The tropical rainforest is earth's most complex biome in terms of both structure and species diversity.

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Geography

Tropical forest

        The tropical rainforest is earth's most complex biome in terms of both structure and species diversity. 

Climate: Mean monthly temperatures are above 64 ° F; precipitation is often in excess of 100 inches a year. There is usually a brief season of reduced precipitation. In monsoon areas, there is a real dry season, but that is more than compensated for with abundant precipitation the rest of the year.

Vegetation: A vertical stratification of three layers of trees is apparent.

  • A layer: Widely spaced trees 100 to 120 feet tall and with umbrella-shaped canopies extend above the general canopy of the forest. Since they must contend with drying winds, they tend to have small leaves and some species are deciduous during the brief dry season.
  • B layer: a closed canopy of 80-foot trees. Light is readily available at the top of this layer, but greatly reduced below it.
  • C layer: a closed canopy of 60-foot trees. There is little air movement in this zone and consequently humidity is constantly high.
  • Shrub/sapling layer: Less than 3 percent of the light intercepted at the top of the forest canopy passes to this layer. Arrested growth is characteristic of young trees capable of a rapid surge of growth when a gap in canopy above them opens.
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Ground layer: sparse plant growth. Less than 1 percent of the light that strikes the top of the forest penetrates to the forest floor. In such darkness few green plants grow. The canopy above also reduces moisture: one third of the precipitation is intercepted before it reaches the ground.

Taiga

        The taiga forest exists as a nearly continuous belt of coniferous trees across North America and Eurasia. Overlying formerly glacial areas, the forest is covered in plant communities sensitive to varying environmental conditions. Taiga is the Russian name for this forest, which covers so much of that country. However, ...

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