecyparis taiwanensis), Camphor tree (Cinnamomum camphora), maple (Acer spp.
Much of these forests are protected in mountain and marine national forests, such as in Hallyeohaesang National Park, which encompasses 150.14 km2 (57.97 sq mi) of mountainous forests spread out over 69 uninhabited islands and 30 inhabited islands in Korea's South Sea that provide a home to 1,142 plant species, including major species such as red pine, black pine, common camellia, serrata oak, and cork oak, as well as rare species such as nadopungnan (sedirea japonica), daeheongnan (cymbidium nipponicum) and the Korean winter hazel.
[44] Seoraksan National Park covers 398.539 km2 (153.877 sq mi) of mountainous forests near the eastern coast of the Korean Peninsula, and is a UNESCO designated Biosphere Preservation District.
[47] Some of the best preserved examples of forest are found in Kirishima-Yaku National Park on the Island of Yakushima off of Kyūshū in a very wet climate (the annual rainfall is 4,000 to 10,000 mm depending on altitude).
It is a temperate broadleaf forest ecoregion found in the middle elevations of the eastern Himalayas, including parts of Nepal, India, and Bhutan.
The Sikhote-Alin mountain range is located here and extends for about 1000 km in a northeast direction, parallel to the coast, from near the coastal city of Vladivostok.
[49] Whilst the mountain range ascends from sea level to a maximum altitude of around 1900 metres contains a variety of different habitats, they are located in region with a temperate climate.
The most common species include the Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis) and Manchurian fir (Abies holophylla) at the lowest elevations and coastlines.
Jezo spruce (Picea jezoensis) and Khingan fir (Abies nephrolepis) are common species to be found from 700–1400 metres altitude.
[54] Other tree species include Mongolian oak (Quercus mongolica), silver birch (Betula platyphylla), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), trembling aspen (Populus tremula), Siberian dwarf pine (Pinus pumila), Erman's birch (Betula ermanii), and Dahurian larch (Larix gmelinii), a deciduous conifer common throughout, but dominant in the northernmost reaches of the forest[53] Other characteristic flora include various ferns, lotus, (Nelumbo nucifera) and the willow Salix arbutifolia, Taxus cuspidata, Juniperus rigida, Phellodendron amurense, Kalopanax, Aralia elata, Maackia amurensis, Alnus japonica, Actinidia kolomikta, Schisandra chinensis, Celastrus orbiculatus, Thladiantha dubia, Weigela, Eleutherococcus, Flueggea suffruticosa, Deutzia, Betula schmidtii, Carpinus cordata, Acer mandshuricum, Parthenocissus tricuspidata, Vitis amurensis, and Panax ginseng and many others.
In the northern NSW they are usually dominated by Antarctic Beech (Nothofagus moorei), in the southern NSW by Pinkwood (Eucryphia moorei) and Coachwood (Ceratopetalum apetalum) and in Victoria and Tasmania by Myrtle Beech (Nothofagus cunninghamii), Southern Sassafras (Atherosperma moschatum) and Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans).
The podocarps are abundant at lower elevations, while southern beech (Nothofagus) can be found on higher slopes and in the cooler southernmost rainforests.
