Rainforests are tropical evergreen forests. They have at least 4000mm (156 inches) of rain each year. The climate is warm and moist all year round, giving conditions in which green plants can produce huge amounts of vegetation, flowers and fruit. There is always plenty to eat for insects and the animals that, in turn, feed on them. The rainforest also offers an extraordinarily wide range of habitats for living things.
Rainforests are areas of extremely high biodiversity compared to other ecosystems. In the rainforests of Borneo, scientists have documented more than 15,000 plant species, including 2,500 species of orchids! Biologists estimate that tropical rainforests contain about 50% of the world’s terrestrial plant and animal species, yet they encompass only about 6% of the world’s land area.
Rainforests have 170,000 of the world’s 250,000 known plant species. The United States has 81 species of frogs, while Madagascar, which is smaller than Texas, may have 500 species. An area of rainforest the size of two football fields (one hectare) may have more than 400 species of trees, while an equal area of forest in the United States may have fewer than 20. Europe has 570 butterfly species, while Manu National Park, a single reserve in Peru, has 1,300 species.
Because rainforests are located in tropical regions, they receive a lot of sunlight. The sunlight is converted to energy by plants through the process of photosynthesis. Since there is a lot of sunlight, there is a lot of energy in the rainforest. This energy is stored in plant vegetation, which is eaten by animals. The abundance of energy supports an abundance of plant and animal species.
The canopy structure of the rainforest provides an abundance of places for plants to grow and animals to live. The canopy offers sources of food, shelter, and hiding places, providing for interaction between different species. For example, there are plants in the canopy called bromeliads that store water in their leaves. Frogs and other animals use these pockets of water for hunting and laying their eggs. Many species in the rainforest, especially insects and fungi, have not even been discovered yet by scientists. Every year new species of mammals, birds, frogs, and reptiles are found in rainforests.
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