Deciduous forests
The seasonal climate of the llanos seems not to affect a lot the tropical forest of the area. It is certain that the shortage of water during the dry season is a restrictive factor for life, but the llanos forest almost always grows and develops in soils that somehow have constant supply of water. These forests are called dry or deciduous, because they are constituted by trees species able to drop their leaves, as a mechanism of conservation of water when drought presses. The percentage of leaf dropping species of the forest is variable, since not all the species of trees drop the leaf. For that reason, tree tops without leaves can be observed among others that still stay green. The gallery forest, on the other hand, grows beside the rivers and its roots are in constant contact with the water, inclusive during the dry season, they are not subjected to the water shortage that makes them throw away their leaves. Largely, the woody species of these forests have been exploited by their great value for the industry, as the apamate, the mahogany, the cedar, the acapro, the mijao and the saquisaqui. Among those that persist, a good number, have more value as producers of fruits and seeds cattle uses. The guásimo, the guama, palm fruits, and many others are some of these. The physical structure of the dry forest, almost always presents three strata. One composed of grass and small bushes near the forest floor, an intermediate one of small trees reaching five or six meters and the canopy proper, with the tallest trees, sometimes overcoming thirty meters in height. Lianas are found crisscrossing and climbing up to the canopy. Many animals use them as stairways among the forest tree tops. |
