Welcome to the Rain Forest!

Breathe in warm, moist air, smell hot animal dropping and hear the screeching of a toucan. Take a single step into the steamy jungle and hear the hiss of an anaconda and the scurrying of a squirrel monkey. Look up at the deep emerald celling that seeps with moisture and sunshine and sigh into the heavy air. Home to tall trees, the most species in the world and as much as one inch of rain a day, welcome to the rainforest! This is the biome that has captured the imaginations of filmmakers and the hearts of environmental activists.

Tropical rainforests are made of very tall trees – many of which are 70 meters above the ground! They from a dense covering called the canopy. In the section below the canopy, we have the understory. This is an area of shorter trees and vines. Organic matter falls to the forest floor regularly and it quickly decomposes and the nutrients are recycled. A rainforest resembles a tangled green mess. It’s abiotic factors include hot and wet weather all year round, and thin, nutrient poor soils.

Dominant plants in the tropical rainforest are broad-leaved evergreen trees, ferns and large woody vines/climbing plants. Also popular are beautiful orchids and bromeliads. These plants are inhabited by a variety of different animals. In fact, the tropical rain forest has more species than any other biome on earth! Some of the dominant herbivores include slots, tapir and capybaras. Common predators are jaguars, anteaters, monkeys, birds (toucans, parrots, parakeets), butterflies, ants, and piranhas. Reptiles are also found in the rainforest, mostly caymans, boa constrictors and anacondas.

If you wanted to visit a tropical rain forest, you would have to travel to parts of south and central America. You could also find one in south-east Asia, or southern India. Last but not least, you could also find tropical rainforests in northeastern Australia. If you want to take a trip to a rainforest, be careful, because they are full of dangerous and poisonous creatures! They are drenched in pests that often carry diseases such as malaria. However, if you are a serious scientist looking to study a large and interesting ecosystem, this could be for you! 

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