Continuation of Natural Vegetation 2

25 / 01 / 11

Today, our geography lesson was taught by Mr Kwek. Today we started of the lesson with a video about forests and the different layers of the forest.
Next, we learnt that tropical monsoon forests are found in places with :

• Tropical monsoon climate, between 10 degrees North to 25 degrees North and 10 degrees South to 25 degrees North South of the equator
• High mean monthly temperature of about 25 degrees Celsius 
• High total annual precipitation of more than 1500mm / year --> 600mm / month rainy season
• Distinct wet and dry season 

Also, we learnt about the characteristics of the three layers of the tropical monsoon forests, the features of the monsoon forest and the adaptation of the tropical monsoon forest.

We then learnt about the similarities and differences between tropical rainforest and tropical monsoon forest.
Similarities:

•  both forests are dense
• leaves are waxy with drip tips

Differences: (TR= tropical rainforest, TMF= tropical monsoon forest )

• Diversity : TR more , TMF less
• Density : TR more dense , TMF less dense
• Leaves : TR evergreen , TMF deciduous
• Barks and branches : TR smooth, thin bark branches at top one third , TMF thick bark branches around middle of tree
• Roots : TR shallow , deep tap roots

Other than Tropical monsoon forests, we also learnt about mangroves.

We learnt that mangrove forests are found in places with :

• Tropical climate, between 25 degrees North to 25 degrees South of the equator
• Distributed along low-lying, sheltered coasts with muddy and waterlogged land
• Eg. Australia, Southeast Asia, West Africa, Tropical areas of America

Next, we learnt about the features of the mangrove forests and the adaptation of the leaves, roots, fruits and flowers in the mangrove forests.

Lastly, we learnt about the ecological and economic use of mangroves.
Ecological

• Protect the coasts from coastal erosion
• Natural habitat for many organisms eg. mudskipper, fish, crabs, shellfish, prawns

Economic

• Provide valuable resources such as food, medicine, firewood, charcoal and construction materials to build boats, kelong, boomerangs,spears

This is what I learnt from this lesson of geography.