Boreal and Temperate Forests

John L Vankat, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, USA

Published online: March 2002

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0003738

The Earth's latitudinal gradient of forests encompasses boreal to temperate deciduous to temperate evergreen forests (as well as tropical forests). In addition, there are several variants of the temperate evergreen forest and there are montane forests at high elevations. Boreal and temperate forests differ in environment, structure, composition and disturbance.

Keywords: forests; boreal forest; temperate forests; biomes; vegetation

Figure 1. Landscape view of boreal coniferous forest in central Finland.
Figure 2. Interior view of temperate deciduous forest in southern Indiana, USA.
Figure 3. Interior view of temperate evergreen forest (maritime needle-leaved forest variant) in northern California, USA.
Figure 4. Montane coniferous forest in eastern British Columbia, Canada.
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 Further Reading
    book Archibold OW (1995) Ecology of World Vegetation. London: Chapman & Hall.
    book Barbour MG and Billings WD (eds) (1999) North American Terrestrial Vegetation, 2nd edn. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
    book Bolen EG (1998) Ecology of North America. New York, NY: Wiley.
    book Chabot BF and Mooney HA (eds) (1985) Physiological Ecology of North American Plant Communities. New York, NY: Chapman and Hall.
    book Grabherr G (1997) Farbatlas Ökosysteme der Erde. Stuttgart: Eugen Ulmer. (French edition published in 1999.)
    book Ovington JD (ed.) (1983) "Temperate Broad-Leaved Evergreen Forests". Ecosystems of the World 10. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
    book Polunin O and Walters M (1985) A Guide to the Vegetation of Britain and Europe. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
    book Röhig E and Ulrich B (eds) (1991) "Temperate Deciduous Forests". Ecosystems of the World 7. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
    book Vankat JL (1979) The Natural Vegetation of North America: an Introduction. New York, NY: John Wiley.

Related Sub-Topics:

Biogeography and Macroecology | Biomes and Ecosystems | Community Structure | Plant Ecology
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Article Title: Boreal and Temperate Forests
 
How to Cite close
Vankat, John L(Mar 2002) Boreal and Temperate Forests. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0003738]