Variably wet forests. Subequatorial climate zone Features of variable humid forests of South America

South America is the fourth largest continent and lies in the southern hemisphere. Five climatic zones determine the characteristics of the flora and fauna: equatorial, subequatorial, tropical, subtropical and temperate; most of the continent has a warm climate.

The plant and animal worlds are very rich, many species are found exclusively here. South America is a record holder in many ways; the longest and deepest river in the world, the Amazon, flows here, the longest Andes mountain range is located, the largest mountain lake Titicaca is located, it is the rainiest continent on earth. All this significantly influenced the development of wildlife.

Nature of different countries of South America:

Flora of South America

Flora South America is rightfully considered the main wealth of the continent. Such well-known plants as tomatoes, potatoes, corn, chocolate tree, the rubber tree was discovered here.

The tropical rainforests of the northern part of the continent still amaze with the richness of species, and today scientists continue to discover new plant species here. In these forests there are different types palm, melon tree. There are 750 species of trees and 1,500 species of flowers per 10 square kilometers of this forest.

The forest is so dense that it is extremely difficult to move through it; vines also make movement difficult. A characteristic plant for the tropical forest is the ceiba. The forest in this part of the mainland can reach a height of more than 100 meters and is distributed into 12 levels!

To the south of the jungle there are variable rain forests and savannas, where the quebracho tree grows, which is famous for its very hard and very heavy wood, valuable and expensive raw materials. In savannas, small forests give way to thickets of cereals, shrubs and tough grasses.

Even further south are the pampas - the South American steppes. Here you can find many types of grasses, common to Eurasia: feather grass, bearded grass, fescue. The soil here is quite fertile, since there is less rainfall and it is not washed away. Shrubs and small trees grow among the grasses.

The south of the mainland is a desert, the climate there is more severe, and therefore the vegetation is much poorer. Shrubs, some types of grasses and cereals grow on the rocky soil of the Patagonian desert. All plants are resistant to drought and constant weathering of the soil, among them are resinous chañar, chukuraga, and Patagonian fabiana.

Fauna of South America

The fauna, like the vegetation, is extremely rich; many species have not yet been described or qualified. The richest region is the Amazonian jungle. It is here that you can find such amazing animals as sloths, the smallest birds in the world, hummingbirds, a huge number of amphibians, including poisonous frogs, reptiles, including huge anacondas, the world's largest rodent capybara, tapirs, jaguars, river dolphins. Hunts in the forest at night wild cat ocelot, resembling a leopard, but found only in America.

Scientists estimate that the jungle is home to 125 species of mammals, 400 species of birds and an unknown number of species of insects and invertebrates. Rich and water world Amazon, its most famous representative is predatory fish piranha. Other famous predators are crocodiles and caimans.

The savannas of South America are also rich in fauna. Here you can find armadillos, amazing animals covered with plates - “armor”. Other animals that can only be found here are anteaters, rhea ostriches, spectacled bears, pumas, and kinkajou.

In the pampas of this continent there are deer and llamas that live in open spaces and that can find here the grasses on which they feed. The Andes have their own special inhabitants - llamas and alpacas, whose thick wool saves them from the high-altitude cold.

In the deserts of Patagonia, where only tough grasses and small shrubs grow on rocky soil, mainly small animals, insects, and various types of rodents live.

South America includes the Pacific Galapagos Islands, which are home to amazing turtles, the largest representatives of the family on earth.

The continent of South America is located in all geographical zones, with the exception of subantarctic and antarctic. The wide northern part of the continent lies at low latitudes, so greatest distribution received equatorial and subequatorial belts. Distinctive feature The continent is characterized by the widespread development of forest natural zones (47% of the area). 1/4 of the planet’s forests are concentrated on the “green continent”(Fig. 91, 92).

South America gave humanity many cultivated plants: potatoes, tomatoes, beans, tobacco, pineapple, hevea, cocoa, peanuts, etc.

Natural areas

In the equatorial geographical zone there is a zone equatorial rain forests , occupying Western Amazonia. They are named by A. Humboldt hylea, and by the local population - the village. Wet equatorial forests South America has the richest forests in terms of species composition on Earth. They are rightfully considered the “gene pool of the planet”: they contain more than 45 thousand plant species, including 4000 woody ones.

