rainforest understory layer animals
First, a regular forest usually consists of a dominant tree species – evergreen forest in cold climates, or the California redwood forest, for example. A tropical rainforest has many species of trees and plants, and trees of the same species rarely grow close. Scientists have counted up to 300 different species growing in a 2 1 / 2 acres (one hectare) in a South American jungle.
While forests are found in all climates and all parts of the world, tropical rainforests are found only in warm, humid climates. They cover less than six percent of Earth's land surface. Most are located in areas close to Ecuador, and Central America, South America, Africa and Southeast Asia. A forest often over 100 inches of rain per year, the average humidity is between 77 and 88 percent, and the temperature is usually between 93 º F (34 º C) and 68 º F (20 º C).
Probably the most significant difference between a regular forest and rainforest, and that has scientists concerned that the rain forests could one day disappear entirely, is the fact that while most of the nutrients of a regular forest is stored in vegetation, most nutrients are stored in a forest soil. This means that when a forest is burned or cut regular or flooded, trees and plants may eventually grow back because of the nutrients in their roots. But in the jungles tropics, where thousands of years of heavy rainfall has led many of the nutrients in the soil, it is very difficult for vegetation to regrow after burning or logging.
Unlike a regular forest, a rainforest has four very different layers based on the types of trees and animals that live there. From top to bottom, these layers are the emergent canopy, upper understory and forest floor.
emergent trees are 100 to 240 feet high and are spaced wide apart with straight stems, smooth leaves that form umbrella-shaped canopies. The canopy consists of trees that are 60 to 130 feet tall. Most of the animals living here.
Most trees in the understory, or lower deck, there are about 60 feet tall. Very little light reaches this level, the humidity is always high, and is there is little air movement.
The forest floor is almost entirely shaded. As a result, there are very few shrubs or herbs, and a person can easily walk through most of it. But be careful where you walk, because the soil is full of termites and other insects, earthworms and fungi that feed on the waste that falls the ground. Approximately 80 percent of all insect species live in tropical forests.
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