Rainforest: Multi-storey building as a survival strategy

instagram viewer

The plants of the tropical rainforest benefit from the so-called multi-storey building, as this enables them to meet the most diverse demands on living and growth conditions. Which species grow on the individual floors?

Rainforests form a multi-storey building.
Rainforests form a multi-storey building.

Multi-storey building in the rainforest of the lowlands

  • Evergreen forest areas that have settled in those areas of the tropics that have a high level of humidity all year round are referred to as rainforests. Depending on the region, the rainforests form a different number of floors.
  • For example, the tropical forest of the lowlands not only has a very large variety of plant species, but also also over most floors - up to five (rather seldom), but at least three storey buildings in these areas on.
  • The top of the levels is formed by giant trees that grow up to sixty meters in height. The middle floor consists of trees thirty to forty meters tall. Their crowns form a dense canopy of leaves. The lowest level belongs to the plant species that are up to 15 meters high, including u. a. also young trees.
  • There is no herbaceous layer in these rainforest formations, as the dense canopy of the middle floor does not allow any growth on the ground.

Rainforests in mountain regions

  • In the mountains of tropical regions, too, there are forests in which optimal living conditions prevail due to high humidity. Here too, the diversity of plants requires strategies that ensure that light and water benefit everyone.
  • Tropical rainforest ecosystem - the importance for the global climate explained in an understandable way

    Again and again it is said that tropical rainforests are a closed ecosystem ...

  • However, the range of different species in the mountains is not as broad as in the lowlands. Therefore, one finds a multi-storey building in these forests, which is usually limited to two floors. In addition to trees with crowns at a height of around 30 meters, there are mainly shrubs and herbaceous plants that find good living conditions here, even near the ground.
  • Orchids, which belong to the epiphytes, are also common. These grow, so to speak, as "epicures" on other plant species, but do not live parasitically on their nutrient reserves, but use the external resources of their environment.

How helpful do you find this article?

click fraud protection