THORNY FOREST: CHARACTERISTICS, FLORA, FAUNA, CLIMATE - GEOGRAPHY - 2025

The thorn forest refers to a type of vegetation characteristic of the subtropical zones and semi-hot areas. The main characteristic of this type of environment has to do with the presence of small vegetation, essentially composed of small and thorny trees, bushes, arid grass and some types of cactus.

Despite being mainly found in dry climates, it is not classified as a tropical forest and, in addition, it is more humid than a xerophilous environment. There are even variants where the soils are low and easily flooded in addition to those where the environment is rather cold.

Mesquite and cactus at the Yagul archaeological site in Oaxaca, Mexico

It is possible to find this type of vegetation in much of North America, in southwestern Africa and to a lesser extent in areas in South America and Australia. In fact, in South America this type of forest is called caatinga.

Flora

The thorn forest provides an environment conducive to the proliferation of an interesting variety of vegetation although, most of the time, low forests with thorn trees predominate:

Cactus

It corresponds to one of the main types of flora found in these areas. This type of vegetation adapts without problems in arid and hot environments, which is why its external and internal structure allows them to adapt and store water.

Likewise, the presence of thorns in these species serves as protection against predators.

Mesquite

They are trees that can reach 9 meters in height, although they are commonly found in shrub size in this type of forest. They are tolerant to drought thanks to the hardness of the plant.

The curious thing about mesquite is that, in addition, they can occur in any type of thorn forest climate. Both in hot and cold environments, these plants will adopt very specific characteristics of the place where they are.

White stick

Another species of trees with a thin and spiny trunk, with an average height ranging from 3 to 6 meters high.

Cactus flower

It is possible to see some cactus flowers bloom depending on the time of year. Most are white and some also develop spines.

Red sanders

Found in India, this species of tree is found whose trunk is red. As it is a very particular type, results have been found that indicate that the wood has healing properties.

Other

There are other varieties of plants that also make up thorny forests such as woody climbers, small bushes with leaves that prevent premature loss of water and which are also rich in thorns.

Other flora are mosses such as thin and barbula, acacias and palms.

Fauna

In the same way with flora, you can find a number of animals that find their home in thorn forests:

-Foxes, which, in general, live between six and seven years in freedom.

-Skunk: they have the characteristic feature of having glands that emit fetid odors when they are threatened by their predators.

-Iguanas and lizards, cold-blooded animals that are capable of easily adapting to the changes that may occur in the climate of this type of environment.

-Coyote: another animal with great survival capabilities. The coyote hunts small rodent animals such as rats, insects, and fruits.

-Rattlesnake: it is considered one of the most dangerous species due to the power of its toxins. Like the coyote, it also hunts rodent animals.

Other animals that can also be found in thorn forests include: rabbits, rats, mice, opossum (a type of marsupial), wolves, horses, and camels.

In some areas of the Middle East and Asia, these forests are home to other species such as the Bengali tiger, the Indian elephant, antelope and even bears.

Weather

The thorn forest climate is characterized by being semi-tropical, dry and warm where rainfall, on average, is between 250 and 500 millimeters per year.

This indicates that they are at a point where their environment is drier than that of a tropical forest, but more humid than a xerophilous scrub.

However, there are regions where there are greater changes in precipitation, such as plateaus with altitudes greater than 2000 meters above sea level, which cause frosts every year.

Abiotic factors

Abiotic factors refer to the elements that make up the ecosystem where living beings live and interact, such as water, soil, light, oxygen… Thanks to their conjunction, the manifestation of an ecosystem is possible.

In the case of a thorn forest, some abiotic factors that we can find are:

- Climate: dry and hot in most cases, although there are regions where a dry winter climate occurs.

- Soil: few deep and arid, which causes the roots to "fight" with each other to achieve the largest possible water reserve. However, it should be noted that in other varieties of forest, ideal soils for cultivation are also found.

Another characteristic of this type of forest is that the shallow depth forces plants, trees and shrubs to absorb as much water as possible from their roots.

One can even speak of a "chemical competition", where some plant species release substances that inhibit the absorption of liquid from the surrounding roots.

- Temperature: on average, it ranges between 17 ° C and 29 ° C, although depending on the season, temperatures can drop to 4 ° C or rise to 40 ° C.

Biotic factors

These have to do with organisms that have life and that interact with each other. They can be classified as:

Producers

They are the beings capable of producing or synthesizing food by themselves. In the case of the thorny forest, we can name the predominant flora in the place such as mesquite, cactus, acacias and palo blanco.

Consumers

Organisms that are unable to produce their own food and therefore have to survive through producers. Several consuming animals have already been mentioned in the fauna section.

Decomposers

These feed on decaying organisms. In thorn forests, in most of its varieties, macroscopic fungi such as lichens are found.

References

1. (Thorny forest). (sf). In Mexican Biodiversity. Retrieved: January 31, 2018 from Biodiversidad Mexicana at biodiversity.gob.mx.
2. Deccan thorn scrub forests. (sf). On Wikipedia. Retrieved: January 31, 2018 from Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org.
3. Encyclopedia Britannica. Thorn forest. (sf). In Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved: January 31, 2018 from Encyclopedia Britannica at britannica.com.
4. Abiotic factors. (sf). On Wikipedia. Retrieved: January 31, 2018 from Wikipedia at es.wikipedia.org.
5. Biotic factors. (sf). On Wikipedia. Retrieved: January 31, 2018 from Wikipedia at es.wikipedia.org.
6. The thorn forest and Scrubs. (sf). In Grade Stack. Retrieved: January 31, 2018 from Grade Stack at gradestack.com
7. Thorn Forest. (sf). On Wikipedia. Retrieved: January 31, 2018 from Wikipedia at en.wikipedia.org.