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Reflection and bibliogaphy

Reflection
It is important to study natural vegetation because it concerns about the human life. Studying natural vegetation can help us to differentiate different kinds of plants whether it is edible or not. Usually people think that it is unimportant as they have the wrong concepts of the studying natural vegetation. They think that plants only helps to beautify the environment but it also produces oxygen and it is also our main source of food and air. Many of our forefathers have died of hunger due to loss of food and lack of nutrition. The lacking of this knowledge cause many people to die of hunger, but now, they have found out the knowledge of eating plants. All thanks to our forefathers so that the next generation would not starve to death.

Bibiliography
-Geography textbook
-Wikipedia website
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate

Explanation of the concept

The concept and how climate affects natural vegetation
In geography terminologies, the relation between natural vegetation and climate is known as climate-vegetation relationship. The amount of rainfall as well as the temperature can affect the type of natural vegetation. Forests thrive in places with a high amount of rainfall. Grasslands thrive in areas that receive moderate rainfall. Lastly, desert vegetation thrives when there is extremely low amount of rainfall. This is because water and sunlight affect a plant’s growth. However there are a few plants that can survive in places that the temperature is constantly under 0 degrees Celsius.

How climate positively and negatively impacts men
The four seasons of temperate climates are spring, summer, autumn (or fall) and winter. Many people think of winter as snow men, snow and etc...
When there is more rain more plants will grow.With the positive effects it comes with negative effects. Snow brings in natural hazards such as snow storms, blizzards which cause much damage to people. Snow over time accumulates and form a large pile of snow which has to be slowly removed. Or on the road the screen is slightly foggy which makes it difficult for the driver to see. Other times, the road is slippery due to the snow.In the temperate climate, rainfall is constantly a problem here in Singapore, just last Wednesday, Orchard Road was badly flooded due to heavy rainfall and clogged drains.

Forest(Continued)

Mangrove forest
-The structure of the forest
A mangrove forest has three distinctive zones. Mangrove tree vary in height from 2m to 40m as the muddy soil in the coastal environment cannot provide firm support for tall trees to grow. At an average height of 15m, mangrove trees are generally shorter than the trees in tropical rainforests.

3 distinct horizontal zones of mangrove species:
- Coastal zone
Trees along the coast have adapted to growing in salt water, as the coastal zone is flooded with seawater during high tide. The trees have breathing roots or aerial roots.

- Middle zone
They have prop roots or stilt roots.

- Inland zone
Bruguiera trees grow further inland, as they are the least tolerate of salt water. They have knee-like roots.

Types of roots:
- Aerial roots
The aerial roots of Sonneratia are exposed during low tide. It allows them to take in oxygen.
- Prop roots
The prop roots of the Rhizhopora provide support for the trees on muddy soil.
- Kneed roots
The kneed roots of the Bruguiera resemble bent knees.

Coniferous forest
Structure of the forest
The coniferous forest has no layers. The trees in the coniferous forest grow tall and are generally uniform in height, around 20m to 30m. The trees also grow close together. There is little undergrowth in the coniferous forest. This is due to the low amount of sunlight received in the temperate region and the low soil nutrient level caused by the nature of the leaf litter is made up of tough needles, which do not break down easily to supply nutrient to the soil.

Forest(Continued)

Temperate Deciduous Forest
Tropical monsoon forest
The structure of the forest
A tropical monsoon forest has only three vertical layers, as compared to a tropical rainforest, which has five vertical layers. The trees in the monsoon forest are also shorter as the rainfall is seasonal. The lack of water during dry seasons does not allow trees to grow to great heights. The average height of the trees is 15m, although they can grow up to 30m in height.

3 vertical layers of the tropical monsoon forest:
- Canopy layer
Trees can grow to 25 to 30m in height. They are more spread out than those in a tropical rainforest. Like tropical rainforest, plants such as creepers, vines, epiphytes and parasitic plants are found within this layer.

- Understorey layer
The trees in the understorey are about 15m in height.

- Undergrowth
Bamboo thickets and grasses grow density here during the wet season. They are less dense during the dry season.

Forest(Continued)

The most common type of natural vegetation on the earth. Forest refers to large areas of land that are dominated by trees and a variety of other plants. Forest vegetation is usually found at places where the temperature ranges from 12 to 30 degree Celsius and annual rainfall ranges from 300mm to 2000mm. The type of forest and their characteristics depend on the climate and they vary from place to place. A typical forest has five layers. Different heights of the natural vegetation form the different layers in the forest.

Tropical rainforests
- The structure of the forest
The area of tropical rainforest looks like an untidy clump of trees. However, there is a structure or a particular way in which the plants grow. Tropical rainforest can be divided into five distinctive layers according to height. Each layer has its own characteristics and types of plants.

5 layers of the tropical rainforest:
-Emergent layer
Tall trees called emergents, reach a height of 30m to 50m. Their crowns appear above the canopy layer. These trees have tall, thick and straight trunks.

- Canopy layer
The trees in this layer reach a height of 15m to 30m. A wide, shallow and umbrella- shaped crowns form a continuous leaf cover, called the canopy. It prevents sunlight from penetrating to the lower layers of the forest.

- Understorey layer
The trees here have narrower, oval-shaped crowns because most of the sunlight is blocked by the canopy. These trees grow where there are gaps in the canopy that allows sunlight to pass through. Their height ranges from 6m to 15m. Young trees of the emergent and canopy layer are also found in this layer.

- Shrub layer
Tree saplings(young trees) and woody plants are found in this layer. They may grow up to 6m high.

- Undergrowth layer
The undergrowth layer or the forest floor consists of grasses, ferns, mosses and fungi. Plant growth is sparse(not thick) due to little sunlight reaching this layer. Plants in this layer grow to a maximum height of 5m.

Natural vegetation(Introduction) Read this first!

Natural vegetation refers to plants which have grown without the help of men. Not every place has the same type of natural vegetation. All plants growing on the earth’s land surface can be grouped into three major types: Forests, grasslands and desert vegetation.

We can further divide the three major types of natural vegetation into seven sub-types, which are namely, tropical rainforests, temperate deciduous forests, temperate coniferous forests, temperate grasslands, tropical savannah, hot deserts vegetation and cold-tundra vegetation.