Page "Forest" Paragraph 35

Tropical dry forests are characteristic of areas in the tropics affected by seasonal drought.

The seasonality of rainfall is usually reflected in the deciduousness of the forest canopy, with most trees being leafless for several months of the year.

However, under some conditions, e. g. less fertile soils or less predictable drought regimes, the proportion of evergreen species increases and the forests are characterised as " sclerophyllous ".

Thorn forest, a dense forest of low stature with a high frequency of thorny or spiny species, is found where drought is prolonged, and especially where grazing animals are plentiful.

On very poor soils, and especially where fire is a recurrent phenomenon, woody savannas develop ( see ' sparse trees and parkland ').