The Tropical Rainforest (1961)

the tropical rainforest biome is a Complex Community exceedingly rich in many forms of plant and animal life a Showplace of History through ceaseless Evolution a display of Flora and Fauna has developed here unequaled anywhere else on land millions of years ago when the climate of the entire Earth was war these forests spread north and south of the Equator almost to the pole when the ice ages came the forests retreated today although reduced in area and centered on the equator moist always green forests still cover one/ tenth of the earth's land surface and comprise a large part of the total Forest area of the world in all tropical rain forests there is constant warmth and an abundance of moisture rains fall in cloudburst proportions during part of the Year during the Rainy Seasons water drips constantly from the forest roof to the vegetation in the dimly lighted warm and humid corridors below let us compare the temperature and rainfall of a tropical rain forest with that of a temperate forest throughout the year the monthly temperature of a typical temperate forest ranges from about 20° to 75° F while the tropical rainforest shows a remarkably constant temperature of about 80° rainfall in the temperate forest averages between 2 to 3 and 1/2 in per month while in the trop iCal rainforest the monthly average ranges from 1 to about 17 in structurally the rainforest is a layered mass of vegetation whose makeup is difficult to discern between the sunlight and the Earth are layers of plant growth on the ground are mosses fungi tree seedlings and herbaceous plants next is the shrub straum of young trees small palms and large ferns above these are the smaller trees whose density of foliage and branches is greater than any other level of the forest Above This straum are taller and sturdier trees whose crowns interweave to form an almost unbroken Forest canopy bursting through this canopy are the forest Giants trees of 120 to 200 ft or more in height these giant trees supported by their spreading buttress Roots have tall stems which grow through the canopy and receive the full light of the Tropical Sun smaller trees too sometimes depend on stilt roots to support them in the soft ground masses of climbing vines called Lanas close the gaps in the canopy overhead Great Lengths of their Woody stems feston the forest with their spirally twisted and caike forms although found in every plant Community climbers are more abundant in the tropical rainforest than in any other plant formation profuse 2 are plants which grow without soil attached to the trunks or branches of trees and Vines these are the epiphytes or airplants from their anchorages some of these airplants send down aerial roots that take minerals and water from the Earth itself amidst all the greenery flowers grow in great numbers colors shapes and sizes in the very dim light and warm humid atmosphere of the forest floor mosses Ferns and other independ plants flourish it is here among the bases of the trees that the fungus plants acting with other agents of Decay quickly destroy the dead plant material so rapidly that much of it is not available for the growth of plants consequently there is little Reserve mineral material in the thin humus of the forest floor the variety of animal life is as rich as plant life in this community high in the aerial spaces of the forest dwell the noisiest creatures the howler monkeys their relatives are of many species they live out their acrobatic lives in the canopy the canopy also shelters a vast number of birds Gody parrots the toucans the Tira hummingbirds and the carnivorous vultures are but a few they share the trees with other animals such as the kaati Mundi the raccoon-like kinku the jaguar and the slow moving surefooted SLO here where there is no winter coldblooded animals are active the year round iguanas Turtles crocod rodiles and snakes are found in great variety so too are the amphibians such as dendrites whose poison is used to tip the arrows of some tropical Indian tribes and this tree frog about 1 and a/4 in in length whose transparent Underside is a window to its Anatomy smaller still this little amphibian about 1 in long is as Lively as its coloring by intense selection these creatures vary greatly in color size and form the sticky cups on the end of each toe of the tree frog enable it to move about on the slippery foliage this tree frog lays her eggs on the dark underside of leaves overhanging a pool of water here the young tadpoles begin to develop they will hatch and fall into the water where they will complete their development the Sicilian is a blind legless amphibian which lives in the ground this one is about 10 in Long this rare and unusual tropical animal peripitus resembles both anelids and arthropods but belongs to neither of these Fila peripitus is an ailum by itself its Stumpy legs are caterpillar likee the most numerous inhabitants of the rainforest are the arthropods among these are the web spinning spiders the hairy tarantulas poisonous scorpions and centipedes millipedes flying insects such as the butterflies and the Wasps the crawling insects like the Hercules beetle and the inchl long ponine ANS with their species numbering in the hundreds of thousands tropical insects have evolved into many diverse forms that help to protect them from their enemies this dead leaf is actually a living brown leaf Katie did deceptive enough in its costume this leaf blemish Katie did adds mimicry of the fluttering Leaf in the wind to its disguise others not so well camouflaged depend on different devices for protection this giant 3-in cockroach roams about at night and hides during the day in crevices under bark and so by the processes of natural selection most of the insect species have adapted some means of protection for survival here insects are being attracted at Night by artificial light their forms and colors reveal the variety of the niches they inhabit fascinating to study are the great societies of termites termite colonies find their niches in the abundance of dead wood here they pulverize the debris and cement the residue with salivary secretions into the intricate structure of their homes their greatest enemy is the an eater leaf cutting ants strip entire trees and shrubs of their foliage each worker ant carries a piece of leaf up to 30 times its own weight the Forest Trails of these ants can be easily observed on the leaves within their nests the ants cultivate a kind of fungus which becomes their basic food these Legions of predatory army ants May number up to a million or more individuals migrating by night to a new bivak the marching hordes of worker ants are protected by the larger soldier ants workers carry bits of food and the young here they enter the bivwak area where they will stay for several weeks the bivak is an astounding s built entirely from the interlocking bodies of the the ants from this temporary home they will move out in search of food they will attack almost any animal large or small that gets in their way to profit from such rainforest products as fruits rubber coffee and Timber man has employed many unwi practices which destroy great areas of these forests here where most of the soil is thin crops deplete the soil of its remaining fertility in a few years when it is depleted man clears more land thereby destroying more Forest on the depleted soil abandoned by man a slow succession of life will eventually begin first grasses mosses and ferns will arise next shrubs and small trees will appear then certain Pioneer tall trees will grow shading the ground from sunlight over a period of many years the succession may result again in a climax tropical rainforest comprising the greatest variety of plants and animals in any land biome that