Temperate Rainforests
Temperate rainforests grow in cooler, wet regions, including the Pacific Northwest, western Scotland and Wales, southern Chile, and New Zealand. Like tropical rainforests, they have high rainfall and dense canopies, but local species differ. Examples include sessile oaks in Wales, coast redwoods in northern California and southern Oregon, and black tree ferns in New Zealand.
What a learner can do afterwards
- Name at least two locations of temperate rainforests, such as the Pacific Northwest, western Scotland, or southern Chile
- Compare temperate and tropical rainforests: both have high rainfall and dense canopy, but differ in temperature and species
- Name plants found in temperate rainforests, such as sessile oaks in Wales, coast redwoods in northern California and southern Oregon, or black tree ferns in New Zealand
1 · Read
When you hear the word rainforest, you may picture a hot lowland tropical forest. Temperate rainforests grow in cooler regions. Their usual climate is cool or mild and rainy, not hot and steamy all year.
Temperate rainforests occur along the Pacific Northwest coast, in western Scotland and Wales, in southern Chile, and in New Zealand. The lowland Amazon has tropical rainforest. The Sahara is a desert with too little rain for rainforest.
Sessile oaks grow in temperate rainforests in Wales. Coast redwoods grow in northern California and southern Oregon. Black tree ferns grow in New Zealand's damp forests. These are regional examples, not plants found in every temperate rainforest.
Parrots live in some temperate rainforests as well as tropical rainforests. New Zealand's kākā is one example. Seeing a parrot alone cannot tell you which rainforest type it is.
Temperate rainforest winters vary by region. Some are mild; others can include freezing weather. A mild winter does not rule out temperate rainforest. Use the usual climate, not one day's weather.
Temperate and tropical rainforests both have high rainfall and a dense canopy, or leafy roof. To compare them, separate these shared features from differences: temperate climates are cooler than lowland tropical climates, and regional species differ.
Rainforests can be temperate: cool or mild and wet. Examples include the Pacific Northwest, Wales and Chile. Local species vary; a parrot alone does not tell you the rainforest type.
Readings written for this learning dataset. Video: What's hidden among the tallest trees on Earth? - Wendell Oshiro, TED-Ed.
2 · Watch
Take it off screen
Where it sits
This opens up
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.