Introduction: The tropical rainforest is earth’s most complex biome in terms of both structure and species diversity. It occurs under optimal growing conditions: abundant precipitation and year round warmth. There is no annual rhythm to the forest; rather each species has evolved its own flowering and fruiting seasons. Sunlight is a major limiting factor. A variety of strategies have been successful in the struggle to reach light or to adapt to the low intensity of light beneath the canopy.

Climate: (Koeppen’s Af and Am climate types.) Mean monthly temperatures are above 64° F; precipitation is often in excess of 100 inches a year. There is usually a brief season of reduced precipitation. In monsoonal areas, there is a real dry season, but that is more than compensated for with abundant precipitation the rest of the year.

Vegetation: A vertical stratification of three layer of trees is apparent. These layers have been identified as A, B, and C layers:

A layer: the emergents. Widely spaced trees 100 to 120 feet tall and with umbrella-shaped canopies extend above the general canopy of the forest. Since they must contend with drying winds, they tend to have small leaves and some species are deciduous during the brief dry season.
B layer: a closed canopy of 80 foot trees. Light is readily available at the top of this layer, but greatly reduced below it.
C layer: a closed canopy of 60 foot trees. There is little air movement in this zone and consequently humidity is constantly high.
Shrub/sapling layer: Less than 3 percent of the light intercepted at the top of the forest canopy passes to this layer. Arrested growth is characteristic of young trees capable of a rapid surge of growth when a gap in canopy above them opens.
Ground layer: sparse plant growth. Less than 1 percent of the light that strikes the top of the forest penetrates to the forest floor. In such darkness few green plants grow. Moisture is also reduced by the canopy above: one third of the precipitation is intercepted before it reaches the ground.

Tropical Rain Forest. While the majority of tropical rain forest lies in the equatorial zone – mainly in South America, Africa and Indonesia –+36 significant tracts exist north of the Equator.

Growthforms: Various growthforms represent strategies to reach sunlight:

• Epiphytes: the so-called air plants grow on branches high in the trees, using the limbs merely for support and extracting moisture from the air and trapping the constant leaf-fall and wind-blown dust. Bromeliads (pineapple family) are especially abundant in the neotropics; the orchid family is widely distributed in all three formations of the tropical rainforest. As demonstration of the relative aridity of exposed branches in the high canopy, epiphytic cacti also occur in the Americas.
• Lianas: woody vines grow rapidly up the tree trunks when there is a temporary gap in the canopy and flower and fruit in the tree tops of the A and B layers. Many are deciduous.
• Climbers: green-stemmed plants such as philodendron that remain in the understory. Many climbers, including the ancestors of the domesticated yams (Africa) and sweet potatoes (South America), store nutrients in roots and tubers.
• Stranglers: these plants begin life as epiphytes in the canopy and send their roots downward to the forest floor. The fig family is well represented among stranglers.
• Heterotrophs: non-photosynthetic plants can live on the forest floor.

1. Parasites derive their nutrients by tapping into the roots or stems of photosynthetic species. Rafflesia arnoldi, a root parasite of a liana, has the world’s largest flower, more than three feet in diameter. It produces an odor similar to rotting flesh to attract pollinating insects.
2. Saprophytes derive their nutrients from decaying organic matter. Some orchids employ this strategy common to fungi and bacteria.

Common characteristics of tropical trees: Tropical species frequently possess one or more of the following attributes not seen in trees of higher latitudes.

• Buttresses: many species have broad, woody flanges at the base of the trunk. Originally believed to help support the tree, now it is believed that the buttresses channel stem flow and its dissolved nutrients to the roots.
• Large leaves are common among trees of the C layer. Young individuals of trees destined for the B and A layers may also have large trees. When the reach the canopy new leaves will be smaller. The large leaf surface helps intercept light in the sun-dappled lower strata of the forest.
• Drip tips facilitate drainage of precipitation off the leaf to promote transpiration. They occur in the lower layers and among the saplings of species of the emergent layer (A layer).

Other characteristics that distinguish tropical species of trees from those of temperate forests include
Exceptionally thin bark, often only 1-2 mm thick. Usually very smooth, although sometimes armed with spines or thorns.
Cauliflory, the development of flowers (and hence fruits) directly from the trunk, rather than at the tips of branches.
Large fleshy fruits attract birds, mammals, and even fish as dispersal agents.

