Temperate rain forests often grow right up to the shoreline

The Pacific temperate rain forests of North America are the largest temperate rain forest zone on the planet. The Pacific temperate rain forests occur on west-facing coastal mountains along the Pacific coast of North America - the Pacific Northwest - from Kodiak Island in Alaska through Canada to Northern California, and are part of the Nearctic ecozone. The Pacific temperate rainforests are characterized by a high amount of rainfall, in some areas more than 300 cm (120 inches) per year and moderate temperatures in both the summer and winter months (between 50-75°F). Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1396x920, 908 KB) Summary A stretch of temperate rain forest along the Olympic Coast near Kalaloch, Washington. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1396x920, 908 KB) Summary A stretch of temperate rain forest along the Olympic Coast near Kalaloch, Washington. ... Shore A shore or shoreline is the land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. ... World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ... Temperate rain forest in the Mount Hood Wilderness, Oregon, United States. ... A rainforest is a forested biome with high annual rainfall. ... The Pacific Coast Ranges are the series of mountain ranges that stretch along west coast of North America from Alaska to Mexico. ... World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ... The Pacific Northwest from space This page is about the region that includes parts of Canada and the United States. ... Kodiak Island is a large island on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, separated from the Alaska mainland by the Shelikof Strait. ... Official language(s) English Capital Juneau Largest city Anchorage Area  Ranked 1st  - Total 663,267 sq mi (1,717,855 km²)  - Width 808 miles (1,300 km)  - Length 1,479 miles (2,380 km)  - % water 13. ... Northern California, sometimes referred to as NorCal, is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. ... The Nearctic is one of the eight terrestrial ecozones dividing the Earths land surface. ...

These rain forests occur in a number of ecoregions, which vary in their species composition, but are predominantly of conifers, sometimes with an understory of broadleaf trees and shrubs. Pacific Temperate rain forests can be found in the Northern Pacific coastal forests, Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia mainland coastal forests, Central Pacific coastal forests, Central and Southern Cascades forests, Klamath-Siskiyou forests, and Northern California coastal forests ecoregions. An ecoregion, sometimes called a bioregion, is a relatively large area of land or water that contains a geographically distinct assemblage of natural communities. ... Orders & Families Cordaitales † Pinales   Pinaceae - Pine family   Araucariaceae - Araucaria family   Podocarpaceae - Yellow-wood family   Sciadopityaceae - Umbrella-pine family   Cupressaceae - Cypress family   Cephalotaxaceae - Plum-yew family   Taxaceae - Yew family Vojnovskyales † Voltziales † The conifers, division Pinophyta, are one of 13 or 14 division level taxa within the Kingdom Plantae. ... Classes Magnoliopsida - Dicots Liliopsida - Monocots The flowering plants (also angiosperms or Magnoliophyta) are one of the major groups of modern plants, comprising those that produce seeds in specialized reproductive organs called flowers, where the ovulary or carpel is enclosed. ... A broom shrub in flower A shrub or bush is a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 6 m tall. ... The Northern Pacific coastal forests is a temperate coniferous forest ecoregion of the Pacific coast of North America. ... Leaving Skidegate Inlet aboard BC Ferries M/V Queen of Prince Rupert The Queen Charlotte Islands or Haida Gwaii are an archipelago off the northwest coast of British Columbia, Canada, consisting of two main islands, Graham Island in the North, and Moresby Island in the south, and approximately 150 smaller... The British Columbia mainland coastal forests is a temperate coniferous forest ecoregion of the Pacific coast of North America. ... The Klamath-Siskiyou forests are a temperate coniferous forest ecoregion of northwestern California and southwestern Oregon. ... The Northern California coastal forests are a temperate coniferous forests ecoregion of coastal Northern California, USA. The ecoregion is lies close to the Pacific Ocean, and is kept moist by Pacific Ocean storms during the winter months, and by coastal fogs in the summer months. ...

The forests in the north contain predominantly Sitka Spruce and Western Hemlock, while those in the coastal forests are home as well to Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), Coast Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), Western Redcedar and Shore Pine. Notably, the three tallest species of trees are found here. Dense growths of epiphytes and mosses cover the trees, and lush vegetation is present everywhere. Binomial name Picea sitchensis (Bong. ... Binomial name Tsuga heterophylla (Raf. ... Binomial name Sequoia sempervirens (D. Don) Endl. ... Binomial name Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb. ... Species Thuja plicata Western Redcedar, Thuja plicata, a species of thuja, is an evergreen coniferous tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae, native to the northwestern US and southwestern Canada, from southern Alaska and British Columbia south to northwest California and inland to western Montana. ... Binomial name Pinus contorta Douglas Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta) is a common tree in western North America. ... Near Orosí, Costa Rica Epiphytes on a tree near Santa Elena in Costa Rica An example of an epiphyte assemblage of orchids and bromeliads in a garden setting in Hawaii An epiphyte is any plant that grows upon or attached to another living plant. ... Subclasses Sphagnidae Andreaeidae Tetraphidae Polytrichidae Archidiidae Buxbaumiidae Bryidae Mosses are small, soft plants that are typically 1–10 cm tall, though some species are much larger. ...

