Layersoftherainforest.pdf

Species Profiles Birds Mammals Plants Reptiles 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. 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. Emergent trees are spaced wide apart, and are 100 to 240 feet tall with umbrella-shaped canopies that grow above the forest. Plant Life Besides these four layers, a shrub/sapling layer receives about 3 % of the light that filters in through the canopies. Animal Life