Soils: Oxisols, infertile, deeply weathered and severely leached, have developed on the ancient Gondwanan shields. Rapid bacterial decay prevents the accumulation of humus. The concentration of iron and aluminum oxides by the laterization process gives the oxisols a bright red color and sometimes produces minable deposits (e.g., bauxite). On younger substrates, especially of volcanic origin, tropical soils may be quite fertile.

Subclimaxes: Distinct communities (varzea) develop on floodplains. Jungles may line rivers where sunlight penetrates all layers of the forest. Where forests have long been cleared and laterites have developed to cause season waterlogging of the substrate, tropical grasslands and palm savannas occur.

Fauna: Animal life is highly diverse. Common characteristics found among mammals and birds (and reptiles and amphibians, too) include adaptations to an arboreal life (for example, the prehensile tails of New World monkeys), bright colors and sharp patterns, loud vocalizations, and diets heavy on fruits.

Distribution of biome: The tropical rainforest is generally found between 10° N and 10° S latitude at elevations below 3,000 feet. There are three major, disjunct formations:

Neotropical (Amazonia into Central America); Atlantic Rainforest (Mata Atlântica)

African (Zaire Basin with an outlier in West Africa; also eastern Madagascar)

Indo- Malaysian (west coast of India, Assam, southeast Asia, New Guinea and Queensland, Australia.

The species composition and even genera and families are distinct in each. They also differ from species of temperate forests. Species diversity is highest in the extensive neotropical forest; second in the highly fragmented Indo-Malaysian formation; and lowest in Africa. Where 5 to a maximum of 30 species of tree share dominance in the Temperate Broadleaf Deciduous Forest, there may be 40 to 100 different species in one hectare of tropical rainforest. Tropical species of both plants and animals often have very restricted distribution areas.

Note: This page, translated into Polish by Marek Murawski, may be viewed at http://fsu-university.com/tropical-rainforest/ and into Russian by Akhmad Karimov at https://sciencerise.com/tropical-rainforest/.

What is a tropical rainforest? On this page we’ll find out what a tropical rainforest is and where the world’s tropical rainforests are found. We’ll also find out about the animals that live in rainforests, and why rainforests are so important.

What Is A Tropical Rainforest?

A rainforest is a forest that grows in an area with a high rainfall. Most rainforests receive over 2,000 mm (80 in.) of rain every year.

A tropical rainforest is a rainforest with a high rainfall that grows in a tropical region. Tropical regions – and therefore tropical rainforests – are found near the Equator, an imaginary line that circles the globe, dividing the northern and southern hemispheres.

Running parallel above and below the Equator are two more imaginary lines: the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn respectively. The world’s tropical regions are located within these two lines.

In tropical regions, the sun is directly overhead at least once during the year.

The diagram below shows the Equator and the Tropics.

• You can find our more about rainforests at our main Rainforest Facts Page.

Rainforests are home to a vast number of animals and plants – we’ll meet some of them further down the page – and are therefore extremely important to the world’s biodiversity.

They’re also home to indigenous tribes, with their own languages and cultures.

Tropical rainforests contain more species of plants and animals than any other habitat. If the world’s rainforests are destroyed, then many of these species will be lost along with them. As much as 50 percent of all the Earth’s species live in tropical rainforests.

• You can find out more about rainforest animals here: Rainforest Animals List

Tropical rainforests are also used for the production of food, medicine, and other products. Many rainforest products can be produced sustainably. However, commercial pressure often outweighs environmental concerns.

Rainforest Deforestation

Deforestation occurs when forested areas are permanently converted for other uses – for example, farming or mining.

Sadly, despite the world’s forested area being a fraction of what it once was, deforestation still continues today.

• You can find out more about deforestation here: Deforestation Facts.

Types of Rainforest

There are several different types of tropical rainforest. The ‘typical’ tropical rainforest is known as a lowland tropical rainforest. Here the temperature is high, rain falls for much of the year, and the atmosphere is humid.

Montane rainforests are found at higher altitudes. They are cooler, and are often covered in mist. For this reason, they are often known as ‘cloud forests’. Trees in montane rain forests are often shorter than those in lowland rainforests.

