Tropical Dry Forest

1. Tropical Dry Forest By: Jaynee Douglas and Deja Moore

2. What is a Tropical Dry Forest? • Border tropical rain forests • Tropical dry forests grow in places where rainfall is highly seasonal rather than year-round. • Rainfall is sufficient enough to promote growth of trees, but these tree and plant species must be able to withstand periods of low precipitation and moisture such as cactus • Rich soils subject to erosion • Decomposition is rapid and soils are subject to heavy leaching

3. More characteristics • Humans have settled in this biome because it is a very pleasant place to live due to the warm temperatures there and because it doesn't rain too much there. • Most of tropical dry forests are found by the equator • Are seasonal and tropical

4. Climate • The temperatures are high all year • Hard dry seasons last several months • Better developed dry season than in the tropical rain forest • Receives about several hundreds of centimeters of rain fall per year , the average being between 40-100

5. Location • Can be found north and south of the equatorial forest belt • The most known are located in: parts of Africa, South and Central America, Mexico, India, Australia, and Tropical Islands

6. Biological Relationships ANIMALS Energy from the sun Fourth tropic level: Coyote Second tropic level: Ants Third tropic level: Jackrabbit The last tropic level: Fungus First tropic level: Deciduous shrubs

7. Biological Relationships PLANTS Energy from sun Last tropic level: Other organisms (Bacteria) Third tropic level: Animals (such as a goat) Second tropic level is: Plants (such as deciduous trees) Forth tropic level: Humans First tropic level: Microorganisms

8. Animals • Has a wide variety of wildlife from the Gray Wolf to the African Lion • The dominant wildlife here is tigers, monkeys, herbivores, birds, and insects. • Most animals have to do adaptations in order to survive the dry weather since dry seasons are extremely long • One adaptation with animals is estivation (like hibernation) they do this during the summer-time to reduce their water needs

9. Plants • Trees and plants must be able to survive periods of low precipitation and moisture • Most of the trees here are deciduous • Most plant life in the dry season will drop their leaves in order to reduce the water needs in them and to conserve what’s left of it • In order to survive trees have thicker, more ridged, bark; deeper roots, much more variable leaves; and more types of thorns • The single most important adaptation among plants is deciduousness

10. Human Impact • Deforestation: While humans are depleting the forest vegetation is being destroyed it also disrupts the relationships and habitats that animals have • As habitats are lost so are animals which leads to a drop in the diversity in animals • Hunting has also negatively impacted topical dry forests, animals such as tigers have been hunted to near extinction

11. More Human impact • Much of the land is being cleared because topical dry forests are the most desired places to live • Pollution that is heavily found in tropical dry forests comes from mining, specifically gold