Mixed forests are known as such because deciduous leaved trees like the Oak, the Chestnut, the Beech and the Ash coexist within it, along with other perennial leaved trees like different species of pine and firs. This biocoenosis (group of animals and plants that inhabit a specific spot) usually needs humid winters, more typical of conifers that of broad flat leaved deciduous species. The climate that predominates in this type of forest is continental humid and the soils are more fertile. Two types of soil appear at the slopes, ranker and rendzine. The first is more or less acid and poor in carbonates, which can be due to erosion and the contribution of alluvial of climatic material (like alpine and tundra soils). The second one is formed over bedrock like limestone and can also be the product of erosion.
Mixed forests are found in two areas of North America: on one side, between the Great Lakes, the San Lorenzo river (on the border of the United States and Canada) and the north east of the United States, and the other side, in the northern half of the Pacific coast (California, Oregon and Washingon) and British Columbia, in Canada. The Great Lakes Forest is characterized by species that are typically of the coniferous forest, like the Hemlock, Pine and Spruces, and deciduous species like the Beech and the Maple.The forest of the Pacific coast, which develops on a narrow strip (between 10 and 300 kilometers wide), has few deciduous specimens (oaks, maples, chestnuts, etc) because large conifers predominate, like the Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and the California Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens).In the southern hemisphere, the mixed forest is only found in Chile. It has an undergrowth. The Great Lakes Forest is characterized by species that are typically of the coniferous forest, like the Hemlock, Pine and Spruces, and deciduous species like the Beech and the Maple.
The forest of the Pacific coast, which develops covered in ferns, lianas and epiphytes and with conifers (like the Araucaria and the Larch) and deciduous trees (like the Hualo, the Ruil and the Lenga Beech).In Europe, the great surface taken up by these forests is due to the fact that in this continent there are no mountains parallel to the coast; therefore, the winds that arrive from the Atlantic carry the marine humidity to the interior, allowing the growth of trees in regions that are far away from the sea.
The forests are found in the western center of the continent (in countries like Poland, Belarus, Ukraine and the Russian Federation) and in the north of Island, Norway and Sweden. The dominant species of the deciduous forest are the Beech and the Hornbeam, and of the coniferous forest, the Fir, the Spruce and the Birch.In Asia they reach the south of Siberia, and in eastern Asia they grow in the northeast and along the central coast of China and the peninsula of Korea and Japan. The transition takes place with the monsoon forest, reason for which lianas are abundant.
Mateo de Toro y Zambrano convocó a cabildo abierto