Tag: climate and natural vegetation

Rain forests include more than two-thirds of the world's plant species. These plants live in a warm humid environment. It allows enormous variation. There are so many flowering plants. Aerial plants are also found in rain forests. The humidity of rain forest encourages adaptations. Mahogany, ebony, green heart, etc. are the main trees found in rain forests.

The word arboreal originates from the Latin word “arboreus”. It means adapted to living on trees. This word not just refers to animals that live on trees but also to anything that resembles the branching form of a tree. Monkeys that are adapted to live on trees are also called arboreal.

Equatorial regions are the regions located on or near the equator. Equatorial regions have hot and wet climate. The Amazon Basin (South America), the Congo Basin (Africa) and some regions of Asia are located in equatorial regions. These regions do not have winter or dry season. The diurnal range of temperature is usually greater.

Equatorial regions are the regions located on or near the equator. Equatorial regions have hot and wet climate. The Amazon Basin (South America), the Congo Basin (Africa), Malaysia, Indonesia and some areas in northern Australia are located in equatorial region. These regions receives vertical sun rays. The climate in equatorial regions is characterized by heavy rainfall and constant high temperature. These regions do not have winter or dry season. The diurnal range of temperature is usually greater.

Tropical rainforests have four layers: Emergent Layer, Canopy Layer, Understory Layer and Forest Floor each with different plants and animals adapted for life in that particular area. 

Convectional type of rainfall mostly found in the equatorial zone. Two causes of this type of precipitation, (1) the intense heating of the surface so as to expand and raise the lower layer of the atmosphere and (2) abundant supply of moisture in the air to provide it with a high relative humidity. This type of rainfall mainly occurs in the summer month and in the warm part of the day. This type of precipitation is of very short duration and consist of heavy showers. Convectional rainfall is less effective for crop growth than the steady rain.   

Tropical rainforests or Natural forest have four layers:

Emergent Layer: These giant trees thrust above the dense canopy layer and have huge mushroom-shaped crowns.

Canopy Layer: The broad, irregular crowns of these trees form a tight, continuous canopy 60 to 90 feet above the ground.

Understory: Receiving only 2-15% of the sunlight that falls on the canopy, the understory is a dark place. It is relatively open and contains young trees and leafy herbaceous plants that tolerate low light. Many popular house plants come from this layer.

 Forest Floor: The forest floor receives less than 2% of the sunlight and consequently, little grows here except plants adapted to very low light. 

Amazon River is the largest river of the world. The basin made by this river is known as Amazon basin. It is the largest lowland in Latin America. It has a total area of 7 million square kilometers. Amazon basin is famous for dense forest cover. More than two-third of this basin is covered by immense forests. About half of the Earth's rain forests is found in Amazon basin.

The tropics are a region of the Earth surrounding the Equator. They are delimited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at 23.5°) N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at 23.5°). The tropics are also referred to as the tropical zone and the torrid zone. 

The equatorial forest region experience very high temperatures throughout the year, the annual average temperature is being about 27 degrees celsius. The daily range of temperature is between 10 degrees Celsius to 25 degrees celsious. The rainfall is very heavy and distributed throughout the year. This region also received a sufficient amount of sunshine for all these the humidity level is very high in this region.