Why does the U.S. South have deciduous trees almost everywhere, while most subtropical regions elsewhere have far fewer?

[Subtropical-is-temperate3]

Originally Posted by Igor Blevin

I am thinking it is rainfall patterns.

Summer is wet in the US south with lots of rainfall. Not so sure about the the world regions you refer to. They may be more subject to summer drought. That would be a problem for deciduous trees.

That would be Mediterranean climate regions which is summer dry.

[Igor Blevin]

Originally Posted by Subtropical-is-temperate3

That would be Mediterranean climate regions which is summer dry.

Thanks for the lesson.

[Northrick]

Originally Posted by jcp123

That’s weird, since what I always notice about the south is an abundance of evergreens...it’s up north where I notice more deciduous trees.

Go farther north. Spruce dominates the forest up here.

[memph]

Just having come back from vacation in Madeira, the forests there are mostly eucalyptus and laurel, with conifers at higher elevations, but I did see some imported deciduous trees that are more typical of continental-temperate forests like plane trees and tuliptree.

[DesertRat56]

In my opinion the answer to the question in the title of this thread is water. Florida and the southern states get a lot more water than the states in the southwest.