Everything about Laurisilva totally explained
Laurisilva or
laurissilva ("laurel forest") is an
endemic type of
humid subtropical laurel forest found on several of the
Macaronesian islands of the
North Atlantic, namely
Madeira Islands, the
Azores and the
Canary Islands, a precious relic of the
Pliocene subtropical forests.
The forests are made up of laurel-leaved
evergreen hardwood trees, reaching up to 40 meters in height. Many of the
species are
endemic to the islands, and harbor a rich
biota of
understory plants,
invertebrates, and
birds and
bats, including a number of
endemic species.
Laurisilva formerly covered much of the Azores and Madeira and parts of the western Canary Islands, but the forests have been much reduced in extent by
logging, clearance for
agriculture and
grazing, and the invasion of
exotic species. The most extensive
laurisilva forests remain on Madeira, where they're found between 300 and 1400 meters altitude in the northern slope, and 700-1600 meters altitude in southern slope, and cover 149,5 km². In the Canary Islands, roughly 60 km² of
laurisilva remain on
Tenerife and over 20 km² in
Garajonay National Park on
La Gomera, and small areas on
La Palma and
Gran Canaria. In the Azores, small patches of
laurisilva forest remain on the islands of
Pico,
Terceira, and
São Miguel.
The Madeira
laurisilva forests were declared a
UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. Predominant
lauraceous trees include Til
(Ocotea foetens), Loureiro
(Laurus novocanariensis), Vinhático
(Persea indica), a valuable hardwood, and Barbosano
(Apollonias barbujana); other important trees include Aderno
(Heberdenia excelsa), Pau Branco
(Picconia excelsa), the Mocanos
(Visnea mocanera and
Pittosporum coriaceum), and Sanguinho
(Rhamnus glandulosa), and the small trees or large shrubs Folhado
(Clethra arborea) and Perado
(Ilex perado). The forests support a diverse understory of
ferns and
herbaceous plants, including the Leitugas
(Sonchus spp.),
geraniums
(Geranium maderense, G. palmatum and G. rubescens), the Estreleiras
(Argyranthemum spp.) and the endemic
orchid Goodyera macrophylla.
The
laurisilva forests of Macaronesia are
relicts of a
vegetation type which originally covered much of the
Mediterranean Basin when the
climate of the region was more
humid. With the drying of the Mediterranean Basin during the
Pliocene, the laurel forests gradually retreated, replaced by more
drought-tolerant
sclerophyll plant communities. Most of the last remaining
laurisilva forests around the Mediterranean are believed to have disappeared approximately 10,000 years ago at the end of the
Pleistocene, when the Mediterranean basin became warmer and drier, although some remnants of the laurel forest flora still persist in the mountains of southern
Spain, north-center of
Portugal and northern
Morocco, and two constituent species (
Laurus nobilis and
Ilex aquifolium) remain widespread. The location of the Macaronesian Islands in the North Atlantic Ocean moderated these climatic fluctuations, and maintained the relatively humid and mild climate which has allowed these forests to persist to the present day.
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