Deforestation as a Future Threat of Endangered of Certain Types of Trees under

Emalee Barr and Avigal Elyakim January 9, 2019 Dry Forest Research Paper Tropical dry forest is considered to have a long dry season with little to no rainfall during certain seasons. These dry forests are most common in places such as southern Mexico, southeastern Africa, central India, and on the coasts of Ecuador and Peru. Dry forest tends to be treated and the species that live in them are often endangered. All species that live inside a dry forest must adapt to the low amount of water that they will receive from being in this area and the very dry climate.

During most seasons, the temperature can range from 75 degrees to 63 degrees Fahrenheit, but these areas are very dry. Animals that live in the dry forest are normally smaller animals such as many frogs. Certain frogs that are found in many of the dry forests have adapted to living off of the smallest trickle of water during the driest seasons. Coyotes are also found in a dry forest because they are able to feed off of Jaliscan Cotton rats during the dry season and will feed off of fruits such as papayas during the wetter seasons when they are available for them. Dry forest actually produces crops like tomatoes and beans which are helpful to the animals that eat them and humans who will go harvest them. Inside dry forests, their abiotic factors would consist of the temperature, soil, and fire. The biotic factors that would often be found can be thorny shrubs and consumers such as deer, jaguar, and typically small carnivores. The thorny shrubs or even spiny tree are dominant plants in the forest.

All biotic factors, which are the living things in an environment, in a dry forest must have to become adapted to the lack of water and warm temperature to be able to thrive in the forest. For example, trees that have adapted to living in these conditions have thicker bark, smaller leaves, and longer roots. Being able to adapt to this type of forest is critical for this type of species to be able to exist. Dry forest tends to be endangered because of human activity.

Humans cause deforestation and because of this species die and the forest becomes harmed. In some regions of the world, a dry forest is more threated than rain forests. Humans will clear out the land and because of the climate they will try and grow more crops and create farmland to help themselves. Dry seasons are about 4 to 7 months long, while the rainy season will last around 2 months with about 3 feet worth of rain. During the times when it rains, animals and plants that live in these regions take in as much water as their body can contain. Trees will drop their leaves during this time to conserve as much water as they can. Tropical dry forests make up the majority of tropical forests on the earth, but yet almost none of the dry forest are protected. There could be about 224 different plant species in these dry forest which were all able to change and adapt to the environment.

There are also almost 2,000 different scorpion species that can be found. The dry forest has one of the most unique ecosystems compared to almost any other ecosystem. Interestingly enough, less than 2% of the original dry forests remain in Ecuador and still to this day people are trying to get them protected especially in Costa Rica. In Costa Rica, the dry forest is very well known and take up most parts of their land because of the type of climate Costa Rica has itself. These tropical dry forests are more common than people might believe and need more help being able to keep them alive.

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