Rice. 91. Endemic animals of South America: 1- giant anteater; 2- hoatzin; 3 - lama; 4 - sloth; 5 - capybaras; 6 - battleship

Rice. 92. Typical trees of South America: 1 - Chilean araucaria; 2 - wine palm; 3 - chocolate tree (cocoa)

There are flooded, non-flooded and mountain hylia. In river floodplains, flooded with water for a long period, impoverished forests of low trees (10-15 m) with breathing and stilt roots grow. Cecropia (“ant tree”) predominates; giant Victoria regia swim in the reservoirs.

In elevated areas, rich, dense, multi-tiered (up to 5 tiers) flood-free forests are formed. The solitary ceiba (cotton tree) and the Brazil nut-bearing bertolecia grow to a height of 40-50 m. The upper tiers (20-30 m) are formed by trees with valuable wood (rosewood, pau brazil, mahogany), as well as ficus and hevea, from the milky juice of which rubber is obtained. In the lower tiers, under the canopy of palm trees, chocolate and melon trees grow, as well as ancient plants on Earth - tree ferns. The trees are densely intertwined with lianas; among the epiphytes there are many brightly colored orchids.

Mangrove vegetation, poor in composition (nipa palm, rhizophora), is developed near the coast. Mangroves- these are thickets of evergreen trees and shrubs of the wetland zone sea ​​tides and ebb tides of tropical and equatorial latitudes, adapted to salt water.

Moist equatorial forests form on red-yellow ferrallitic soils, poor nutrients. Falling leaves in hot and humid climates quickly rot, and the humus is immediately absorbed by plants, without having time to accumulate in the soil.

Hylaea animals are adapted to life in trees. Many have a prehensile tail, such as the sloth, opossum, prehensile-tailed porcupine, broad-nosed monkeys(howler monkeys, arachnids, marmosets). The ponds are home to peccary pigs and tapirs. There are predators: jaguar, ocelot. There are numerous turtles and snakes, including the longest one - the anaconda (up to 11 m). South America is the “continent of birds”. Hylea is home to macaws, toucans, hoatzins, tree hens and the smallest birds - hummingbirds (up to 2 g).

The rivers are teeming with caimans and alligators. They are home to 2,000 species of fish, including dangerous predatory piranha and the largest in the world - arapaima (up to 5 m in length and weighing up to 250 kg). Meet electric eel And freshwater dolphin inia.

Zones stretch across three geographical zones variable- rain forests . Subequatorial variable-humid forests occupy the eastern part of the Amazonian lowland and the adjacent slopes of the Brazilian and Guiana plateaus. The presence of a dry period causes the appearance of deciduous trees. Among the evergreens, cinchona, ficus, and balsa, which have the lightest wood, predominate. In tropical latitudes, on the moist eastern edge of the Brazilian Plateau, rich evergreen tropical forests, similar in composition to equatorial ones, grow on mountain red soils. The southeast of the plateau on red soils and yellow soils is occupied by sparse subtropical moist forests. They are formed by Brazilian araucaria with an undergrowth of yerba mate (“Paraguayan tea”) shrubs.

Zone savannas and woodlands distributed in two geographical zones. In subequatorial latitudes it covers the Orinoco Lowland and interior areas The Brazilian plateau, in the tropical - the Gran Chaco plain. Depending on the moisture content, wet, typical and desert savannas are distinguished. Under them, red, brown-red and red-brown soils develop, respectively.

Tallgrass wet savanna in the Orinoco River basin is traditionally called Llanos. It is flooded for up to six months, turning into an impassable swamp. Grains and sedges grow; Of the trees, the Mauritius palm dominates, which is why the llanos is called the “palm savanna.”

On the Brazilian plateau, savannas were called campos. Wet shrub-tree savanna occupies the center of the plateau, while typical grassy savanna occupies the south. Low-growing shrubs grow against the background of cereal vegetation (bearded grass, feather grass). Among the trees, palms (wax, oil, vine palms) dominate. The arid northeast of the Brazilian Plateau is occupied by desert savanna - caatinga. This is a woodland of thorny bushes and cacti. There is a stocking rainwater bottle-shaped tree - bombax cottonwood.

