thumb|right|310px|Extent of dry forest regions.

The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive several hundred millimeters of rain per year, they have long dry seasons that last several months and vary with geographic location. These seasonal droughts have great impact on all living things in the forest.

Deciduous trees predominate in most of these forests, and during the drought a leafless period occurs, which varies with species type. Because trees lose moisture through their leaves, the shedding of leaves allows trees such as teak and mountain ebony to conserve water during dry periods. The newly bare trees open up the canopy layer, enabling sunlight to reach ground level and facilitate the growth of thick underbrush. Trees on moister sites and those with access to ground water tend to be evergreen. Infertile sites also tend to support evergreen trees. Three tropical dry forest ecoregions, the East Deccan dry evergreen forests, the Sri Lanka dry-zone dry evergreen forests, and the Southeastern Indochina dry evergreen forests, are characterized by evergreen trees. The dry forests of the Pacific Coast of northwestern South America support a wealth of unique species due to their dry climate. The Maputaland-Pondoland bushland and thickets along the east coast of South Africa are diverse and support many endemic species. The dry forests of central India and Indochina are notable for their diverse large vertebrate faunas. Madagascar dry deciduous forests and New Caledonia dry forests are also highly distinctive (pronounced endemism and a large number of relictual taxa) for a wide range of taxa and at higher taxonomic levels.

Nearctic realm

  • Sonoran-Sinaloan transition subtropical dry forest

Neotropical realm

  • Apure–Villavicencio dry forests
  • Atlantic dry forests
  • Bahamian dry forests
  • Bajío dry forests
  • Balsas dry forests
  • Bolivian montane dry forests
  • Cayman Islands dry forests
  • Central American dry forests
  • Chiapas Depression dry forests
  • Chiquitano dry forests
  • Cuban dry forests
  • Ecuadorian dry forests
  • Gran Chaco
  • Hispaniolan dry forests
  • Jalisco dry forests
  • Jamaican dry forests
  • Lara–Falcón dry forests
  • Leeward Islands dry forests
  • Magdalena Valley dry forests
  • Maracaibo dry forests
  • Marañón dry forests
  • Panamanian dry forests
  • Patía Valley dry forests
  • Puerto Rican dry forests
  • Revillagigedo Islands
  • Sierra de la Laguna dry forests
  • Sinaloan dry forests
  • Sinú Valley dry forests
  • Southern Pacific dry forests
  • Trinidad and Tobago dry forests
  • Tumbes–Piura dry forests
  • Veracruz dry forests
  • Windward Islands dry forests
  • Yucatán dry forests

Oceanian realm

  • Fiji tropical dry forests
  • Hawaiian tropical dry forests
  • Marianas tropical dry forests
  • Yap tropical dry forests

See also

  • Holdridge life zones in Guatemala
  • Seasonal tropical forest
  • Tropical vegetation

References

  • The Tropical Dry Forest of Costa Rica