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Name: Jonathan
Status: other
Grade: other
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: 1/5/2006
Question:
Hello

I'm a tour guide in the Sierra Madre in Mexico. I've been told that a jungle and a tropical semi-deciduous forest are not the same, but I can't find why. From what I've read, jungle is only a term to describe some dense forest.

Is a tropical semi-deciduous forest a jungle? Why?

Replies:
The following would suggest that the general term "jungle" is specifically used for "tropical rainforests," but not for tropical deciduous forests, simply because the word "jungle" implies dense, heavily vegetated forest all of the time. A tropical, deciduous forest might appear to be a jungle at leaf out until leaf fall.

http://www.marietta.edu/~biol/102/rainfor.html#tropical

http://taggart.glg.msu.edu/bs110/tropical.htm

Anthony Brach Ph.D.


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