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Fungi are also very common in rainforest areas as they can feed on the decomposing remains of plants and animals. The great diversity in rainforest species is in large part the result of diverse and numerous physical refuges , [ 25 ] i.e. places in which plants are inaccessible to many herbivores, or in which animals can hide from predators.
The Valdivian forests are a refuge for the Antarctic flora, and share many plant families with the temperate rainforests of New Zealand, Tasmania, and Australia. Fully half the species of woody plants are endemic to this ecoregion. Chusquea quila is a bamboo that grows in humid areas below 500 m, where Chusquea culeou becomes more dominant above.
Only about 5% of sunlight breaches the canopy to arrive at the understory causing true understory plants to seldom grow to 3 m (10 feet). As an adaptation to these low light levels, understory plants have often evolved much larger leaves. Many seedlings that will grow to the canopy level are in the understory.
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.
The canopy's coverage affects the shade tolerance levels of forest floor plants. When the canopy is in full bloom, covering about 95% of the floor, plant survival decreases. Some plant species have become shade tolerant in order to survive. The treetops take in the heavy amount of rain and keep the lower levels of the forest damp.
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.
Socratea exorrhiza, the walking palm or cashapona, is a palm native to rainforests in tropical Central and South America.It can grow to 25 metres in height, with a stem diameter of up to 16 cm, [1] but is more typically 15–20 m tall and 12 cm in diameter. [2]
Heliconia mariae inflorescence Heliconia psittacorum. 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]