09/08/2015
Forests provide fuel, timber, paper, resins,
varnishes, dyes, rubber, kapok and much
more besides.
Softwood is timber that comes from
coniferous trees such as pine, larch, fir and
spruce. 75-80% of the natural forests of
northern Asia, Europe and the USA are
softwood.
In vast plantations fast-growing conifers
are set in straight rows so they are easy to
cut down.
A tropical rainforest has more kinds of
trees than any other area in the world.
The signs of pollarding are racy to see in
these trees in winter when the leaves are
gone.
Hardwood is timber from broad-leaved
trees such as oak. Most hardwood forests
are in the tropics.
Hardwood trees take over a century to
reach maturity.
Tropical hardwoods such as mahogany are
becoming rare as more hardwood is cut for
timber.
Pollarding is cutting the topmost branches
of a tree so new shoots grow from the
trunk to the same length.
Coppicing is cutting tree stems at ground
level to encourage several stems to grow
from the same root.
Half the world’s remaining rainforests will
be gone by 2020 if they are cut Mown at
the current rate.
Every year the world uses 3 billion cubic
metres of wood – a pile as big as a
football stadium and as high as Mt
Everest.
Tropical rainforests are the richest and
most diverse of all animal habitats.
Most animals in tropical rainforests live in
the canopy (treetops), and are either agile
climbers or can fly.
Canopy animals include flying creatures
such as bats, birds and insects, and
climbers such as monkeys, sloths, lizards
and snakes.
Many rainforest creatures can glide
through the treetops — these include
gliding geckos and other lizards, flying
squirrels and even flying frogs.
Year-round rainfall and warm temperatures
make rainforests incredibly lush, with a
rich variety of plant life.
Like the other 41 species in the bird of
paradise group, the king bird lives in
rainforests. In courtship the male vibrates
his wings for display.
Some tree frogs live in the cups of
rainwater that are formed by some plants
growing high up in the trees.
Antelopes, deer, hogs, tapir and many
different kinds of rodent (rats and mice)
roam the forest floor, hunting for seeds,
roots, leaves and fruit.
Beside rivers in Southeast Asian
rainforests, there may be rhinoceroses,
crocodiles and even elephants.
Millions of insect species live in
rainforests, including butterflies, moths,
bees, termites and ants. There are also
many spiders.
Rainforest butterflies and moths are often
big or vividly coloured, including the
shimmering blue morpho of Brazil and the
birdwing butterflies.
Rainforest birds can be vividly coloured
too, and include parrots, toucans acid
birds of paradise
Forests of broad-leaved, deciduous trees
grow in temperate regions where there are
warm, wet summers and cold winters – in
places like North America, western Europe
and eastern Asia.
Broad-leaved deciduous woods grow
where temperatures average above 10°C
for over six months a year, and the
average annual rainfall is over 400 mm.
If there are 100 to 200 days a year warm
enough for growth, the main trees in
broad-leaved deciduous forests are oaks,
elms, birches, maples, beeches, aspens,
chestnuts and lindens (basswood).
In the tropics where there is plenty of
rainfall, broad-leaved evergreens form
tropical rainforests.
In moist western Europe, beech trees
dominate woods on well-drained, shallow
soils, especially chalkland; oak trees prefer
deep clay soils. Alders grow in
waterlogged places.
In drier eastern Europe, beeches are
replaced by durmast oak and hornbeam
and in Russia by lindens.
In American woods, beech and linden are
rarer than in Europe, but oaks, hickories
and maples are more common.
In the Appalachians buckeye and tulip
trees dominate.
There is a wide range of shrubs under the
trees including dogwood, holly, magnolia,
as well as woodland flowers.
Very few woods in Europe are entirely
natural; most are `secondary’ woods,
growing on land once cleared for farms verma
