Forest in different areas of the world (CONIFER FOREST)

A conifer forest in the Swiss Alps (National Park)
The conifers, division Pinophyta, also known as division Coniferophyta or Coniferae, are one of 13 or 14 division level taxa within the Kingdom Plantae. Pinophytes are gymnosperms. They are cone-bearing seed plants with vascular tissue; all extant conifers are woody plants, the great majority being trees with just a few being shrubs. Typical examples of conifers include cedars, Douglas-firs, cypresses, firs, junipers, kauri, larches, pines, hemlocks, redwoods, spruces, and yews. The division contains approximately eight families, 68 genera, and 630 living species.
Although the total number of species is relatively small, conifers are of immense ecological importance. They are the dominant plants over huge areas of land, most notably the boreal forests of the northern hemisphere, but also in similar cool climates in mountains further south. Boreal conifers have many wintertime adaptations. The narrow conical shape of northern conifers, and their downward-drooping limbs help them shed snow. Many of them seasonally alter their biochemistry to make them more resistant to freezing, called "hardening". While tropical rainforests have more biodiversity and turnover, the immense conifer forests of the world represent the largest terrestrial carbon sink, i.e. where carbon is bound as organic compounds.
They are also of great economic value, primarily for timber and paper production; the wood of conifers is known as softwood.

Morphology
             All living conifers are woody plants, and most are trees, the majority having monopodial growth form (a single, straight trunk with side branches) with strong apical dominance. Many conifers have distinctly scented resin, secreted to protect the tree against insect infestation and fungal infection of wounds. Fossilized resin hardens into amber. The size of mature conifers varies from less than one meter, to over 100 meters. The world's tallest, thickest, and oldest living trees are all conifers. The tallest is a Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), with a height of 115.55 meters (although one Victorian mountain ash, Eucalyptus regnans, allegedly grew to a height of 140 meters, although the exact dimensions were not confirmed).^{[citation needed]} The thickest, or tree with the greatest trunk diameter, is a Montezuma Cypress (Taxodium mucronatum), 11.42 meters in diameter. The smallest is the pygmy pine (Lepidothamnus laxifolius) of New Zealand which is seldom taller than 30cm tall when mature. The oldest is a Great Basin Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva), 4,700 years old. Conflicting sources claim that the largest tree by 3 dimensional volume is either: a Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), with a volume 1486.9 cubic meters or a Ficus benghalensis named Thimmamma Marrimanu with volume unspecified.

Foliage
              Since most conifers are evergreens, the leaves of many conifers are long, thin and have a needle-like appearance, but others, including most of the Cupressaceae and some of the Podocarpaceae, have flat, triangular scale-like leaves. Some, notably Agathis in Araucariaceae and Nageia in Podocarpaceae, have broad, flat strap-shaped leaves. Others such as Araucaria columnaris have leaves that are awl-shaped. In the majority of conifers, the leaves are arranged spirally, exceptions being most of Cupressaceae and one genus in Podocarpaceae, where they are arranged in decussate opposite pairs or whorls of 3 (-4). In many species with spirally arranged leaves, the leaf bases are twisted to present the leaves in a very flat plane for maximum light capture (see e.g. photo of Grand Fir Abies grandis). Leaf size varies from 2 mm in many scale-leaved species, up to 400 mm long in the needles of some pines (e.g. Apache Pine Pinus engelmannii). The stomata are in lines or patches on the leaves, and can be closed when it is very dry or cold. The leaves are often dark green in colour which may help absorb a maximum of energy from weak sunshine at high latitudes or under forest canopy shade. Conifers from hotter areas with high sunlight levels (e.g. Turkish Pine Pinus brutia) often have yellower-green leaves, while others (e.g. Blue Spruce Picea pungens) have a very strong glaucous wax bloom to reflect ultraviolet light. In the great majority of genera the leaves are evergreen, usually remaining on the plant for several (2-40) years before falling, but five genera (Larix, Pseudolarix, Glyptostrobus, Metasequoia and Taxodium) are deciduous, shedding the leaves in autumn and leafless through the winter. The seedlings of many conifers, including most of the Cupressaceae, and Pinus in Pinaceae, have a distinct juvenile foliage period where the leaves are different, often markedly so, from the typical adult leaves.

Pinaceae: needle leaves and bud of Coast Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)

Araucariaceae: Awl-like leaves of Cook Pine (Araucaria columnaris)

   Cupressaceae: scale leaves of Lawson's Cypress (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana); scale in mm

Forest

                A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending on various cultural definitions, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have different classifications according to how and of what the forest is composed. A forest is usually an area filled with trees but any tall densely packed area of vegetation may be considered a forest, even underwater vegetation such as kelp forests, or non-vegetation such as fungi, and bacteria. Tree forests cover approximately 9.4 percent of the Earth's surface (or 30 percent of total land area), though they once covered much more (about 50 percent of total land area). They function as habitats for organisms, hydrologic flow modulators, and soil conservers, constituting one of the most important aspects of the biosphere.

