What is natural vegetation?
Natural vegetation refers to the plants and other flora that make up the plant life in the region. The natural vegetation will determine the characteristics of the area.
here are eight levels within the natural vegetation classification system. Each of these levels are identified based on certain criteria and their ecological contribution.
For instance, upper levels include formation, formation subclass and formation class. These are typically known as forest and woodland areas, which can be found across the U.S.
Division, macrogroup and group comprise the middle levels of the natural vegetable classification system. These demonstrate continental climate differences and refer to forests like Northern Vancouverian Montane and the East Cascades Oak-Ponderosa Pine Forest.
Lower levels include alliance and association. These tend to include diagnostic species that form multiple layers and growth forms.
Importance of natural vegetation?
Vegetation supports critical functions in the biosphere, at all possible spatial scales. First, vegetation regulates the flow of numerous biogeochemical cycles (see biogeochemistry), most critically those of water, carbon, and nitrogen; it is also of great importance in local and global energy balances. Such cycles are important not only for global patterns of vegetation but also for those of climate.
Trees affect the climate tremendously by regulating water vapor levels in the atmosphere. A single large tree can transpire 2000 gallons of water on a hot, dry day, and an estimated 50% of the rainfall that falls on forests comes from the trees themselves. That's why severe droughts tend to follow in the wake of deforestation.
Plants also affect the carbon cycle, which also affects the climate. A single large sugar maple tree, for example, can sequester 450 tons of carbon dioxide per year. However, when the tree decays or is burned, it releases all the stored carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere. Grasslands, on the other hand, sequester carbon dioxide in the soil, where it remains until it is plowed up. That's why agriculture is one of the biggest emitters of carbon dioxide.