History

About 200 million years ago (during the Triassic and Jurassic periods), the landscape was dominated by conifers which were the most diverse group of trees and constituted the greatest majority of large trees. When flowering plants emerged (in the following Cretaceous period), they quickly prevailed, causing most conifers to become extinct, and those that survived to adapt to harsh conditions. Perhaps the most significant difference in this change is that the primitive conifers invested their energy in the basic food supply for every seed, with no certainty of fertilization; by contrast, flowering plants only create the food supply for a seed after being triggered by fertilization. The Pacific temperate rain forest now remains the only region anywhere on Earth of noteworthy size and significance where, due to unique climatic conditions, the conifers flourish as they did before being displaced by flowering plants (Davis 2000). The Triassic is a geologic period that extends from about 251 ± 0. ... The Jurassic Period is a major unit of the geologic timescale that extends from about 199. ... Orders & Families Cordaitales † Pinales   Pinaceae - Pine family   Araucariaceae - Araucaria family   Podocarpaceae - Yellow-wood family   Sciadopityaceae - Umbrella-pine family   Cupressaceae - Cypress family   Cephalotaxaceae - Plum-yew family   Taxaceae - Yew family Vojnovskyales † Voltziales † The conifers, division Pinophyta, also known as division Coniferae, are one of 13 or 14 division level taxa within the... Classes Magnoliopsida - Dicots Liliopsida - Monocots The flowering plants (also angiosperms or Magnoliophyta) are one of the major groups of modern plants, comprising those that produce seeds in specialized reproductive organs called flowers, where the ovulary or carpel is enclosed. ... The Cretaceous Period is one of the major divisions of the geologic timescale, reaching from the end of the Jurassic Period (i. ...

The northern Pacific temperate rainforests are relatively young, emerging in the past few thousand years following the retreat of the ice sheets of the last ice age (Davis 2000). An ice sheet is a mass of glacier ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50,000 km² (19,305 mile²). The only current ice sheets are Antarctic and Greenland; during the last ice age at Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) the Laurentide ice sheet covered much of Canada... Variations in CO2, temperature and dust from the Vostok ice core over the last 400 000 years For the animated movie, see Ice Age (movie). ...

Ecology

The ecosystem of Pacific temperate rain forests is so productive that the biomass in the best sites is at least four times greater than that of any comparable area in the tropics (Davis 2000). Switchgrass, a hardy plant used in the biofuel industry in the United States Rice chaff. ... Amazon river rain forest in Brazil Tropical rainforests are rainforests which are generally found near the equator. ...

The first survey to systematically explore the forest canopy in the Carmanah Valley of Vancouver Island yielded 15,000 new species, a third of all invertebrates known to exist in all of Canada. Among the collection were 500 species previously unknown to science (Davis 2000). The canopy is the habitat found at the uppermost level of a forest, especially rainforest. ... Vancouver Island is separated from mainland British Columbia by the Strait of Georgia and the Queen Charlotte Strait, and from Washington by the Juan De Fuca Strait. ... Invertebrate is a term coined by Chevalier de Lamarck to describe any animal without a backbone or vertebra, like insects, squids and worms. ...

Logging

Pacific temperate rainforests have been subject to ongoing large-scale industrial logging since the end of the Second World War. In California, only 4% of the redwoods have been protected. In Oregon and Washington, less than 10% of original coastal rainforest remains. Loggers on break, c. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Official language(s) None Capital Salem Largest city Portland Area  Ranked 9th  - Total 98,466 sq mi (255,026 km²)  - Width 260 miles (420 km)  - Length 360 miles (580 km)  - % water 2. ... Official language(s) None Capital Olympia Largest city Seattle Area  Ranked 18th  - Total 71,342 sq mi (184,827 km²)  - Width 240 miles (385 km)  - Length 360 miles (580 km)  - % water 6. ...

See also

• Great Bear Rainforest
• Pacific Northwest

The Great Bear Rainforest A Pacific Coast Temperate Rainforest, the Great Bear Rainforest is located in Southwestern British Columbia, Canada. ... The Pacific Northwest from space This page is about the region that includes parts of Canada and the United States. ...

References

• Davis, Wade (2000). Rainforest: Ancient Realm of the Pacific Northwest. Chelsea Green Publishing Company. ISBN 1-890132-79-9. 
• Endangered Ecosystems of the United States: A Preliminary Assessment of Loss and Degradation
• Clearcutting Canada's Rainforest: Status Report 2005

This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

External links

• British Columbia's Rainforests Essays.

• http://www.canadianrainforests.org/