Savannas continue into tropical latitudes, occupying the Gran Chaco plain. Only in tropical woodlands there is a Quebracho tree (“break the axe”) with hard and heavy wood that sinks in water. The savannas contain plantations of coffee, cotton, and bananas. Dry savannas are an important area for grazing.

Savannah animals are characterized by a protective brown coloration (spice-horned deer, red nose, maned wolf, rhea ostrich). Rodents are abundantly represented, including the largest in the world, the capybara. Many Hylaea animals (armadillos, anteaters) also live in savannas. Termite mounds are ubiquitous.

In the Laplata Lowland south of 30° S. w. are being formed subtropical steppes . In South America they were called pump. It is characterized by rich forb-grass vegetation (wild lupine, pampas grass, feather grass). The chernozem soils of the pampa are very fertile and therefore heavily plowed. The Argentine pampa is the main growing area for wheat and forage grasses in South America. The fauna of the pampa is rich in rodents (tuco-tuco, viscacha). There are Pampas deer, Pampas cat, puma, and rhea ostrich.

Semi-deserts and deserts South America extends across three geographical zones: tropical, subtropical and temperate. In the west of the tropics, tropical deserts and semi-deserts stretch in a narrow strip along the Pacific coast and on the high plateaus of the Central Andes. This is one of the driest areas on Earth: in the Atacama Desert it may not rain for years. On the infertile gray soils of coastal deserts, dry cereals and cacti grow, receiving moisture from dew and fog; on the gravelly soils of high-mountain deserts there are creeping and cushion-shaped grasses and thorny shrubs.

Animal world tropical deserts poor Inhabitants of the highlands - llamas, spectacled bears, possessing valuable fur chinchilla. There is the Andean condor - the largest bird in the world with a wingspan of up to 4 m.

To the west of the pampa, subtropical semi-deserts and deserts are common in a continental climate. On gray soils there is a light forest of acacias and cacti, and on salt marshes - solyankas. In harsh temperate latitudes in lowland Patagonia on brown semi-desert soils dry cereals and thorny shrubs grow.

The southwestern edge of the continent in two zones is occupied by forest natural zones. In the subtropics in Mediterranean conditions maritime climate a zone is being formed dry hard-leaved forests and shrubs . The coast and slopes of the Chilean-Argentine Andes (between 28° and 36° S) are covered with forests of evergreen southern beech, teak, and persea on brown and gray-brown soils.

Located further south wet evergreen And mixed forests . In the northern Patagonian Andes, moist evergreen forests grow on montane brown forest soils in a subtropical humid climate. With abundant moisture (more than 3000-4000 mm of precipitation), these rain forests are multi-layered and rich, for which they received the name “subtropical hylea”. They consist of evergreen beeches, magnolias, Chilean araucaria, Chilean cedar, South American larch with a rich understory of tree ferns and bamboos. In the southern Patagonian Andes, in a temperate maritime climate, mixed forests of deciduous beech and coniferous podocarpus grow. Here you can find puda deer, Magellanic dog, otter, and skunk.

High Andean region occupies a vast territory with a well-defined altitudinal zone, most fully manifested in equatorial latitudes. Common up to an altitude of 1500 m hot belt- hylea with an abundance of palms and bananas. Above up to 2000 m - temperate zone with cinchona, balsa, tree ferns and bamboos. A cold belt extends to the 3500 m mark - a high-mountain hylea of ​​low-growing crooked forests. It is replaced by a frost belt with high-mountain meadows of paramos cereals and low-growing shrubs. Above 4700 m there is a belt of eternal snow and ice.

References

1. Geography 8th grade. Tutorial for 8th grade institutions of general secondary education with Russian as the language of instruction / Edited by Professor P. S. Lopukh - Minsk “People's Asveta” 2014

Subequatorial climate zone is transitional and occurs in northern and southern hemispheres, from to tropical zones.

Climate

In summer, in the zones of the subequatorial belt, the monsoon type of climate prevails, which is characterized by a large number precipitation. Its characteristic feature is the change air masses from equatorial to tropical depending on the season of the year. In winter, dry trade winds are observed here.

The average monthly temperature varies between 15-32º C, and the amount of precipitation is 250-2000 mm.

