Denzasimpson44. Rainforest Biomes. The tropical rain forest is a forest of tall trees in a region of year-round warmth. An average of 50 to 260 inches (125 to 660 cm.) of rain falls yearly. Rain forests belong to the tropical wet climate group. The temperature in a rain forest rarely gets higher than 93 °F (34 °C) or drops below 68 °F (20 °C); average humidity is between 77 and 88%; rainfall is often more than 100 inches a year. There is usually a brief season of less rain. Rainforests now cover less than 6% of Earth's land surface.
A tropical rain forest has more kinds of trees than any other area in the world. About 1/4 of all the medicines we use come from rainforest plants. All tropical rain forests resemble one another in some ways. Despite these differences, each of the three largest rainforests--the American, the African, and the Asian--has a different group of animal and plant species. Layers of the Rainforest There are four very distinct layers of trees in a tropical rain forest. Plant Life Animal Life. Rainforest Animals. Pics of the rainforest. The Plants of the Rainforest.
A tropical greenhouse More than two thirds of the world's plant species are found in the tropical rainforests: plants that provide shelter and food for rainforest animals as well as taking part in the gas exchanges which provide much of the world's oxygen supply. Rainforest plants live in a warm humid environment that allows an enormous variation rare in more temperate climates: some like the orchids have beautiful flowers adapted to attract the profusion of forest insects.
Competition at ground level for light and food has lead to evolution of plants which live on the branches of other plants, or even strangle large trees to fight for survival. The aerial plants often gather nourishment from the air itself using so-called 'air roots';. The humidity of the rainforest encourages such adaptations which would be impossible in most temperate forests with their much drier conditions.
The People of the Rainforest.