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Forest Vines to Snow Tussocks: The Story of New Zealand Plants

Numbers of Species

Numbers of Species

Of the major types of world vegetation, tropical rain forest is the most complex in structure and probably the richest in species. It is found page 29
Figure 8 Interior view of conifer broadleaf forest south of Kaitaia, northern North Island. In the foreground are young plants of the nikau palm (Rhopalostylis sapida) and the shrub kawakawa (Macropiper excelsum). A larger nikau is on the right. In the middle distance the shrubs are mostly young plants of the subcanopy tree kohekohe (Dysoxylum spectabile). The trunks to the left belong to the canopy dominant taraire (Beilschmiedia tarairi) and the large, partly obscured trunk at the centre to the emergent northern rata (Metrosideros robusta). Photo: B. V. Sneddon.

Figure 8 Interior view of conifer broadleaf forest south of Kaitaia, northern North Island. In the foreground are young plants of the nikau palm (Rhopalostylis sapida) and the shrub kawakawa (Macropiper excelsum). A larger nikau is on the right. In the middle distance the shrubs are mostly young plants of the subcanopy tree kohekohe (Dysoxylum spectabile). The trunks to the left belong to the canopy dominant taraire (Beilschmiedia tarairi) and the large, partly obscured trunk at the centre to the emergent northern rata (Metrosideros robusta). Photo: B. V. Sneddon.

mostly between the tropics of Capricorn and Cancer in regions where rainfall is abundant and evenly spread throughout the year. The three major regions are west central Africa; south-east Asia to the Pacific; and northern South America and Central America. These three regions are widely separated geographically and although the forests are vegetationally very similar, each has its own species and in some cases its page 30own genera. The total numbers of species in these forests are impressive. Tree species alone are often numbered in the hundreds at many localities, compared with the dozens found in temperate forests. In most lowland tropical forests the trees are all flowering plants.

In the New Zealand conifer broadleaf forest, tree species are numbered in dozens rather than the hundreds found in tropical rain forest. Some see this as a major difference precluding any suggestion of a close relationship between the two types of forest. However, this conclusion may not be justified — species richness is not the only distinctive feature of tropical rain forest as we shall see.

The conifer broadleaf forest, as the name implies, comprises a mixture of conifers and flowering plants.