The rainy season is characterized by high rainfall (almost 95% of the year) and lasts about 2-3 months. When tropical easterly winds prevail, the climate becomes arid.

Countries of the subequatorial belt

The subequatorial climate zone passes through the countries of: South Asia (the Hindustan Peninsula: India, Bangladesh and the island of Sri Lanka); Southeast Asia(Indochina Peninsula: Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines); southern North America: Costa Rica, Panama; South America: Ecuador, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, Guiana; Africa: Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania , Burundi, Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Angola, Congo, DRC, Gabon, as well as the island of Madagascar: Australia;

Natural zones of the subequatorial belt

Map of natural zones and climate zones of the world

The subequatorial climate zone includes the following natural zones:

  • savannas and woodlands (South America, Africa, Asia, Oceania);

And woodlands are predominantly found in the subequatorial climate zone.

Savannas are mixed grasslands. The trees here grow more regularly than in the forests. However, despite the high density of trees, there are open spaces covered with herbaceous vegetation. Savannas cover about 20% of the Earth's land area and are often in the transition zone between forests and deserts or grasslands.

This natural zone is located in mountainous areas and is characterized by climate change, namely a decrease in air temperature by 5-6 ° C as the altitude increases above sea level. In areas of altitudinal zonality, there is less oxygen and reduced atmospheric pressure, as well as increased ultraviolet radiation.

  • variable-humid (including monsoon) forests (South America, North America, Asia, Africa);

Variably humid forests, along with savannas and open forests, are mainly found in the subequatorial zone. The flora does not have a wide variety of species, unlike the equatorial rainforests. Since this climate zone has two seasons (dry season and rainy season), the trees have adapted to these changes and are mostly broad-leaved deciduous species.

  • moist equatorial forests (Oceania, Philippines).

In the subequatorial zone, moist equatorial forests are not as widespread as in the equatorial zone. They are characterized complex structure forests, as well as a wide variety of flora, which is represented by evergreen tree species and other vegetation.

Soils of the subequatorial belt

This belt is dominated by red soils of variable rainforests and tall grass savannas. They are characterized by a reddish tint, granular structure, and low humus content (2-4%). This type of soil is rich in iron and has negligible silicon content. Potassium, sodium, calcium and magnesium are found here in negligible quantities.

Mountain yellow earth, red earth and lateritic soils are common in Southeast Asia. In South Asia and central Africa, black soils of dry tropical savannas are found.

Animals and plants

The subequatorial climate zone is home to fast-growing trees, including balsa trees and members of the cecropia genus, as well as trees that grow longer (more than 100 years), such as sweetenia and various types entandrophragm. Gabonese mahogany trees are common in humid tropical forests. Here you can find baobab, acacia, various types of palm trees, milkweed and parkia, as well as many other plants.

The subequatorial climate zone is characterized by a variety of fauna, especially birds (woodpeckers, toucans, parrots, etc.) and insects (ants, butterflies, termites). However, there are not many terrestrial species, these include.

Geographical location, natural conditions

In the subequatorial zone, due to seasonal precipitation and uneven distribution of precipitation over the territory, as well as contrasts in the annual course of temperatures, landscapes of subequatorial variable humid forests develop on the plains of Hindustan, Indochina and in the northern half of the Philippine Islands.

Variably humid forests occupy the most humid areas of the lower reaches of the Ganges-Brahmaputra, coastal areas of Indochina and the Philippine archipelago, and are especially well developed in Thailand, Burma, and the Malay Peninsula, where at least 1,500 millimeters of precipitation falls. On drier plains and plateaus, where precipitation does not exceed 1000-800 millimeters, seasonally wet monsoon forests grow, which once covered large areas of the Hindustan Peninsula and southern Indochina (Korat Plateau). With a decrease in precipitation to 800-600 millimeters and a reduction in the rainfall period from 200 to 150-100 days a year, forests are replaced by savannas, woodlands and shrubs.

The soils here are ferralitic, but predominantly red. As the amount of rain decreases, the concentration of humus in them increases. They are formed as a result of ferralite weathering (the process is accompanied by the decomposition of most of the primary minerals, with the exception of quartz, and the accumulation of secondary ones - kaolinite, goethite, gibbsite, etc.) and humus accumulation under the forest vegetation of the humid tropics. They are characterized by low silica content, high aluminum and iron content, low cation exchange and high anion absorption capacity, predominantly red and variegated yellow-red color of the soil profile, and a very acidic reaction. Humus contains mainly fulvic acids. They contain 8-10% humus.