Mangrove rainforests grow in coastal regions where the land is often continuously submerged in salty water. Flooded forests occur where the land is often flooded by freshwater, and monsoon forests have high seasonal rainfall interspersed with dry spells.

Temperate Rainforests

Not all rainforests are tropical rainforests. Rainforests do grow outside of the Tropics, in both the Southern and Northern Hemispheres. The climate away from the tropics is generally cooler, and these forests are known as temperate rainforests.

An example of a temperate rainforest is the Pacific temperate rainforest, which is located on the west coast of the USA and Canada.

Where Are Tropical Rainforests Located?

Tropical rainforests follow the Equator around the world. The world’s most famous rain forests, including the Amazon Rainforest, are found in South America. Other well-known rainforests include Africa’s Congo rainforest, Australia’s Daintree Rainforest, and the rainforests of Sumatra and Borneo.

• You can find out where the world’s rainforests are located here: Where Are Rainforests Located?
• Find out more about the world’s most famous rainforest here: Amazon Rainforest Facts.

What Is A Tropical Rainforest: Layers

Tropical rainforests typically have four layers. The highest layer is the emergent layer, which is the tops of the tallest trees. Around 150 ft. above the ground, the emergent layer is home to birds and insects.

The next layer down is the canopy. This is the continuous area formed by the branches and leaves of most of the rainforest’s trees. The canopy layer gets most of the sunlight, and is the forest’s most productive area. More rainforest plants and animals live in the canopy layer than anywhere else.

Below the canopy is the understory (or understorey). Here you will find shrubs, growing trees and vines. Only 2% of the sunlight reaches the understory.

The lowest layer of the rainforest is the forest floor. This is where the rainforest’s largest inhabitants are found, such as tapirs, jaguars and forest elephants.

• You can find out more about the layers of a tropical rainforest here: Rainforest Layers.

Animals That Live In Tropical Rainforests

Rainforests are extremely biodiverse habitats – which basically means that a large number of species live in them.

South American tropical rainforests are home to animals such as caimans, jaguars, green anacondas, boa constrictors, harpy eagles, red-eyed tree frogs and howler monkeys.

In African tropical rainforests you’ll find leopards, African forest elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees, okapis, parrots and hornbills.

Animals that are found in Asian tropical rainforests include orangutans, tigers, Asian elephants, crocodiles, dholes, clouded leopards, sun bears, gibbons, Malaysian tapirs and slow lorises.

Australian tropical rainforests are home to tree kangaroos, parrots, saltwater crocodiles, cassowaries, Australian brush turkeys, Cairns bird wing butterflies and goannas.

As you can see, tropical rainforests are home to many varied animal species, and we’re only just scratching the surface. No other habitat on Earth is home to as many different species.

• You’ll find an illustrated list that includes many of the most amazing rainforest animals here: Rainforest Animals.

Plants That Grow In Tropical Rainforests

Of course, it’s not just animals that live in tropical rainforests; an incredible number of plants, including the trees themselves, are found in the rainforest environment.

Epiphytes, plants that grow harmlessly on other plants, are often found in tropical rainforests.

Other rainforest plants are bromeliads. This is a family of plants that have stiff, spiked leaves which radiate out from a central point. The leaves channel rainwater into a pool at the center of the plant. This pool provides a habitat for animals such as frogs, whose tadpoles grow inside the plants.

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• You can read more about rainforest plants here: Tropical Rainforest Plants List.

What Is a Tropical Rainforest: Conclusion

In this article we’ve found that a tropical rainforest is a rainforest that grows in a tropical region. Rainforests are forests that grow in areas with high rainfall, and there are several different types of rainforest, including montane rainforests and mangrove forests.

We’ve also learned about the animals and plants that live in a tropical rainforest. Of course, we’ve only scratched the surface: there are millions of animal and plant species found in the world’s rainforests. You can find out more about them on these pages:

• Learn more about the animals that live in tropical rainforests: Rainforest Animals List with Pictures and Facts
• Discover the plants that grow in tropical rainforests: Tropical Rainforest Plants List
• Find out more about rain forests – visit our main Rainforest Facts Page.

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