The adaptation of Tropical monsoon forest to it’s environment.

 The adaptation of Tropical monsoon forest to it’s environment.

Ø Structure of the forest

ü Tropical monsoon forests have three vertical layers. The trees founded in the tropical monsoon forest are also much shorter than the tress founded in tropical rainforest. This is because in tropical monsoon forest, the tress were lacking of water supply during the dry season. Thus, it did not allow the trees to grow to great heights. The average heights of the trees are around 15 meters to 30 meters.

ü The three layers are undergrowth layer, understorey layer, and canopy layer.

ü Undergrowth layer are the layer where short trees such as bamboo thickets and grasses grow. The bamboo thickets and the grass would grow densely during the wet season, and they are less dense during the dry season.

ü Understorey layer are the middle layer of the forest. The trees that are founded in the understorey layer are mostly found around 6 meters to 15 meters heights.

ü Canopy layer are the top layer of the trees. These layers consist of the highest tress founded on the tropical monsoon forest. The trees in this layer could grow to a height of 25 to 30 meters. The examples of trees founded are creepers vines, epiphytes, and parasitic plants.

Ø Diversity of plant species

ü The plants species founded in tropical monsoon forest are fewer compared to tropical rainforest. This s because of the inconsistent rainfall. In tropical monsoon forest, we could find 200 species of plants in one hectare of the forest.

Ø Density

ü During the dry season the plants lose their leaves and the forest appears sprse. The plants founded in tropical monsoon forest are not as dense as the tropical rainforest during the dry season. Thus, their crowns did not interlock to form continuous canopy that block the sunlight to pass through to the undergrowth layer. The

ü However, during the wet season, the trees in tropical monsoon forest are not much different as the trees founded in tropical rainforest. The forests are very dense and luxuriant as the leaves on the plants are more abundant.

Ø Plants characteristic

drip tips leafs

ü Leaves

·       The leaves have a waxy surface and drip tips. This is to facilitate the draining off of rainfall and prevents bacteria from growing on them. High rainfall and temperatures promote the growth of bacteria.

·       Some trees such as bamboo have thin and narrow leaves. This is to minimize water loss through transpiration. Some trees shed their leaves during the dry season to minimize the transpiration too.

ü Barks

·       Trees have a thick and coarse barks, this is to protect the trunk from heat and dryness during the dry season. The thick bark helps the trees to withstand the extreme heat from natural forest flies which break out occasionally.

·       In tropical monsoon forest, the branches of the trees are founded in the middle of the trunks, instead of near the top.

ü Flowers and fruits

·       The plants found in a tropical monsoon forest produced flowers and fruits during the dry season while they are leafless

ü Roots

·       The trees founded in tropical monsoon forest have deep roots under the ground. The roots that anchor the trees firmly to the ground and enable them to tap underground water during the dry season as the rainfall in tropical monsoon forest are irregular trough out the year. 

Do you know what tropical monsoon climate is?

Tropical monsoon climate, occasionally also known as a tropical wet climate or tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate in climate classification, is a relatively rare type of climate that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category "Am."

Tropical monsoon climates have monthly mean temperatures above 18°C in every month of the year and features wet and dry seasons, as Tropical savanna climates do. Unlike tropical savanna climates however, a tropical monsoon climate's driest month sees less than 60 mm of precipitation but more than (100 − [total annual precipitation {mm}/25]). Also a tropical monsoon climate tends to see less variance in temperatures during the course of the year than a tropical savanna climate. This climate has a driest month which nearly always occurs at or soon after the "winter" solstice for that side of the equator.

Do you know where tropical monsoon forest is?

Tropical monsoon forests are founded in the tropics. However, they are only found in a place that experiences the tropical monsoon climate. The tropical monsoon climate is characterized by the high temperatures (about 26⁰) and rainfall (over than 1500 millimeters per year). Tropical monsoon forests are therefore located in south Asia, southern china, northern Australia, and Southeast Asia. In the world map, tropical monsoon forests are mainly found between 10⁰ and 25⁰N and S of the equator.

Tropical monsoon forest pictures