The hydrothermal regime of seasonally humid tropical communities is characterized by constantly high temperatures and a sharp change in wet and dry seasons, which determines the specific features of the structure and dynamics of their fauna and animal population, which significantly distinguish them from communities of tropical rainforests. First of all, the presence of a dry season, lasting from two to five months, determines the seasonal rhythm of life processes in almost all animal species. This rhythm is expressed in the timing of the breeding season mainly to the wet season, in the complete or partial cessation of activity during drought, in the migratory movements of animals both within the biome in question and beyond it during the unfavorable dry season. Falling into complete or partial anabiosis is characteristic of many terrestrial and soil invertebrates, amphibians, and migration is characteristic of some insects capable of flight (for example, locusts), birds, chiropterans and large ungulates.

Flora

Variably humid forests (Figure 1) are close in structure to hylaea, differing at the same time in a smaller number of species. In general, the same set remains life forms, diversity of lianas and epiphytes. Differences appear precisely in the seasonal rhythm, primarily at the level of the upper tier of the tree stand (up to 30% of the trees in the upper tier are deciduous species). At the same time, the lower tiers include a large number of evergreen species. The grass cover is represented mainly by ferns and dicotyledons. In general, these are transitional types of communities, in some places largely reduced by humans and replaced by savannas and plantations.

Figure 1 – Variably humid forest

The vertical structure of humid subequatorial forests is complex. Usually there are five tiers in this forest. The upper tree layer A is formed by the tallest trees, isolated or forming groups, the so-called emergents, raising their “heads and shoulders” above the main canopy - the continuous layer B. The lower tree layer C often penetrates into layer B. Stage D is usually called shrub. It is formed mainly by woody plants, of which only a few can hardly be called shrubs in the exact sense of the word, or rather “dwarf trees”. Finally, the lower tier E is formed by grasses and tree seedlings. The boundaries between adjacent tiers can be better or worse expressed. Sometimes one tree layer imperceptibly passes into another. In monodominant communities, tree layers are better expressed than in polydominant ones.

The most common type of wood is teak wood, which is characterized by teak wood. Trees of this species can be considered an essential component of the summer green forests of India, Burma, Thailand and the relatively dry areas of eastern Java. In India, where very small areas of these natural zonal forests still remain, the main trees that grow with teak wood are ebony trees and maradu, or Indian laurel; all these species produce valuable wood. But teak wood is in especially great demand because it has a number of valuable properties: it is hard, resistant to fungi and termites, and also weakly reacts to changes in humidity and temperature. Therefore, foresters specially grow teak wood (in Africa and South America). Monsoon forests are best studied in Burma and Thailand. In them, along with teak wood, there are Pentacme suavis, Dalbergia paniculata, Tectona hamiltoniana, whose wood is stronger and heavier than teak wood, then producing bast fibers Bauhinia racemosa, Callesium grande, Ziziphus jujuba, Holarrhenia dysenteriaca with white soft wood used for turning and wood carvings. One of the bamboo species, Dendrocalamus strictus, grows in the shrub layer. The grass layer consists mainly of grasses, among which the bearded vulture dominates. Along estuaries and other storm-protected areas sea ​​coast the muddy tidal zone (littoral) is occupied by mangroves (Figure 2). Trees of this phytocenosis are characterized by thick, stilted roots extending from the trunks and lower branches like thin piles, as well as breathing roots protruding from the silt in vertical columns.

Figure 2 – Mangroves

Vast swamps stretch along the rivers in the tropical rain forest zone: heavy rains lead to regular high floods, and floodplains constantly remain flooded. Swamp forests are often dominated by palm trees and have less species diversity than drier areas.

Animal world

The fauna of seasonally humid subtropical communities is not as rich as the fauna of moist equatorial forests due to the dry period unfavorable for animals. Although the species composition of various groups of animals in them is specific, at the level of genera and families there is a noticeable great similarity with the Gilian fauna. Only in the driest variants of these communities—in open forests and thorny bushes—do species related to typical representatives fauna of arid communities.

