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The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a
habitat type In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physica ...
defined by the
World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the W ...
and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive several hundred centimeters of rain per year, they have long
dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The ...
s that last several months and vary with geographic location. These seasonal
droughts A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D.  Jiang, A.  Khan, W.  Pokam Mba, D.  Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
have great impact on all living things in the forest.
Deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...
trees predominate in most of these forests, and during the drought a leafless period occurs, which varies with species type. Because trees lose moisture through their leaves, the shedding of leaves allows trees such as
teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters ( pan ...
and mountain ebony to conserve water during dry periods. The newly bare trees open up the
canopy Canopy may refer to: Plants * Canopy (biology), aboveground portion of plant community or crop (including forests) * Canopy (grape), aboveground portion of grapes Religion and ceremonies * Baldachin or canopy of state, typically placed over an ...
layer, enabling
sunlight Sunlight is a portion of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun, in particular infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light. On Earth, sunlight is scattered and filtered through Earth's atmosphere, and is obvious as daylight when ...
to reach ground level and facilitate the growth of thick
underbrush In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but abov ...
. Trees on moister sites and those with access to ground water tend to be
evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, whic ...
. Infertile sites also tend to support evergreen trees. Three tropical dry forest ecoregions, the
East Deccan dry evergreen forests The East Deccan dry evergreen forests is an ecoregion of southeastern India. The ecoregion includes the coastal region behind the Coromandel Coast on the Bay of Bengal, between the Eastern Ghats and the sea. It covers eastern Tamil Nadu, part ...
, the Sri Lanka dry-zone dry evergreen forests, and the Southeastern Indochina dry evergreen forests, are characterized by evergreen trees. Though less biologically diverse than
rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...
s, tropical dry forests are home to a wide variety of wildlife including
monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...
s,
deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...
, large
cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...
s,
parrot Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genera comprising the order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoide ...
s, various
rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are n ...
s, and ground dwelling
bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...
s. Mammalian
biomass Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms bio ...
tends to be higher in dry forests than in rain forests, especially in Asian and African dry forests. Many of these
species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...
display extraordinary adaptations to the difficult
climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologi ...
. This biome is alternately known as the tropical and subtropical dry forest biome or the tropical and subtropical deciduous forest biome.


Geographical variation

Dry forests tend to exist in the drier areas north and south of the
tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equator ...
belt, south or north of the subtropical deserts, generally in two bands: one between 10° and 20°N
latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north ...
and the other between 10° and 20°S
latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north ...
. The most diverse dry forests in the world occur in western and southern
Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...
and in the
Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
n lowlands. The dry forests of the
Pacific Coast Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean. Geography Americas Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western or southwestern border, except for Panama, where the Pac ...
of northwestern
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...
support a wealth of unique species due to their dry climate. The Maputaland-Pondoland bushland and thickets along the east coast of
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...
are diverse and support many
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
species. The dry forests of central
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
and
Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...
are notable for their diverse large
vertebrate Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, with ...
faunas Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is ''funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Z ...
.
Madagascar dry deciduous forests The Madagascar dry deciduous forests represent a tropical dry forest ecoregion situated in the western and northern part of Madagascar. The area has high numbers of endemic plant and animal species but has suffered large-scale clearance for agric ...
and New Caledonia dry forests are also highly distinctive (pronounced
endemism Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...
and a large number of relictual taxa) for a wide range of taxa and at higher taxonomic levels. Trees use underground water during the dry seasons.


Biodiversity patterns and requirements

Species tend to have wider ranges than
moist forest Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (TSMF), also known as tropical moist forest, is a subtropical and tropical forest habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Description TSMF is generally found in large, discont ...
species, although in some regions many species do display highly restricted ranges; most dry forest species are restricted to tropical dry forests, particularly in plants;
beta diversity Beta (, ; uppercase , lowercase , or cursive ; grc, βῆτα, bē̂ta or ell, βήτα, víta) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 2. In Modern Greek, it represents the voiced labiod ...
and
alpha diversity In ecology, alpha diversity (α-diversity) is the mean species diversity in a site at a local scale. The term was introduced by R. H. WhittakerWhittaker, R. H. (1960) Vegetation of the Siskiyou Mountains, Oregon and California. Ecological Monograp ...
high but typically lower than adjacent moist forests. Effective conservation of dry broadleaf forests requires the preservation of large and continuous areas of forest. Large natural areas are required to maintain larger
predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill t ...
s and other
vertebrates Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () (chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, with ...
, and to buffer sensitive species from
hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...
pressure. The persistence of
riparian forest A riparian forest or riparian woodland is a forested or wooded area of land adjacent to a body of water such as a river, stream, pond, lake, marshland, estuary, canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered chann ...
s and water sources is critical for many dry forest species. Large swathes of
intact forest An intact forest landscape (IFL) is an unbroken natural landscape of a forest ecosystem and its habitat–plant community components, in an extant forest zone. An IFL is a natural environment with no signs of significant human activity or habitat f ...
are required to allow species to recover from occasional large events, like forest fires. Dry forests are highly sensitive to excessive burning and
deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated ...
;
overgrazing Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, game reserves, or nature res ...
and exotic species can also quickly alter natural communities; restoration is possible but challenging, particularly if degradation has been intense and persistent.