               A typical tree forest is composed of the overstory (canopy or upper tree layer) and the understory. The understory is further subdivided into the shrub layer, herb layer, and also the moss layer and soil microbes. In some complex forests, there is also a well-defined lower tree layer. Forests are central to all human life because they provide a diverse range of resources: they store carbon, aid in regulating the planetary climate, purify water and mitigate natural hazards such as floods. Forests also contain roughly 90 percent of the world's terrestrial biodiversity.  

Etymology

                The word "forest" comes from Middle English forest, from Old French forest (also forès) "forest, vast expanse covered by trees"; first introduced in English as the word for wild land set aside for hunting without the necessity in definition for the existence of trees (James 1981;Muir 2000,2008). Possibly a borrowing (probably via Frankish or Old High German) of the Medieval Latin word foresta "open wood", foresta was first used by Carolingian scribes in the Capitularies of Charlemagne to refer specifically to the king's royal hunting grounds. The term was not endemic to Romance languages (e.g. native words for "forest" in the Romance languages evolved out of the Latin word silva "forest, wood" (English sylvan); cf. Italian, Spanish, Portuguese selva; Romanian silvă; Old French selve); and cognates in Romance languages, such as Italian foresta, Spanish and Portuguese floresta, etc. are all ultimately borrowings of the French word.


            Uses of the word "forest" in English to denote any uninhabited area of non-enclosure are now considered archaic. The word was introduced by the Norman rulers of England as a legal term (appearing in Latin texts like the Magna Carta) denoting an uncultivated area legally set aside for hunting by feudal nobility (see Royal Forest). These hunting forests were not necessarily wooded much, if at all. However, as hunting forests did often include considerable areas of woodland, the word "forest" eventually came to mean wooded land more generally. By the start of the fourteenth century the word appeared in English texts, indicating all three senses: the most common one, the legal term and the archaic usage.
                Other terms used to mean "an area with a high density of trees" are wood, woodland, wold, weald, holt, frith and firth. Unlike forest, these are all derived from Old English and were not borrowed from another language. Some classifications now reserve the term woodland for an area with more open space between trees and distinguish among woodlands, open forests, and closed forests based on crown cover.

PICTURES of the TERRESTRIAL ANIMALS

 

Flatworms (Planaria torva)

These animals move by beating cilia on the ventral dermis, allowing them to glide along on a film of mucus. Some move by undulations of the whole body by the contractions of muscles built into the body membrane.
Triclads play an important role in watercourse ecosystems and are often very important as bio-indicators.
The most frequently used planarian in high school and first-year college laboratories is the brownish Girardia tigrina. Other common species used are the blackish Planaria maculata and Girardia dorotocephala. Recently, however, the species Schmidtea mediterranea has emerged as the species of choice for modern molecular biological and genomic research due to its diploid chromosomes and the existence of both asexual and sexual strains. Recent genetic screens utilizing double-stranded RNA technology have uncovered 240 genes that affect regeneration in S. mediterranea. Many of these genes have orthologs in the human genome.

Types of Modern Garden Roses

            The different types of roses known as Modern Garden Roses are also divided into subdivisions.
These are the main types roses and types of roses for landscaping and home gardens. Most of them are repeat-flowering.
HYBRID TEA: Long-stemmed flowers that are high-centered. Usually one flower per stem. They bloom on upright, rather narrow plants, and flowers in flushes of every six weeks or so. This is the classic rose for cut flowers.

Pictures of different colors of Hybrid Tea Roses

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FLORIBUNDA: Shrub roses with clusters of flowes with continuous blooms. The growth habit is bushy and full. Floribunda roses are usually hardier than hybrid teas.
Some Varieties and Colors:
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GRANDIFLORA: These are tall and vigorous plants that produce flowers singly or in clusters. They are very similar to hybrid teas, except for their size.
Some Varieties and Colors:
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POLYANTHA: Small flowered roses in large clusters on small compact free- flowering rose bushes.
SHRUBS: This is a large group of various classes, that vary widely in height and habit. This group include the English Roses by David Austin.
MINIATURES and MINI-ROSES: These are scaled down versions of the larger Modern Garden Roses, ranging in height from 6 inches to 2 feet tall. Their flowers and leaves are proportionally dimitutive.
CLIMBERS: A mixed group of roses with long arching canes that can be trained on a support such as arbors, trellises, fences, and walls.Some are repeat-flowering, some are not.