TROPICAL FOREST: CHARACTERISTICS, TYPES, FLORA, FAUNA - GEOGRAPHY - 2025

The tropical forests or humid forests are located in the humid tropical high and low zones around the Equator. They are made up of trees 30 meters or more tall, and have wide leaves to capture as much light as possible.

It is one of the types of ecosystems with the highest species richness. Their temperature is above 27 ° C and they have variable humidity depending on the region. In addition, they regulate climate and temperature, are pure air and are home to half of the species on Earth.

Tropical flood forest in Madre de Dios, Peru

Besides the tropical forests there is also the dry forest, which has long periods of droughts; the monsoon, where the rainy season predominates; and the humid one, in which it rains throughout the year.

Because it is an environment with a lot of rain, humid and hot, in tropical forests you can find a great diversity of plants and different species of trees, birds and insects.

As an example of a rainforest, the Amazon stands out, an ecosystem that maintains a warm temperature all year round, with rainfall almost daily.

Features and benefits

Tropical forests have characteristics that provide many benefits to the environment. These include the following:

- Through photosynthesis, tropical forests produce large amounts of oxygen.

- They maintain the global temperature, since they form large dark masses that absorb heat from the sun and thus reduce temperatures.

- They protect the hydrographic basins.

- They are important stores for carbon dioxide from pollution. 50% of atmospheric carbon dioxide is absorbed by plants and stored in their tissues. They are one of the largest carbon pools on Earth.

- They protect animal and plant species, as they provide them with favorable living conditions.

- They protect soils from rainfall.

- Tropical forests provide a variety of food and other resources to the peoples that are located near them. However, this has generated a significant loss of fauna and flora as a result of the exploitation and deforestation of the forests.

Other features are detailed below; climate, location, flora, fauna and soil.

Weather

In tropical forests, the climate can vary due to its long rainy seasons or long periods of drought.

Those that are near the Equator are the warm and humid tropical forests; as long as they are separated by a greater distance from the equator, they will be drier.

The temperature never drops below 18 ° C (64 ° F) and they always find an average climate between 20 and 29 ° C (68 and 84 ° F).

However, the temperature can vary depending on the region where you are and the increase in altitude. In humid areas temperatures decrease by about 0.5 ° C (0.9 ° F).

Rainfall in tropical forests exceeds 1800 to 2500 mm per year (70 to 100 inches).

In tropical rainforests, a constant average temperature is maintained, thanks to the vertical position of the sun at noon, so that the plants do not receive a cold season that prevents their growth.

On the other hand, in rainforests there is no dry season, the environment is always saturated with humidity and solar radiation is very intense, although only 2% reaches the ground.

Rainforests do not need rain to stay humid, since plants release water into the atmosphere that turns into a thick cloud that covers most rainforests.

In most of the equatorial belt the climate is always hot and humid, and the regions to the north and south have seasonal rainfall.

Location in the world: regions

The tropical forests are those that are between 20º South and 20º North of the equator. They occupy 7% of the Earth's surface and 2% of the Earth's total.

Four regions are divided:

Afrotropical

Includes Africa, Madagascar, and other scattered islands.

Australian

Take into account Australia, New Guinea, and the Pacific Islands.

Indomalaya

It includes India, Sri Lanka, and most of the Asian continent to the south and southeast.

Neotropical

Includes South America, Central America, and the Caribbean islands. It is important to note that the largest region is located in the Amazon.

Flora

In tropical forests you can find vegetation that does not exist in other ecosystems, its plant diversity is very wide and new species are discovered each year.

They have unparalleled diversity. The variety of its species varies according to the geographical position of each region. Many of its plants are epiphytes and are found attached to the stems and leaves of larger plants .

In tropical forests there is a great diversity of plants. Some of these are as follows:

Dipterocarpus

It is the most abundant and valuable tree species that can be seen only in West Malaysia, as it is rare in New Guinea and Africa and absent from South America, Central America, and Australia.

Bromeliads

They can be found in tropical rain forests and in desert regions. They grow on trees, are able to feed on air and rain and have a great capacity for adaptation

Arecacea

Known as palms, they are produced from different species depending on the region and abound in the tropical jungle.

Ferns, mosses, liverworts, lichens, algae, different types of orchids and the cacao tree, among others, are also part of the diversity of tropical forests.

Fauna

The fauna in tropical forests is as extensive as it is varied. Some species can only be observed in certain areas, they are limited to only one or a few types of rainforest.

However, there can also be animals found in all regions, such as parrots, pigeons and weevils that eat seeds.

Among the mammals found in tropical forests are the jaguar, the Guayaquil squirrel, the coastal two-toed sloth, the tigrillo and different species of monkeys, among others.

The group of birds in tropical forests is also very extensive. The Monera eagle, the spectacled owl, the scarlet macaw, the parrots and the toucan stand out.

The tropical forests group species of reptiles such as the iguana, the rattlesnake and several species of frogs, toads and salamanders.

A great diversity of amphibians and insects also live there, particularly beetles, ants, butterflies, bees and other invertebrates.

Ecosystem

Tropical forests represent one of the oldest ecosystems on the planet. Its complex structure allows it to create different habitats for each of the species.

Due to the high richness in its ecosystem, it is considered the largest refuge for both animal and plant species on the planet.

