The tropical rainforest provides nearly optimal conditions for life. Year-round warmth, lots of precipitation, lots of sunlight: all the things that make life possible are here in spades.
In fact, the largest problem for life in the rainforest is caused by this: too much of a good thing. The taller trees spread out to take optimal use of the sun, smothering everything beneath it. Beneath this canopy of leaves, the rainforest is a dark place, filled with life specially adapted to take advantage of the low light conditions found there.
There are three broad layers of life in the rainforest, each of which has its own distinct species and lifeforms.
The first, known as the canopy, consists of the tops of the taller trees. This is typically about 60-90 feet in the air. There are taller trees than this, but these trees have to contend with hot winds drying them out (some of these trees actually have species of cacti growing upon them, and many of them are deciduous). This layer of the forest gets plenty of sunlight. They flourish so much that they block much light from going below.
The second layer is known as the understory. Most of the moisture that falls through the canopy is intercepted by the plants in this region. The vegetation is dense, there is little air flow, and very high humidity.
The third layer, in fact the jungle floor is very dark, and gets little rain, most of it having been intercepted by plants above it. Little plant life (some mosses and fungi, mostly) live here.
some of the information presented here is specific to a particular rain forest: Paria Springs, situated 7 miles from Venezuela
Some further web resources consulted for this section are here and here.
Tropical rainforests have two broad seasons: dry and rainy. The rainy season is roughly analogous to winter in more temperate climes, the rain getting worst in August through October (averaging 20cm per month).
| average yearly high: | 25C |
|---|---|
| average yearly low: | 20C |
| average yearly precipitation: | 200+ cm |
| average daily high: | 25C |
|---|---|
| average nightly low: | 15C |
| average daily precipitation: |
| average daily high: | 20C |
|---|---|
| average nightly low: | 10C |
| average daily precipitation: |
The rainforest has a surprising diversity of life: a single square kilometer may contain as many as 100 different tree species.
Trees are 25-35 m tall, with buttressed trunks and shallow roots, mostly evergreen, with large dark green leaves. Many trees have fruit, and most have thin, smooth bark.
The floor of the jungle receives little light, and so is mostly home to sparse vegetation, mosses, lichens, and fungi.