Temperate rainforest, also referred to as temperate evergreen forest and laurel forest, differs from the equatorial and tropical rainforests in having relatively few species of trees, and hence large populations of individuals of a species. Trees are not as tall as in the low-latitude rainforests; the leaves tend to be smaller and more leathery; the leaf canopy less dense. Among the tress commonly found in the temperate rainforests of southern Japan and the southeastern United States are evergreen oaks and members of the laurel and magnolia families. A quite different temperate rain forest flora is found in New Zealand and consists of large tree ferns, large conifers such as the kauri tree podocarp trees (Podocarpus), and small-leaved southern beeches (Nothofagus). Another important type of temperate rainforest, found in the Azores and Canary island groups, is the Canary laurel forest, which formerly covered Europe in the Miocene geological epoch.
Temperate rainforest tend to have a well-developed lower stratum of vegetation that, in different places, may include tree ferns, small palms, bamboos, shrubs, and herbaceous plants. Lianas and epiphytes are abundant. Particularly striking at higher elevations where fog and cloud are persistent is the sheathing of tree trunks and branches by mosses. An example of conspicuous epiphyte accumulation at low elevation is the Spanish moss, which festoons the Evangeline oak, bald crpyess, and other tress of the gulf coast of the southeastern United States.
Temperate rainforest represents a response to an equable climatic regime in which the annual range of temperature is small or moderate and rainfall is abundant and well distributed throughout the year. Such conditions are met in three quite different geographical locations
(1) at higher altitudes in the equatorial and tropical zones;
(2) along eastern continental margins and on islands in the latitude belt 25° to 35° or 40°;
(3) on west coasts from 35° to 55°.
In the first location the effect of higher elevation is to reduce temperatures and evaporation and thereby to increase the moisture available to plants. It is true that large areas of sandy upland bear forests of loblolly and slash pine and that bald-cypress is a dominant tree in swamps, but such vegetation represents xerophytic and hydrophytic forms in excessively dry or wet habitats, or the second-growth forest following fire and deforestation. The climax vegetation of mesophytic habitats is nevertheless the evergreen-oak and magnolia forest.
Temperate rainforest spans two pedogenic regimes: laterization and podzolization. In lower latitudes laterization is characteristic, and this grades through regimes in which both laterization and podzolization are effective (red-yellow soils), to the cool higher latitude regions of podzolization.
"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page", St. Augustine said. Here at www.travel-university.org we believe that every page must be read and explored. Travel is an avenue of learning that no text or classroom can teach. The world is a living classroom and you the student. We invite you to the www.travel-university.org library where you can read general interest and detail oriented articles.
