Tropical Rainforests

Rainforest Basics

Before talking about the rainforests found in Taman Negara, it might be useful to learn a bit more about rainforests in general. For a great introduction to many aspects of tropical rainforests check out Rhett Butler's awesome website Mongabay.com (http://rainforests.mongabay.com/).

Distribution

Tropical rainforests are found in tropical regions of Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America. Historically, tropical rainforests covered up 6 million square miles (15.5 million square km) which accounts for about 12% of the land surface on Earth. Today coverage of tropical rainforests has been reduced to 2.4 million square miles so now tropical rainforests only cover about 5% of the Earth's surface. The largest remaining tropical rainforests are found in the Amazon Basin.


map from Mongabay.com

Canopy Structure

(I can't discuss rainforest canopy structure any better than Rhett Butler already has, so the this section is taken from his Mongabay.com website with a few of my photos from Taman Negara added)

Rainforests are characterized by a unique vegetative structure consisting of several vertical layers including the overstory, canopy, understory, shrub layer, and ground level. The canopy refers to the dense ceiling of leaves and tree branches formed by closely spaced forest trees. The upper canopy is 100-130 feet above the forest floor, penetrated by scattered emergent trees, 130 feet or higher, that make up the level known as the overstory. Below the canopy ceiling are multiple leaf and branch levels known collectively as the understory. The lowest part of the understory, 5-20 feet (1.5-6 meters) above the floor, is known as the shrub layer, made up of shrubby plants and tree saplings.


diagram from Mongabay.com

Rainforest canopy from canopy level.


Ranforest canopy from above.


Overstory tree.


The heavy vegetation of the canopy effectively screens light from the forest floor, and in a true (primary) equatorial rainforest, there is little jungle-like ground growth to impede movement. Ground vegetation in primary forest is minimal and usually consists mainly of lianas (vines) and tree seedlings.