T2.4 Warm temperate laurophyll forests

T2. Temperate-boreal forests and woodlands biome

T2

Profile summary

Full profile at https://global-ecosystems.org/explore/groups/T2.4

Brief description

With a patchy warm-temperate distribution, laurophyll forests are extensive in some regions, but more typically occupy topographic refugia in a matrix of drier, more fire-prone ecosystems. They have glossy- or leathery-leaved dense evergreen canopies, with moderate tree diversity. A mild climate, and more acid soils, distinguish them from oceanic cool temperate forests (T2.3). Primary productivity is high, but can be limited by mild summer drought. Decomposers such as invertebrates, fungi, and microbes on the forest floor are critical to nutrient cycling. Insects are the major consumers of primary production and a major food source for birds and bats, which can be important seed-dispersers and pollinators. Vertebrate herbivores are relatively uncommon.

Key features

Simple, closed-canopy mostly evergreen forests in warm environments with modest summer rainfall deficits; moderate diversity and endemism.

Overview of distribution

Patchy warm temperate-subtropical distribution at 26–43° latitude, north or south of the Equator.

Map description

Terrestrial ecoregions containing major or minor occurrences of this ecosystem functional group were identified by consulting available ecoregion descriptions (Dinerstein et al. 2017), global and regional reviews, national and regional ecosystem maps, locations of relevant examples, and proofed by expert reviewers. Consequently they are coarse-scale indicative representations of distribution, except where they occupy small ecoregions. Ecoregions were mapped at 30 arc second spatial resolution..

Map code and version: T2.4.web.orig v2.0. DOI

Version history

Profile versions

  • v2.1 (2022-04-06): DA Keith; NA Brummitt; D Faber-Langendoen; RT Corlett; MS McGlone.1
  • v2.01 (NA): NA.
  • v2.0 (2020-08-24): DA Keith; NA Brummitt; D Faber-Langendoen; RT Corlett; MS McGlone.
  • v1.0 (2020-01-20): DA Keith; NA Brummitt; D Faber-Langendoen.

Available maps

Read more details about the current map versions here.

  • Web navigation (code: T2.4.web.orig, version v2.0)
  • Indicative Map (code: T2.4.IM.orig, version v2.0)

Read more details about older or alternative versions of maps for this functional group.

  • Indicative Map: requires review (code: T2.4.IM.orig, version v3.0)
  • Indicative Map: superceded (code: T2.4.IM.mix, version v1.0)
  • Web navigation: requires review (code: T2.4.web.mix, version v1.0)
  • Indicative Map: discarded (code: T2.4.IM.orig, version v1.0)
  • Web navigation: requires review (code: T2.4.web.orig, version v1.0)

References

Main references

References used in the different versions of the profiles.

  • Corlett RT Hughes AC (2015) Subtropical Forests Handbook of Forest Ecology pp. 46-55. Routledge
  • Grubb PJ, Bellingham PJ, Kohyama TS, Piper FS Valido A (2013) Disturbance regimes, gap-demanding trees and seed mass related to tree height in warm temperate rain forests worldwide Biological Reviews 88: 701–744 DOI:10.1111/brv.12029
  • Mucina L (2018) Vegetation survey and classification of subtropical forests of southern Africa Springer International Publishing DOI:10.1007/978-3-319-67831-3

Map references

References used in the different versions of the maps (current and discarded).

  • Dinerstein E, Olson D, Joshi A, Vynne C, Burgess ND, Wikramanayake E, Hahn N, Palminteri S, Hedao P, Noss R, Hansen M, Locke H, Ellis EE, Jones B, Barber CV, Hayes R, Kormos C, Martin V, Crist E, Sechrest W, Price L, Baillie JEM, Weeden D, Suckling K, Davis C, Sizer N, Moore R, Thau D, Birch T, Potapov P, Turubanova S, Tyukavina A, de Souza N, Pintea L, Brito JC, Llewellyn Barnekow Lillesø JP, van Breugel P, Graudal L, Voge M, Al-Shammari KF, Saleem M (2017) An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm, BioScience 67: 534–545. DOI:10.1093/biosci/bix014. Data-set available on-line
  • Tuanmu, M.-N. and W. Jetz (2014) A global 1-km consensus land-cover product for biodiversity and ecosystem modeling Global Ecology and Biogeography 23(9):1031–1045 DOI:10.1111/geb.12182

Footnotes

  1. This is the current version available at official site.↩︎