Types of Forests: Tropical, Temperate, and Boreal Explained

Tropical forests grow near the equator (between 23.5 degrees N and 23.5 degrees S) and are known for their warm temperatures, high rainfall, and exceptional biodiversity. Their temperature is relatively stable throughout the year, and they experience wet and dry seasons rather than the four seasons that temperate regions know.

Tropical forests experience heavy rainfall (typically 200 cm or more per year), which helps support the lush vegetation they're known for, but also speeds up decomposition and can leach nutrients from the soil. As a result, many tropical forest soils are acidic and nutrient-poor, even though the forest itself is highly productive.

Tropical forest canopies are often dense and layered, which limits the amount of light that can reach the forest floor. They are are home to many kinds of plants, including evergreen trees, orchids, vines, ferns, and mosses. In many places, trees have adapted buttressed trunks and shallow root systems that help them stay upright in thin soils.

Animal life is just as abundant. Tropical forests are home to an incredible variety of birds, bats, insects, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals, making them some of the richest, most biologically diverse places on Earth.

Today, tropical forests remain under severe pressure from deforestation, agricultural expansion, logging, infrastructure development, and wildfire.

The world’s temperate forests are most commonly found in eastern North America, northeastern Asia, and much of western and central Europe. They are shaped by a moderate climate with changing seasons, and a growing season that lasts between 140-200 days.

Temperate forests often have moderately dense canopies that allow some light to reach the forest floor, supporting diverse understory vegetation. They typically have around 3-4 tree species per square kilometer and include both deciduous and coniferous trees, depending on the region. Common trees include oak, hickory, beech, maple, elm, cottonwood, willow, and hemlock. Wildlife includes deer, foxes, bears, bobcats, rabbits, squirrels, and many bird species.

The largest temperate rainforest in North America is Alaska’s Tongass Forest, which spans about 16.7 million acres and is home to many rare and endemic species.

Much of the world's original temperate forest cover has been cleared over the centuries for settlement, agriculture, and timber, leaving only fragmented areas in many places. Research published in June 2026 found that 49 percent of species in temperate regions had disappeared from the hottest parts of their ranges, compared with 33 percent of tropical species. This finding contradicted previous assumptions that temperate forests would be less vulnerable to climate change than forests in other regions.

Boreal forests, also called taiga, form the world’s largest terrestrial biome, stretching across northern North America and Eurasia. Two-thirds of the world's boreal forests grow in Siberia, while the rest are found in Scandinavia, Canada, and Alaska.

This biome is defined by long, cold winters and short, moderate summers. Precipitation is relatively low and often falls as snow, and the growing season is typically just 130 days. The soil is usually thin, acidic, and nutrient-poor, which limits plant diversity.

Boreal forests are dominated by cold-tolerant evergreen conifers such as spruce, fir, pine, and larch. Their canopies are typically dense enough to restrict light on the forest floor, which limits the growth of understory vegetation.

Despite the harsh climate, boreal forests support cold-adapted wildlife such as moose, caribou, lynx, foxes, wolves, hares, woodpeckers, hawks, shrews, and small mammals.

Boreal forests are increasingly threatened by logging, land conversion, climate change, wildfire, and other forms of degradation. More than 60% of all wildfire-related tree cover loss between 2001-2024 happened in boreal regions. Although fire is a natural part of boreal forest ecology, boreal tree cover loss due to fire has increased by ~160,100 hectares per year over the last 24 years.