Tropical Rainforest

Tropical Rainforest

A tropical rainforest is a biome found within (roughly) 10 degrees north or south of the equator. They are common in Asia,Australia, Africa, South America, Central America, Mexico and on many of the Pacific Islands. Within the World Wildlife Fund'sbiome classification, tropical rainforests are considered a type of tropical wet forest (or tropical moist broadleaf forest) and may also be referred to as lowland equatorial evergreen rainforest. Minimum normal annual rainfall between 1,750 millimetres (69 in) and 2,000 millimetres (79 in) occurs in this climate region. Mean monthly temperatures exceed 18 °C (64 °F) during all months of the year.


Other than temperate zoning (latitude) that give distinct character of tropical rainforest, other climatic factors that determining tropical rainforest biome, especially plant and  organisms are humidity and elevation. 


Tropical rainforest found in Malaysia also known as tropical moist broadleaf forest (also share some character of tropical dry forest on dry season depends on regional climatic change) can be further calssified into:


 i) Flooded forests, including freshwater swamp forests and peat swamp forests.


ii) Lowland  tropical rainforests, are forests which receive high rainfall (more than 2000 mm, or 80 inches, annually) throughout the year.


iii) Montane rainforests, biome of tropical highland mountains range which are known as cloud forests , mossy forest or mountain forest, are found in cooler-climate mountainous areas. Titiwangsa Mountains Ranges from Mount Chamah and Ulu Sepat  till  Mountains in Perak such as Mount Irau, Cameron Highland  are well known for its mossy forest beauty.

• Tropical coniferous forest - pine tree trail in Fraser Hill once have distinct character or tropical pine forest, however regional warming which correlated with deforestation and clearance of forest area for farming and plantation in nearby areas has reduce the size of coniferous forest area.

Layer of lowland tropical rainforest

A tropical rainforest is typically divided into four main layers, each with different plants and animals adapted for life in that particular area: forest floor / shrub layers , understory, canopy, and  the emergent. Only the emergent layer is unique to tropical rainforests, while the others are also found in temperate rainforests. While plant in temperate rainforest are all predominantly coniferous, tropical rainforest are blessed with diverse plant species.

The emergent layer contains a small number of very large trees which grow above the canopy layer, reaching heights of 45-55 m, although on occasion a few species will grow up to 70 m or 80 m tall. Such species of emergent layer is Tualang (koompassia excelsa) tree.

The canopy is the primary layer of the forest and forms a roof over the two remaining layers. Most canopy trees have smooth, oval leaves that come to a point. It's a maze of leaves and branches. Many animals live in this area since food is abundant. 

Little sunshine reaches the understory layer, so the plants have to grow larger leaves to obtain sufficient sunlight. The plants in this area seldom grow to 12 feet. There is a large concentration of insects here.

The shrub layer and forest floor will be dimmer than other layer. Few plants grow in this area, as a result. Since hardly any sun reaches the forest floor things begin to decay quickly. 

All this layers can only be found on lowland rainforest, as the contour change with increasing height the type canopy and layering also differ transform into montane rainforest.