Ecoregions


Afrotropical

*
Zambezian cryptosepalum dry forests The Zambezian dry evergreen forest, also known as the Zambezian ''Cryptosepalum'' dry forest, is a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion of Southern Africa. It consists of several areas of thick forest in western Zambia and adjacent Angola. It i ...
* Cape Verde Islands dry forests *
Madagascar dry deciduous forests The Madagascar dry deciduous forests represent a tropical dry forest ecoregion situated in the western and northern part of Madagascar. The area has high numbers of endemic plant and animal species but has suffered large-scale clearance for agric ...


Nearctic

* Sonoran-Sinaloan transition subtropical dry forest


Indomalayan

* Central Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests * Central Indochina dry forests *
Chota Nagpur Plateau The Chota Nagpur Plateau is a plateau in eastern India, which covers much of Jharkhand state as well as adjacent parts of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar. The Indo-Gangetic plain lies to the north and east of the plateau, and the ...
*
East Deccan dry evergreen forests The East Deccan dry evergreen forests is an ecoregion of southeastern India. The ecoregion includes the coastal region behind the Coromandel Coast on the Bay of Bengal, between the Eastern Ghats and the sea. It covers eastern Tamil Nadu, part ...
* Irrawaddy dry forests *
Khathiar–Gir dry deciduous forests The Khathiar–Gir dry deciduous forests (also Kathiarbar-Gir or Kathiawar-Gir) is a mostly arid ecoregion in northwestern India that stretches over across Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The dry deciduous forests in the region are domi ...
*
Narmada Valley dry deciduous forests The Narmada Valley dry deciduous forests are a tropical dry forest ecoregion of central India. The ecoregion lies mostly in Madhya Pradesh state, but extends into portions of Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh states. ...
*
Northern dry deciduous forests The Northern dry deciduous forests, presently known as the North Deccan dry deciduous forests, is a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion of east-central India. Geography It covers an area of , mostly in western Odisha state, with portions in ...
* South Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests * Southeastern Indochina dry evergreen forests * Southern Vietnam lowland dry forests * Sri Lanka dry-zone dry evergreen forests


