In fire-prone temperate regions, temperate pyric sclerophyll forests are characterised by an open canopy of hard-leaved trees with a shrub layer underneath, sometimes with grasses and forbs. Productivity is limited by seasonal drought, hot summers, and low nutrients in sandy and loamy soils. Some groups of plants, birds, reptiles, and invertebrates have high diversity and uniqueness, many with locally restricted distributions. Plants and animals are adapted for persistence through successive summer droughts and fires and, although sensitive to fire frequency and season, periodic disturbance by fire is critical to maintaining forest diversity.