What makes a temperate rainforest unique

Describe the basic needs of living things in a coastal temperate rainforest. Describe the characteristics of old growth trees. Materials see individual activities for materials. Common coastal temperate rainforest plants include: western red cedar western hemlock sitka spruce grand fir sword fern deer fern salal evergreen huckleberry douglas fir broad leaf maple Common coastal temperate rainforest animals include: pacific salamander tree frog raccoon banana slug crow black bear black-tailed deer wolf cougar squirrel bald eagle bat In a temperate rainforest, the forest floor is primarily made up of dead and decaying forest parts.

Seedlings: Young trees. Related Resources Backyard Biodiversity Who do we share our homes with? Your backyard contain a great deal of wildlife. Animals will live in any…. Coastal Connections What kind of life do you find at the beach?

What about if you wade into the water, do…. Wonderful Water What are the physical and chemical properties of water that make it so unique and necessary for living things? We believe that now, more than ever, the world needs people who care about science.

Fourteen to 25 percent of annual precipitation occurs during the three driest months, enough to maintain a definitely humid climate type. Even so seasonality is sufficient to affect fire regimes, species composition—including abundance of epiphytes, and drought tolerance. Total annual amounts vary widely, due in part to the great latitudinal extent of the Pacific coast forests of both hemispheres. A deep humus layer with large amounts of woody debris develops in these forest and only slowly decomposes.

It is rich in invertebrates and supports extremely diverse macrofungi mushrooms. Nutrient cycles in coastal forests are linked to the sea by fish-eating birds e. The pits result from holes left by uprooted trees windthrows ; the mounds are hummocks formed by slowly decaying logs, other woody debris, and roots cloaked in a dense covering of mosses, liverworts, and ferns. Since plant life in the various temperate rainforests differs from continent to continent and even on the same continent, vegetation and other details specific to each major region will be discussed on separate pages.

Skip to content. Search for:. Temperate Rainforest Introduction. DellaSala, editor. Island Press. Biomes of the World by S. Bigleaf maples in the rain forest are adorned with epiphytic mosses, ferns, and spike-mosses growing on their trunks and branches. Ocean-Born Forests The lush forests in the Quinault, Queets, Hoh, and Bogachiel valleys are some of the most spectacular examples of primeval temperate rain forest in the lower 48 states.

These rain forests once stretched from southern Oregon to southeast Alaska, but little remains outside of protected areas. Other temperate rain forests grow in a few isolated spots around the world including Chile, New Zealand and southern Australia. Storms off the Pacific Ocean drop much of their moisture on these west-facing valleys. Precipitation in Olympic's rain forest ranges from to inches 12 to 14 feet every year.

Moderate temperatures. Epiphytes, or plants growing on other plants. Mosses, spike mosses, ferns and lichens festoon tree trunks and branches, giving the forest a "jungle-like" feel. Large, old trees. The dominant species are Sitka spruce and western hemlock, but other conifers and several deciduous species grow as well.

Many are s of years old and can reach feet in height and 30 to 60 feet in circumference.