Necochea Parque Miguel Lillo Buenos Aires Argentina

A maritime forest is an

ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

coast The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in ...

wooded A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

habitat 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 physical ...

found on higher ground than dune areas within range of

salt spray Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantiti ...

. They can be found along the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

and

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...

coasts of the United States. They can also be found in areas of

South-East Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

, for example

Chek Jawa Tanjong Chek Jawa (or Tanjung Chek Jawa or simply Chek Jawa) is a cape and the name of its 100-hectare wetlands located on the south-eastern tip of Pulau Ubin, an island off the north-eastern coast of the Pulau Ujong, main island of Singapore. C ...

, a wetland reserve which also features a maritime forest as one of the independent

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

Flora

High winds, salt spray, and sandy soil provide a harsh environment for plant life. Maritime forests are composed of

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, ...

, coniferous, and broadleaf evergreens. Trees in maritime forests include the southern sugar maple, swamp dogwood,

mockernut hickory ''Carya tomentosa'', (mockernut hickory, mockernut, white hickory, whiteheart hickory, hognut, bullnut) is a tree in the Juglandaceae or walnut family. The most abundant of the hickories, common in the eastern half of the US, it is long lived, ...

, white ash, and the

white poplar White poplar is a common name used to refer to several trees in the genus ''Populus'', including: * ''Populus alba'', native to Eurasia * '' Populus grandidentata'', bigtooth aspen * ''Populus tremuloides ''Populus tremuloides'' is a deciduous ...

. Many plants in the maritime forests have a natural waxy coating to protect them from the salt spray. Most of the plants found in maritime forests are evergreens and shrubs.

Fauna

Animals that live in these forests include foxes, deer, rabbits, tree frogs, raccoons, toads, and painted buntings.

Places

Some places where maritime forests can be found are: Bald Head Island (North Carolina),

Necochea Necochea is a port and beach city in the southwest of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. The city is located on the Atlantic coast, along the mouth of the Quequén Grande River, from Buenos Aires and southwest of Mar del Plata. The city proper ...

(Argentina), Jekyll Island (Georgia), and on almost all

barrier islands Barrier islands are coastal landforms and a type of dune system that are exceptionally flat or lumpy areas of sand that form by wave and tidal action parallel to the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything from a f ...

, such as the Currituck Banks Reserve in the

Outer Banks The Outer Banks (frequently abbreviated OBX) are a string of barrier islands and spits off the coast of North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, on the east coast of the United States. They line most of the North Carolina coastline, separating ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

References

{{Reflist Habitats Ecosystems