Neotropical

*
Apure–Villavicencio dry forests The Apure–Villavicencio dry forests (NT0201) is an ecoregion in Venezuela and Colombia to the east of the eastern cordillera of the Andes. The ecoregion covers the transition zone between montane forests in the Andes and the llanos, or lowland g ...
*
Atlantic dry forests The Atlantic dry forests are a tropical dry forest ecoregion of the Atlantic Forest Biome, located in eastern Brazil. Setting The Atlantic dry forests cover an area of , lying between the Cerrado savannas of central Brazil and the Caatinga dry ...
*
Bahamian dry forests The Bahamian dry forests are a tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion in the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, covering an area of . They are found on much of the northern Bahamas, including Andros, Abaco, and Grand Bah ...
*
Bajío dry forests The Bajío dry forests is a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion in western−central Mexico. Geography The Bajío dry forests lie in the southwestern portion of the Mexican Plateau. They are bounded on the southeast, south, and southwest by ...
*
Balsas dry forests The Balsas dry forests is a tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion located in western and central Mexico. Geography The Balsas dry forests occupy the basin of the Balsas River. The ecoregion cove ...
*
Bolivian montane dry forests The Bolivian montane dry forests (NT0206) is an ecoregion in Bolivia on the eastern side of the Andes. It is a transitional habitat between the puna grasslands higher up to the west and the Chaco scrub to the east. The habitat is under severe stres ...
* Cayman Islands dry forests *
Central American dry forests The Central American dry forests ecoregion, of the tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests biome, is located in Central America. Geography The ecoregion covers a total area of approximately 68,100 km2. It extends along the Pacific ...
* Chaco *
Chiapas Depression dry forests The Chiapas Depression dry forests form one of the ecoregions that belong to the tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests biome, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund, in northwestern Central America. Geography This ecoregion is located in ...
*
Chiquitano dry forests The Chiquitano dry forests is a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion in Bolivia and Brazil. The ecoregion is named for the Chiquitano people who live in the region. Setting The Chiquitano dry forests cover an area of . The ecoregion lies eas ...
*
Cuban dry forests The Cuban dry forests are a tropical dry forest ecoregion that occupies on Cuba and Isla de la Juventud. The ecoregion receives of rainfall annually. Cuban dry forests can be differentiated into evergreen forests, semi-deciduous forests, mogo ...
* Ecuadorian dry forests * Hispaniolan dry forests *
Jalisco dry forests The Jalisco dry forests is a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion in southwestern Mexico. Geography The Jalisco dry forests occupy the coastal lowlands and foothills of Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, and Michoacán states. The ecoregion mostly l ...
*
Jamaican dry forests The Jamaican dry forests is a tropical dry forest ecoregion located in southern Jamaica. Geography The ecoregion covers three discontinuous areas of Jamaica. The largest area extends along the south coast of the island, from Morant Point, Jamai ...
* Lara–Falcón dry forests *
Leeward Islands dry forests The Lesser Antillean dry forests ecoregion (WWF ID: NT0220) covers the dry forests of the coastal lowlands of the Lesser Antilles, where the eastern Caribbean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean. These forests generally form a band around the interior we ...
*
Magdalena Valley dry forests The Magdalena Valley dry forests (NT0221) is an ecoregion in Colombia along the upper Magdalena River, a large river that runs from south to north between the two main ''cordilleras'' of the Andes. There are many endemic species, but much of the or ...
* Maracaibo dry forests *
Marañón dry forests The Marañón dry forests (NT0223) is an ecoregion in northern Peru. It covers the lower valley of the Marañón River and its tributaries along the eastern edge of the Andes. It has a dry climate due to rain shadow from mountains further east. T ...
*
Panamanian dry forests The Panamanian dry forests ecoregion (WWF ID: NT0224) covers low-lying dry forests around the coast of the Gulf of Panama on the Pacific Ocean side of Panama. It is one of the most heavily degraded ecoregions in Central America, having been heavil ...
*
Patía Valley dry forests The Patía Valley dry forests (NT0225) is an ecoregion in southwestern Colombia. It covers a dry valley surrounded by mountains. The original habitat has mostly been destroyed by human activity, although a few pockets remain. Location The Patía V ...
*
Puerto Rican dry forests The Puerto Rican dry forests are a tropical dry forest ecoregion located in southwestern and eastern Puerto Rico and on the offshore islands. They cover an area of . These forests grow in areas receiving less than of rain annually. Many of the ...
*
Revillagigedo Islands The Revillagigedo Islands ( es, Islas Revillagigedo, ) or Revillagigedo Archipelago are a group of four volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean, known for their unique ecosystem. They lie approximately from Socorro Island south and southwest of C ...
*
Sierra de la Laguna dry forests The Sierra de la Laguna dry forests are a subtropical dry forest ecoregion of the southern Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. Geography The dry forests cover the lower elevations of the Sierra de la Laguna, from elevation. They are surroun ...
*
Sinaloan dry forests The Sinaloan dry forests is a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion in western Mexico. It is the northernmost ecoregion of the Neotropical realm. Geography The ecoregion covers an area of approximately The dry forests lie in the coastal pla ...
*
Sinú Valley dry forests The Sinú Valley dry forests (NT0229) is an ecoregion in the north of Colombia. Geography Location The Sinú Valley is an area of . located within the zone of parallel, north-northeast trending hills that lies between the low-point Magdalena ...
*
Southern Pacific dry forests The Southern Pacific dry forests is a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion in southern Mexico. Geography The Southern Pacific dry forests occupy the coastal lowlands and foothills along the Pacific coast of Southern Mexico. The Balsas River m ...
*
Trinidad and Tobago dry forests Trinidad and Tobago dry forests are tropical dry forests located primarily in western and southern parts of the island of Trinidad, in southern parts of the island of Tobago and on smaller offshore islands including Chacachacare, Monos, Huevos ...
*
Tumbes–Piura dry forests The Tumbes–Piura dry forests (NT0232) is an arid tropical ecoregion along the Pacific coasts of southern Ecuador and northern Peru. The ecoregion contains many endemic species of flora and birds adapted to the short wet season followed by a long ...
*
Veracruz dry forests The Veracruz dry forests are a tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion located in central Veracruz, Mexico. They cover an area of . The dry climate is a result of the rain shadow created by the Sierra de Chiconquiaco. The fo ...
* Windward Islands dry forests * Yucatán dry forests


Oceanian

* Marianas tropical dry forests *
Yap tropical dry forests The Yap tropical dry forests is a tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests ecoregion in Micronesia. It includes the Yap Islands and neighboring atolls in the Federated States of Micronesia. Geography The ecoregion covers the Yap Islan ...
*
Hawaiian tropical dry forests The Hawaiian tropical dry forests are a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion in the Hawaiian Islands. They cover an area of on the leeward side of the main islands and the summits of Niihau and Kahoolawe. These forests are either seasonal ...
* Fiji tropical dry forests


Australasian

* Sumba deciduous forests * Lesser Sundas deciduous forests * New Caledonia dry forests *
Timor and Wetar deciduous forests The Timor and Wetar deciduous forests is a tropical dry forest ecoregion in Indonesia and East Timor. The ecoregion includes the islands of Timor, Wetar, Rote, Savu, and adjacent smaller islands. Geography Timor, Wetar, Rote, and Savu are pa ...


See also

* Holdridge life zones in Guatemala *
Seasonal tropical forest Seasonal tropical forest, also known as moist deciduous, semi-evergreen seasonal, tropical mixed or monsoon forests, typically contain a range of tree species: only some of which drop some or all of their leaves during the dry season. This tropic ...
*
Tropical vegetation Tropical vegetation is any vegetation in tropical latitudes. Plant life that occurs in climates that are warm year-round is in general more biologically diverse that in other latitudes. Some tropical areas may receive abundant rain the whole ye ...


References

*


External links


The Tropical Dry Forest of Costa Rica
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tropical And Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests Terrestrial biomes Forests D