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View of the temperate rain forest in Mount Revelstoke National Park, British Columbia, Canada. Butler, R. A. (2005) A Place Out of Time: Tropical Rainforests and the Perils They Face. Published online: Rainforests.mongabay.com; Richards, P. W. (1996). The tropical rain forest. 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press ISBN 0-521-42194-2
A single hectare of rainforest may contain 42,000 different species of insect, up to 807 trees of 313 species and 1,500 species of higher plants. [5] Tropical rainforests have been called the "world's largest pharmacy", because over one quarter of natural medicines have been discovered within them.
Tropical rainforest ecosystems include significant areas of biodiversity, often coupled with high species endemism. [6] Rainforests are home to half of all the living animal and plant species on the planet and roughly two-thirds of all flowering plants can be found in rainforests.
Species evenness is the relative number of individuals of each species in a given area. [181] Species richness [182] is the number of species present in a given area. Species diversity [183] is the relationship between species evenness and species richness. There are many ways to measure biodiversity within a given ecosystem.
The forest floor, relatively clear of undergrowth due to the thick canopy above, is stalked by other animals such as gorillas and deer. [1] All levels of these forests contain an unparalleled diversity of invertebrate species, including New Guinea's stick insects and butterflies that can grow over 30 cm (1 ft) in length. [1]
The biodiversity of plant species is the highest on Earth with one 2001 study finding a quarter square kilometer (62 acres) of Ecuadorian rainforest supports more than 1,100 tree species. [54] A study in 1999 found one square kilometer (247 acres) of Amazon rainforest can contain about 90,790 tonnes of living plants.
Beyond the northern end of Vancouver Island, is the "perhumid rain forest zone". Douglas fir wanes as a dominant species, and the forest is primarily made up of western red cedar, Sitka spruce, and western hemlock. The Gulf of Alaska begins where the fjords of southeast Alaska end, and marks the transition into "sub-polar rain forest". Here the ...
Many rainforest animals have evolved to live solely in the canopy and never touch the ground. The canopy of a rainforest is typically about 10 m thick, and intercepts around 95% of sunlight. [9] The canopy is below the emergent layer, a sparse layer of very tall trees, typically one or two per hectare. With an abundance of water and a near ...