Tropical rainforest

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An area of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. The tropical rainforests of South

America contain the largest diversity of species on earth.[1][2]

Tropical rainforest climate zones (Af).

Tropical rainforests occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there
is no dry season all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm and
may also be referred to as lowland equatorial evergreen rainforest. True
rainforests are typically found between 10 degrees north and south of the equator
(see map); they are a sub-set of the tropical forest biome that occurs roughly
within the 28 degree latitudes (in the equatorial zone between the Tropic of Cancer
and Tropic of Capricorn). Within the World Wildlife Fund's biome classification,
tropical rainforests are a type of tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests
(or tropical wet forest) that also includes the more extensive tropical seasonal
forests.[3]

Contents [hide]
1 Overview
1.1 History
1.2 Types of tropical forest
2 Forest structure
2.1 Forest floor
2.2 Understory layer
2.3 Canopy layer
2.4 Emergent layer
3 Ecology
3.1 Climate
3.2 Soils
3.2.1 Soil types
3.2.2 Nutrient recycling
3.2.3 Buttress roots
3.3 Forest succession
4 Biodiversity and speciation
4.1 Interspecific competition
4.2 Pleistocene refugia
5 Human dimensions
5.1 Habitation
5.2 Indigenous peoples
5.3 Resources
5.3.1 Cultivated foods and spices
5.4 Ecosystem services
5.5 Tourism
6 Conservation
6.1 Threats
6.1.1 Deforestation
6.1.1.1 Mining and drilling
6.1.1.2 Conversion to agricultural land
6.1.2 Climate change
6.2 Protection
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
Overview

Amazon River rain forest in Peru

Tropical rainforests can be characterized in two words hot and wet. Mean monthly
temperatures exceed 18 C (64 F) during all months of the year.[4] Average annual
rainfall is no less than 1,680 mm (66 in) and can exceed 10 m (390 in) although it
typically lies between 1,750 mm (69 in) and 3,000 mm (120 in).[5] This high level
of precipitation often results in poor soils due to leaching of soluble nutrients
in the ground.

Tropical rainforests exhibit high levels of biodiversity. Around 40% to 75% of all
biotic species are indigenous to the rainforests.[6] Rainforests are home to half
of all the living animal and plant species on the planet.[7] Two-thirds of all
flowering plants can be found in rainforests.[5] A single hectare of rainforest may
contain 42,000 different species of insect, up to 807 trees of 313 species and
1,500 species of higher plants.[5] Tropical rainforests have been called the
world's largest pharmacy, because over one quarter of natural medicines have been
discovered within them.[8][9] It is likely that there may be many millions of
species of plants, insects and microorganisms still undiscovered in tropical
rainforests.

Tropical rainforests are among the most threatened ecosystems globally due to
large-scale fragmentation as a result of human activity. Habitat fragmentation
caused by geological processes such as volcanism and climate change occurred in the
past, and have been identified as important drivers of speciation.[10] However,
fast human driven habitat destruction is suspected to be one of the major causes of
species extinction. Tropical rain forests have been subjected to heavy logging and
agricultural clearance throughout the 20th century, and the area covered by
rainforests around the world is rapidly shrinking.[11][12]

History
Tropical rainforests have existed on earth for hundreds of millions of years. Most
tropical rainforests today are on fragments of the Mesozoic era supercontinent of
Gondwana.[13] The separation of the landmass resulted in a great loss of amphibian
diversity while at the same time the drier climate spurred the diversification of
reptiles.[10] The division left tropical rainforests located in five major regions
of the world tropical America, Africa, Southeast Asia, Madagascar, and New Guinea,
with smaller outliers in Australia.[13] However, the specifics of the origin of
rainforests remain uncertain due to an incomplete fossil record.

Types of tropical forest

Main article Tropical forest
Several biomes may appear similar-to, or merge via ecotones with, tropical
rainforest

Moist tropical seasonal forest

Daintree rainforest in Queensland is actually a seasonal tropical forest.

Moist tropical seasonal forests receive high overall rainfall with a warm summer
wet season and a cooler winter dry season. Some trees in these forests drop some or
all of their leaves during the winter dry season, thus they are sometimes called
tropical mixed forest. They are found in parts of South America, in Central America
and around the Caribbean, in coastal West Africa, parts of the Indian subcontinent,
and across much of Indochina.