The Dry jungle , Also called tropophile, dry forest or tropical forest, is located in tropical and subtropical latitudes, so it distinguishes between tropical dry forest and subtropical dry forest.
Although these forests are in warm climates throughout the year and can receive several hundred centimeters of rain per year, they must survive long dry seasons lasting several months and vary by geographic location.
Tropical and subtropical dry forests are found in southern Mexico, Southeast Africa, the Lesser Sunda Islands, central India, Indochina, Madagascar, New Caledonia, eastern Bolivia and central Brazil, the Caribbean, Valleys of the north of the Andes and the coasts of Ecuador and Peru.
The rainforest, in contrast to the rainforest, must survive a long dry season each year, so the predominantly deciduous trees shed their leaves to conserve water and better withstand drought.
Sunlight, then, can reach the ground, so the season that is bad for trees is good for the forest floor.
Although they are less diverse than tropical forests , From the biological point of view, dry forests are still home to a wide variety of wildlife including monkeys, felids, parrots, various rodents and different varieties of birds. Many of these species have developed extraordinary adaptations to severe weather.
Characteristics of the dry forest
Geographic location
The world's most diverse dry forests are found in southern Mexico and the Bolivian lowlands. The dry forests of the Pacific Northwest coast of South America harbor a wealth of unique species because of their isolation.
The subtropical forests of Maputaland and Pondoland in southeastern Africa have great diversity and shelter many species.
The dry forests of central India and Indochina are notable for their diversity of vertebrate and invertebrate fauna; And those of Madagascar and New Caledonia are also highly distinctive for their variety of species.
The dry forests, located in climatic zones of savanna, are called monsoon forests.
Weather
The average annual temperatures of the tropical dry forest are around 25-30 ° C, while in the subtropical the temperature is lower.
The average precipitation in the tropical dry forest oscillates around 1000 and 2000 mm, crossing then a long dry season during the winter. The subtropical dry forest, on the other hand, experiences lower rainfall levels, with an annual average of between 500 and 1000 mm.
Fauna
A dominant species in the tropical dry forest is the deer. Deer are large herbivores that mainly eat leaves and branches of different shrubs and trees, as well as large numbers of acorns, grass, mushrooms and fruits.
This species has fundamental importance in the ecosystem, and its disappearance would affect other species, such as tigers and pumas, since deer are an important source of food.
In addition to deer and felidae, dry forests also house different species of rodents, monkeys and birds.
Flora
Most tree species are deciduous, being a significant difference of the tropical forest. Many species of evergreen trees in the rainforest become deciduous in this area.
In these habitats, growing conditions are not so favorable, so tree tops are lower than in the rainforest (between 10 and 30 meters) and trees are less dense in areas where drought is more pressing.
The trees have a coarser, coarser crust, with deeper roots and much more variable leaves, including many composite leaf legumes.
The crowns of the trees are less dense, and, allowing greater filtration of light, they favor the growth of a great variety of seedlings, shrubs and herbs.
Epiphytes such as orchids and bromeliads, or cactaceae, also abound because of their high resistance to long periods without precipitation.
Diversity
Species diversity is lower than in nearby tropical forests. Among the various influential factors are climatic instability, which causes great stress in the environment, due to the succession of long periods of drought.
This results in the plants and animals facing these adverse conditions carrying out harsh processes of adaptation.
Although the diversity of species in the dry forest is lower than in the rainforest, a wide variety of species that inhabit the dry forest survive today, being habitat of different species.
There are species that temporarily inhabit the jungle, such as migratory birds in Central America or India, which visit the forest during their non-breeding season.
Most dry forest species are restricted to tropical dry forests, particularly in relation to plants.
With more space available between trees, larger mammals are more prominent in this environment.
There is more seasonality in reproductive cycles, timed with rainfall in most groups. In mobile species, migration may occur in the dry season to more humid environments, including nearby rainforests or wetlands.
To survive these conditions and long periods of drought, the different species that inhabit the forest have been adapting evolutionarily.
Some have very short life cycles, or remain dormant during the dry season, others migrate locally or regionally, and others have developed metabolic adaptations that allow them to survive with very little water.
Sensitivity to disorders
Dry forests are highly sensitive to excessive burning and deforestation. Overgrazing and exotic species can also rapidly alter natural communities.
The conversion of dry tropical forests to agriculture and grazing is occurring at alarming rates, with almost total destruction of the structure and composition of forests and disruption of ecosystem functions.
Restoration is possible but a challenge, especially if the degradation has been intense and persistent.
References
- "Monsoon forest"The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica Retrieved from Encyclopædia Britannica on 11 May 2017 britannica.com.
- "Dry Forests"in: Mexican Biodiversity. National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity. Retrieved on May 12, 2017 from biodiversidad.gob.mx.
- "Tropical Dry Forest"at Slater Museum of Natural History. University of Puget Sound. Washington. Retrieved on May 12, 2017 from pugetsound.edu.
- "Tropical dry forest"(Oct. 2014) Nature Wildlife. Retrieved on 12 May 2017 from BBC Nature www.bbc.co.uk.
- Bullock, S."Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests"Cambridge University Press, Nov. 24, 1995 Recovered on May 12, 2017 from books.google.com.
- "Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests"in Terrestrial Ecoregions WWF (World Wildlife) Retrieved on May 12, 2017 from worldwildlife.org.
- "Biodiversity of Tropical Dry Deciduous Forest Ecosystem"(2003) Quebec, Canada. Retrieved on May 12, 2017 from www.fao.org.
- Janzen, D."Chapter 14 Tropical Dry Forests The Most Endangered Major Tropical Ecosystem"book:"Biodiversity". (1988) Washington. Retrieved on May 12, 2017 from: National Center for Biotechnology Information Search database ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.