TEMPERATE FORESTS OF THE SOUTHERN-HEMISPHERE

The much higher proportion of sea to land in the southern hemisphere creates conditions favouring temperate rain forest on west-facing coasts, so that forests dominated by Nothofagus spp. and southern conifers in Araucariaceae and Podocarpaceae have survived since Cretaceous times. By contrast only Australia preserves to any significant extent forests of a xeromorphic character in drier areas. During the progressive desiccation of the Tertiary era, the prevalent nutrient deficiency in Australian soils led to the evolution of xeromorphic forests of a pronouncedly sclerophyll type in which many elements were inherently fire-resistant. Such forests were enabled to withstand the intensification of burning following the arrival of early man, with selection for the more highly fire-resistant elements such as Eucalyptus which became widely dominant. In other land areas of the southern hemisphere fire has largely destroyed the drier forests. © 1990 Kluwer Academic Publishers.