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Tropical rainforest ecosystems include significant areas of biodiversity, often coupled with high species endemism. [4] 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.
Amazon River rain forest in Peru. Tropical rainforests are hot and wet. Mean monthly temperatures exceed 18 °C (64 °F) during all months of the year. [4] Average annual rainfall is no less than 1,680 mm (66 in) and can exceed 10 m (390 in) although it typically lies between 1,750 mm (69 in) and 3,000 mm (120 in). [5]
Scientists estimate that more than half of all the world's plant and animal species live in tropical rainforests. Tropical seasonal forests , also known as moist deciduous , monsoon or semi-evergreen (mixed) seasonal forests, have a monsoon or wet savannah climates (as in the Köppen climate classification ): receiving high overall rainfall ...
Tropical rainforests have been called the "jewels of the Earth" and the "world's largest pharmacy", because over one quarter of natural medicines have been discovered there. [2] Rainforests as well as endemic rainforest species are rapidly disappearing due to deforestation, the resulting habitat loss and pollution of the atmosphere. [3]
Lianas are characteristic of tropical moist broadleaf forests (especially seasonal forests), but may be found in temperate rainforests and temperate deciduous forests. There are also temperate lianas, for example the members of the Clematis or Vitis (wild grape) genera.
These all share a common "strangling" growth habit that is found in many tropical forest species. [1] [failed verification] This growth habit is an adaptation for growing in dark forests where the competition for light is intense. These plants are hemiepiphytes, spending the first part of their life without rooting into the ground. Their seeds ...
The Hawaiian tropical rainforests are a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in the Hawaiian Islands. They cover an area of 6,700 km 2 (2,600 sq mi) in the windward lowlands and montane regions of the islands. [1] Coastal mesic forests are found at elevations from sea level to 300 m (980 ft). [2]
Heliconia is a genus of flowering plants in the monotypic family Heliconiaceae. Most of the 194 known species [3] are native to the tropical Americas, but a few are indigenous to certain islands of the western Pacific and Maluku in Indonesia. [2] Many species of Heliconia are found in the tropical forests of these regions.