Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I never understood why people tend to equal lush to warm or moderate (i proved that idea wrong for the case of NZ several posts before). The only correlation btw lushness and climate is that both tropical and temperate forests tend to be somewhat more lush than their other counterparts. But that have to do, if anything, with precipitation amount, not temperature.
I guess the problem here is semantic. When they say "lush" they want to say rich, expressive, quintaessential in opposition to weak.
I know cool to cold areas, such as Canada and Sweden, do tend to have nice green forests. I've always did know that. It's just Siberia and the surrounds in my cognition, I thought these regions would be rather tundra-ish.
Agreed. Cusco, Peru has a rather cool summer but I am sure citrus thrive in this climate.
Agreed, but my point is that the Southern US has cold outbreaks, buy the avg winter temps and the heat of the other seasons provide enough carbo energy to survive the cold outbreaks. Hence, citrus in backyards all over the South.
Location: João Pessoa,Brazil(The easternmost point of Americas)
2,540 posts, read 2,004,663 times
Reputation: 644
I dont know if this defenition really match on reality, for example, why the highlands of Southeastern Australia has only evergreen species while the lowlands of Southeastern South America has many deciduous? a bit strange.
I dont know if this defenition really match on reality, for example, why the highlands of Southeastern Australia has only evergreen species while the lowlands of Southeastern South America has many deciduous? a bit strange.
Other factors can be at play. For example evergreen trees and shrubs are better able to grow on poor soils as they hold their leaves longer and therefore there's less opportunity for losing the nutrients in them. That can be a reason for finding evergreen trees and shrubs growing in a place where you might expect deciduous ones because of the presence of a dry season in a warm climate. Much of Australia has very poor soils. If the soils had more nutrients, dry season deciduous trees might grow.
The same thing can happen in cool climates where "normal" conditions support deciduous forest, but on very poor soils evergreen shrubs like heather grow instead.
Other factors can be at play. For example evergreen trees and shrubs are better able to grow on poor soils as they hold their leaves longer and therefore there's less opportunity for losing the nutrients in them. That can be a reason for finding evergreen trees and shrubs growing in a place where you might expect deciduous ones because of the presence of a dry season in a warm climate. Much of Australia has very poor soils. If the soils had more nutrients, dry season deciduous trees might grow.
The same thing can happen in cool climates where "normal" conditions support deciduous forest, but on very poor soils evergreen shrubs like heather grow instead.
Interesting, that might explain the pacific madrone tree which grows up to the 50th parallel north here on the west coast. It generally grows on disturbed soil sights such as along freeways (Link) and on south facing slopes/hills such as this one in NE Tacoma (Link) they also thrive after forest fires, which can deplete certain nutrients. But I generally always thought the madrones existence in the PNW was due to our summer dry season where other deciduous trees show a lot of stress when growing away from creeks and rivers, which is why the madrone does so well on south facing slopes because those areas become especially dry during the summer.
Interesting, that might explain the pacific madrone tree which grows up to the 50th parallel north here on the west coast. It generally grows on disturbed soil sights such as along freeways (Link) and on south facing slopes/hills such as this one in NE Tacoma (Link) they also thrive after forest fires, which can deplete certain nutrients. But I generally always thought the madrones existence in the PNW was due to our summer dry season where other deciduous trees show a lot of stress when growing away from creeks and rivers, which is why the madrone does so well on south facing slopes because those areas become especially dry during the summer.
The Madrone tree is my favorite tree that natively grows in this area because it is a broadleaf evergreen and thus looks more "subtropical". When you drive on the sea to sky highway north to Squamish from Vancouver, you see quite a few on the side of the highway.
Interesting, that might explain the pacific madrone tree which grows up to the 50th parallel north here on the west coast. It generally grows on disturbed soil sights such as along freeways (Link) and on south facing slopes/hills such as this one in NE Tacoma (Link) they also thrive after forest fires, which can deplete certain nutrients. But I generally always thought the madrones existence in the PNW was due to our summer dry season where other deciduous trees show a lot of stress when growing away from creeks and rivers, which is why the madrone does so well on south facing slopes because those areas become especially dry during the summer.
That could explain the dominance of deciduous trees in the Southeast along the river bottom floodplains. Rich soils.
The US southeast is about to embark upon five consecutive months of protracted hot weather. It's an annual ritual that erstwhile subtropical places like the Isles of Scilly and Auckland never experience. Yet there is no pervasive plant that shines through on glossy photographs or street views to reflect this.
Here's the current forecast for Atlanta. I doubt the Isles of Scilly or Auckland have ever had a forecast like this--especially in the first week of May (November). Yet Atlanta is a relatively "cool" part of the US southeast and this is just the very beginning of the warm season.
If plants are to be used to define climate then species need to be found that require prolonged summer heat. Something like cotton perhaps? But cotton doesn't look as impressive on a street view as Trachycarpus fortunei...
The US southeast is about to embark upon five consecutive months of protracted hot weather. It's an annual ritual that erstwhile subtropical places like the Isles of Scilly and Auckland never experience. Yet there is no pervasive plant that shines through on glossy photographs or street views to reflect this.
Here's the current forecast for Atlanta. I doubt the Isles of Scilly or Auckland have ever had a forecast like this--especially in the first week of May (November). Yet Atlanta is a relatively "cool" part of the US southeast and this is just the very beginning of the warm season.
If plants are to be used to define climate then species need to be found that require prolonged summer heat. Something like cotton perhaps? But cotton doesn't look as impressive on a street view as Trachycarpus fortunei...
How bout this, winter temps define perennial vegetation, not summer? Cotton is an annual in the South like sugar cane that dies in winter. That was my point.
How bout this, winter temps define perennial vegetation, not summer? Cotton is an annual in the South like sugar cane that dies in winter. That was my point.
According to Wikipedia cotton is naturally a perennial and it's only grown as an annual in order to control pests.
But yes, winter temperatures do define perennial vegetation whilst summer temps do not. To me that's the crux of the problem.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