This is because it has 50% of the world's plant and animal resources, 50% of vertebrates, 60% of plant species and 90% of known species.

In tropical forests the temperature and light remain constant throughout the year.

Despite the fact that tropical forests are home to a great diversity of species, there are few individuals of each of these.

Despite being one of the greatest treasures on Earth, its ecosystem is constantly attacked by man through the hunting of endangered species, logging and indiscriminate logging.

Floor

Soils found in tropical forests contain few nutrients due to high temperatures and constant rainfall. Like plant and animal species, soil types in tropical forests will vary.

In the tropics they are reddish brown or yellowish red. In contrast, in humid areas they have a high clay content and a low sediment content.

Tropical forests protect soils against different types of erosion and play an important role in regulating pollinators, pests and diseases.

The vegetation that occurs in humid forests is originated by the facility it has to retain nutrients within the ecosystem.

However, in Central America the pH and humidity affect the quality of the soils and in South America more than 90% of the soil is very poor for cultivation. This is because they are acidic and lack nutrients when washed by the abundant rain.

But despite that, they have a layer on the surface of the remains of the different types of vegetation that fall and are quickly rotten, which allows them to capture the necessary nutrients.

That is why vegetation plays an important role in the life of the soils of tropical forests; without vegetation, soils would be exposed to eroding.

A study conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), confirmed that 56% of forest soils tropical are very poor for agriculture or livestock.

Types of tropical forests

Dry tropical

During one time of the year they are green and leafy, but like temperate forests in winter, in this type of forest the trees shed their leaves.

In this case, it happens during the dry season, which usually lasts 6 months, usually between December and May. In this period, xerophilous vegetation plays a leading role. The average rainfall is between 1000 and 2000mm per year, and can fall less than 1000mm.

They are usually located between rainforests and arid ecosystems. The best known examples are: the Gran Chaco in Bolivia and the Lacadona Jungle in southern Mexico, the dry forest of Madagascar and New Caledonia, famous for being the most biodiverse, as well as the entire Ecuadorian Pacific and Southeast Africa. Among the specific characteristics of the tropical dry forest or dry forest are:

• Its climate is warm all year round with temperatures between 25 and 30 ° C.
• Its average annual rainfall is between 500 and 1000 mm.
• Deciduous and evergreen trees reign. Deciduous trees in the dry forest tend to lose their foliage at the driest time of year. Sometimes they also bloom at this time, as the lack of foliage facilitates pollination. Evergreens have living leaves all year round, since the renewal cycle of each leaf is different.

Monsoon forest

It is the middle point between the tropical dry forest and the tropical rain forest. The shedding of the leaves will depend on the intensity of the drought, especially in large trees since palms and other smaller plants maintain their green all year round.

That is why this forest does not come to present the arid aspect of the dry tropical. The rainy and dry seasons last roughly the same length and an average of 2000mm falls throughout the year.

It is the type of forests present in Southeast Asia, India, part of the Amazon, Central and South America. The specific characteristics of the monsoon tropical forest or monsoon forest are:

• Its average annual temperature is greater than 18 ° C.
• Its average annual rainfall is approximately between 1500 and 3000 mm. It is the transitional forest between dry forests and humid or rain forests.
• The ⅔ parts of all the fauna and flora of the planet inhabit these forests. They can grow all kinds of plants, even mosses and ferns in cold weather because they are protected by larger and more leafy trees.
• Monsoon forests are the jungle of the Congo, the Yungas in Peru, the Amazon Rainforest and the Rainforest of Nueva Guinea.

Tropical rain forest

In this type of forest there is really no dry season and rainfall is high, reaching more than 5000mm per year. In this case, the vegetation leaf is perennial, that is, it remains green throughout the year. It is the most widespread and the most important.

Despite making up only 7% of the earth's surface, more than 50% of the world's animal and plant species live in its jaws. One hectare of rainforest can have more than 600 different types of plants.

It is in the vicinity of the terrestrial Ecuador, in South America, Africa and Southeast Asia. The most famous and important in the world is the Amazon. The specific characteristics of the humid tropical forest or jungle are the following:

• Its average annual temperature is between 25 and 27 ° C. The difference between winter and summer is 2 to 3 degrees.
• Its average rainfall ranges from 2000 to 5000 mm annually.
• Epiphytic plants rule, which are plants that grow on top of others. They are called climbing roots and their relationship with the plant that supports them is not parasitic. They are plants that obtain moisture from the air or rain and may have a special type of root, scales and other elements that keep the water stored. Being climbers, they avoid herbivorous animals.
• The rain forests of Nueva Guinea and the tropical forest in Chocó in Colombia are humid or rainy forests.

Flood forests

They tend to be in the vicinity of tropical rain forests, and occur due to the flooding of rivers present in forests with a lot of precipitation. Its importance lies in the dispersion of sediments and the transport of nutrients to the soils of the neighboring forests, such as silt in the Andes.

In the Amazon, flooded forests have many fruit plants, attractive to different mammals. They are present in the form of mangroves on all the coasts with a warm climate and the most emblematic are: The swampy jungle to the west of Congo and the Igapó forest in Brazil.

Agriculture alongside industrial slash and burn has long been its main threat. Likewise, the excessive and poorly planned development of dams taking advantage of their floods, has upset a myriad of ecological relationships.

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