Forced adaptations to drought contributed to the formation of a number of special animal species characteristic of a given biome. In addition, some species of phytophagous animals turn out to be more diverse in species composition here than in the Hylaea, due to the greater development of the herbaceous layer and, accordingly, the greater diversity and richness of herbaceous food.

The layering of the animal population in seasonally wet communities is noticeably simpler than in tropical rainforests. The simplification of layering is especially pronounced in open forests and shrub communities. However, this applies mainly to the tree layer, since the tree stand itself is less dense, diverse and does not reach the same height as in the Hyla. But the herbaceous layer is much more clearly expressed, since it is not so strongly shaded by woody vegetation. The population of the litter layer is also much richer here, since the deciduousness of many trees and the drying out of grasses during the dry period ensure the formation of a fairly thick layer of litter.

The presence of a layer of litter formed by leaf and grass decay ensures the existence of a diverse trophic group saprophagous animals. In the soil-litter layer they live round nematode worms, megascolecid annelids, small and large nods, oribatid mites, springtails, cockroaches, termites. All of them are involved in the processing of dead plant matter, but the leading role is played by termites, already familiar to us from the fauna of the Gila.

Consumers of green plant mass in seasonal communities are very diverse. This is determined primarily by the presence of a well-developed herbaceous layer in combination with a more or less closed tree layer. Thus, chlorophytophages specialize either in eating tree leaves or using herbaceous plants, many feeding on plant sap, bark, wood and roots.

The roots of plants are eaten by the larvae of cicadas and various beetles - beetles, golden beetles, and darkling beetles. The juices of living plants are sucked by adult cicadas, bugs, aphids, scale insects and scale insects. Green plant matter is consumed by butterfly caterpillars, stick insects, herbivorous beetles - beetles, leaf beetles, and weevils. The seeds of herbaceous plants are used as food by harvester ants. The green mass of herbaceous plants is eaten mainly by various locusts.

Consumers of green vegetation are also numerous and diverse among vertebrates. These are terrestrial turtles from the genus Testudo, granivorous and frugivorous birds, rodents and ungulates

The monsoon forests of South Asia are home to the wild fowl (Callus gallus) and the common peacock (Pavo chstatus). Asian ring-necked parrots (Psittacula) forage for food in the treetops.

Figure 3 – Asian rathufa squirrel

Among herbivorous mammals, rodents are the most diverse. They can be found in all layers of seasonal tropical forests and woodlands. The tree layer is inhabited mainly by various representatives the squirrel family – palm squirrels and the large ratufa squirrel (Figure 3). In the ground layer, rodents from the mouse family are common. In South Asia, the large porcupine (Hystrix leucura) can be found under the forest canopy; Rattus rats and Indian bandicots (Bandicota indica).

The forest floor is home to various predatory invertebrates - large centipedes, spiders, scorpions, and predatory beetles. Many spiders that build trapping nets, for example large nephilous spiders, also inhabit the tree layer of the forest. They hunt on the branches of trees and bushes small insects praying mantises, dragonflies, blackflies, predatory bugs.

Small predatory animals hunt rodents, lizards and birds. The most typical are various civets - civets, mongooses.

Of the large predators in seasonal forests, the leopard, which penetrates here from the gili, and tigers are relatively common.

Monsoon forests are vast green areas with lush vegetation and rich wildlife. During the rainy season, they resemble equatorial evergreen forests. Found in subequatorial and tropical climate. They attract tourists and photographers with a variety of picturesque landscapes.

Description

Monsoon rainforests are most common in the tropics. Most often they are located at an altitude of 850 meters above sea level. They are also called deciduous due to the fact that the trees lose their leaves during periods of drought. Heavy rains return them to their former richness and color. The trees here reach a height of twenty meters, the leaves on the crowns are small. Evergreen species and many lianas and epiphytes are common in the undergrowth. Orchids grow in the monsoon zone. They are found in the Brazilian coastal mountain ranges, the Himalayas, Malaysia, Mexico, and Indochina.

