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Forest and range management

Forests are complex ecosystems dominated by trees, varying in type based on climate, soil conditions, and species composition. They are classified into categories such as taiga, deciduous, and tropical rainforests, each with distinct characteristics influenced by environmental factors. The structure of forests includes multiple layers that support diverse flora and fauna, playing a crucial role in ecological balance and nutrient distribution.

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Asmatullah Khan Ak
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2 views

Forest and range management

Forests are complex ecosystems dominated by trees, varying in type based on climate, soil conditions, and species composition. They are classified into categories such as taiga, deciduous, and tropical rainforests, each with distinct characteristics influenced by environmental factors. The structure of forests includes multiple layers that support diverse flora and fauna, playing a crucial role in ecological balance and nutrient distribution.

Uploaded by

Asmatullah Khan Ak
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Forest and range management

Forest
Forest, complex ecological system in which trees are the dominant life-form.

Tree-dominated forests can occur wherever the temperatures rise above 10 °C (50 °F) in the
warmest months and the annual precipitation is more than 200 mm (8 inches). They can
develop under a variety of conditions within these climatic limits, and the kind of soil, plant, and
animal life differs according to the extremes of environmental influences. In cool, high-latitude
subpolar regions, forests are dominated by hardy conifers like pines, spruces, and larches.
These taiga (boreal) forests have prolonged winters and between 250 and 500 mm (10 and 20
inches) of rainfall annually. In more temperate high-latitude climates, mixed forests of both
conifers and broad-leaved deciduous trees predominate. Broad-leaved deciduous
forests develop in middle-latitude climates, where there is an average temperature above 10 °C
(50 °F) for at least six months every year and annual precipitation is above 400 mm (16 inches).
A growing period of 100 to 200 days allows deciduous forests to be dominated by oaks, elms,
birches, maples, beeches, and aspens. In the humid climates of the equatorial belt, tropical
rainforests develop. There heavy rainfall supports evergreens that have broad leaves instead of
needle leaves, as in cooler forests. In the lower latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere, the
temperate deciduous forest reappears.

Forest types are distinguished from each other according to species composition (which
develops in part according to the age of the forest), the density of tree cover, type of soils found
there, and the geologic history of the forest region.

Soil conditions are distinguished according to depth, fertility, and the presence of perennialroots.
Soil depth is important because it determines the extent to which roots can penetrate into the
earth and, therefore, the amount of water and nutrients available to the trees. The soil of taiga
forests is sandy and quickly drained. Deciduous forests have brown soil, richer than sand in
nutrients, and less porous. Rainforests and savanna woodlands have a soil layer rich in iron or
aluminum, which give the soils either a reddish or yellowish cast. The amount of water available
to the soil, and therefore available for tree growth, depends on the amount of annual rainfall.
Water may be lost by evaporation from the surface or by leaf transpiration. Evaporation and
transpiration also control the temperature of the air in forests, which is always slightly warmer in
cold months and cooler in warm months than the air in surrounding regions.

The density of tree cover influences the amount of both sunlight and rainfall reaching every
forest layer. A full-canopied forest absorbs between 60 and 90 percent of available light, most of
which is absorbed by the leaves for photosynthesis. The movement of rainfall into the forest is
considerably influenced by leaf cover, which tends to slow the velocity of falling water, which
penetrates down to the ground level by running down tree trunks or dripping from leaves. Water
not absorbed by the tree roots for nutrition runs along root channels, so water erosion is
therefore not a major factor in shaping forest topography.

Forests are among the most complex ecosystems in the world, and they exhibit extensive
vertical stratification. Conifer forests have the simplest structure: a tree layer rising to about 98
feet (30 metres), a shrub layer that is spotty or even absent, and a ground layer covered with
lichens, mosses, and liverworts. Deciduous forests are more complex; the tree canopy is
divided into an upper and lower story, while rainforest canopies are divided into at least three
strata. The forest floor in both of these forests consists of a layer of organic matter
overlying mineral soil. The humus layer of tropical soils is affected by the high levels of heat and
humidity, which quickly decompose whatever organic matter exists. Fungi on the soil surface
play an important role in the availability and distribution of nutrients, particularly in the northern
coniferous forests. Some species of fungi live in partnership with the tree roots, while others are
parasitically destructive.

Animals that live in forests have highly developed hearing, and many are adapted for vertical
movement through. the environment Because food other than ground plants is scarce, many
ground-dwelling animals use forests only for shelter. In temperate forests, birds distribute plant
seeds and insects aid in pollination, along with the wind. In tropical forests, fruit bats and birds
effect pollination. The forest is nature’s most efficient ecosystem, with a high rate of
photosynthesis affecting both plant and animal systems in a series of complex organic

relationships.

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