Laurel forest

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Laurel forest is a subtropical or mild temperate forest, found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable and mild temperatures. They are characterized by evergreen, glossy-leaved trees, with members of the Laurel family (Lauraceae) prominent, either as the predominant trees or in association with other species.

Laurel forests occur in small areas where their particular climatic requirements prevail, in both the northern and southern hemispheres. Northern hemisphere laurel forests include the laurisilva forests of the Azores, Madeira Islands, and Canary Islands, the laurel forests of southern Japan, and the North Western Ghats montane rain forests of western India. The Madeira Islands laurel forest was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999.

Laurel-oak and laurel-Castanopsis associations are common in Eurasia; laurel-Castanopsis forests recur as a climax vegetation type from Taiwan across southern China to the eastern Himalayas. In ancient times laurel forests were the predominant vegetation type in the mild temperate climate region of southeastern Japan. There were three main types of evergreen broadleaf forests, in which Castanopsis, Machilus, or Quercus predominated. Most of these forests were logged or cleared for cultivation, and replanted with faster-growing conifers, like pine or hinoki, and only a few pockets remain.

Millions of years ago, Laurel forests were much more widespread, covering large parts of Africa, the Mediterranean basin, and California. The drying of the planet since the Pliocene caused these forests to retreat to their present enclaves. Some relict Mediterranean laurel forest species, like Sweet Bay (Laurus nobilis) and the Spanish endemics Rhododendron ponticum baeticum and Rhamnus frangula baetica, still persist in humid microclimates, such as stream valleys, in Spain's Baetic Cordillera and the Rif Mountains of Morocco.

Southern hemisphere laurel forests can be found in the Valdivian temperate rain forests ecoregion of central Chile and on Madagascar.

[edit] References

• Axelrod, Daniel I. (2000) A Miocene (10-12 Ma) Evergreen Laurel-Oak Forest from Carmel Valley, California. University of California Publications: Geological Sciences, Volume 145; April 2000. University of California Press; Berkeley, California.
• Madeira Laurel Forest, Madeira Wind Birds 2005