Peculiarities

Monsoon forests in the Far East are famous for their diversity of plants and animals. Warm and humid summers and an abundance of plant food create favorable conditions for the habitat of insects, birds, and mammals. Conifers and broadleaf trees. Among the inhabitants of the forests, sable, squirrel, chipmunk, hazel grouse, as well as animals rare for climate zone Russia. Characteristic inhabitants of monsoon forests - Ussuri tiger, black bear, sika deer, wolf, raccoon dog. There are many wild boars, hares, moles, and pheasants on the territory. Reservoirs subequatorial climate are rich in fish. Some species are protected.

Rare orchids grow in the humid forests of Brazil, Mexico, and Indochina. About sixty percent are sympodial species, well known among gardeners. The red-yellow soils of monsoon areas are favorable for ficus, palm trees, and valuable tree species. The most famous ones include teak, satin, tallow, and iron. For example, it is capable of forming a dark grove from its trunks. In Indian botanical garden a huge banyan tree grows, which has almost two thousand (!) trunks. The crown of the tree covers an area of ​​​​twelve thousand square meters. Variable-moist forests become habitats bamboo bears(pandas), salamanders, tigers, leopards, poisonous insects and snakes.

Climate

Which predominates monsoon forests? Winters here are mostly dry, summers are not hot, but warm. The dry period lasts three to four months. Average temperature the air is lower than in the humid tropics: the absolute minimum is -25 degrees, the maximum is 35 with a “+” sign. The temperature difference ranges from eight to twelve degrees. Characteristic feature climate - long rainfalls in summer and their absence in winter. The difference between the two opposite seasons is huge.

Monsoon forests are known for their morning fog and low clouds. This is why the air is so saturated with moisture. By noon bright sun completely evaporates moisture from vegetation. In the afternoon, a foggy haze forms in the forests again. High air humidity and cloudiness persist for a long period of time. In winter, precipitation also falls, but rarely.

Geography

IN subequatorial belt due to loss large quantity precipitation and its uneven distribution, high temperature contrast, monsoon forests develop. On the territory of Russia, they grow in the Far East, have a complex topography, and a rich flora and fauna. There are humid forests in Indochina, Hindustan, the Philippine Islands, Asia, North and South America, and Africa. Despite the long rainy seasons and prolonged drought, the fauna in the monsoon forest areas poorer than in humid equatorial regions.

The most pronounced phenomenon of monsoons is on the Indian continent, where a period of drought is replaced by heavy downpours, the duration of which can be seven months. This change in weather is typical for Indochina, Burma, Indonesia, Africa, Madagascar, northern and eastern Australia, and Oceania. For example, in Indochina and the Hindustan Peninsula, the dry period in forests lasts seven months (from April to October). Trees with large crowns and arches grow in vast monsoon areas. irregular shape. Sometimes forests grow in tiers, which is especially noticeable from above.

Soil

Monsoon wet soils are characterized by a red tint, granular structure, and low humus content. The soil is rich in useful microelements such as iron and silicon. Sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium in wet soil very little. In Southeast Asia, yellow soils and red soils predominate. Central Africa and are distinguished by dry black soil. Interestingly, as the rains stop, the concentration of humus in monsoon forests increases. The reserve is one of the forms of protection wildlife in an area rich in valuable plants and animals. It is in humid forests that many species of orchids are found.

Plants and fauna

Monsoon forests in subequatorial climate Hindustan, China, Indochina, Australia, America, Africa, Far East(Russia) are characterized by a variety of fauna. For example, in Southeast Asia variable-humid areas Teak trees are common, as are Indochinese laurel and ebony. There are also bamboo, vines, butea, and cereals. Many trees in forests are highly valued for their healthy and durable wood. For example, teak bark is dense and resistant to destruction by termites and fungi. Sal forests grow at the southern foot of the Himalayas. In the monsoon regions of Central America there are many thorny bushes. Grows in humid climate and valuable jat wood.

In subequatorial climates, fast-growing trees are common. Palms, acacias, baobab, spurge, cecropium, entandrophragma, ferns predominate, and there are many other types of plants and flowers. The humid climate zone is characterized by a wide variety of birds and insects. Woodpeckers, parrots, toucans, and butterflies are found in the forests. Among the terrestrial animals found in monsoon forests are marsupials, elephants, different representatives cat family, freshwater, amphibians, frogs, snakes. This world is truly bright and rich.



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