James - Three types of rainforest

The Three Types Of Rainforests

By James Stuart

The three types of rainforests are temperate, lowland/tropical and montane.

Temperate Rainforests

Temperate rainforests are located above the Tropic of Cancer and below the Tropic of Capricorn. They are not as biodiverse (do not have a high variety of different species of life) as other rainforests. The reason for that is likely to be that temperate rainforests are much colder than other rainforests because they are not as near to the equator. In Australia we have one temperate rainforest which is found just on the uplands behind the east coast of New South Wales and southern Queensland.

World map of all temperate rainforests:

Lowland/Tropical Rainforests 

Lowland/Tropical rainforests are located between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. They are around about 1000 metres lower than sea level. Lowland/Tropical rainforest are normally very hot and also wet. This is because they are between the tropics and therefore closer to the equator. Unfortunately they are being deforested. In Australia we also have a lowland/tropic rainforest and not just a temperate rainforest. The lowland/tropical rainforest in Australia is found in the NSW North Coast and Sydney Basin Bioregions. That lowland/tropical rainforest was in fact listed endangered.

World map of all lowland/tropical rainforests: Montane Rainforest

Montane rainforest are similar to lowland/tropical rainforest but are higher and they are all located in the northern hemisphere. They are a lot more biodiverse than other rainforests. Also because montane rainforest are a higher rainforest, they are a lot colder and cloudier than lowland/tropical rainforests. Montane rainforests are not easy to deforest because of the rainforests higher altitude. In fact, there are no montane rainforests in Australia, because Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere. There are, however, a few in Russia and Europe.

World map of all montane rainforests: