The Four Levels of the Rainforest
The thick dense population of producers in a tropical rainforest provides four habitats:
Emergents: This layer is called the upper-most part of the rainforest. Trees in the emergent layer can grow 200ft tall with trunks that measure 16 ft around! Trees in this level receive direct sunlight, while the canopy receives about 75% of that sunlight.
Canopy: This is the main layer. Trees in the rainforest canopy receive 25% less sunlight than emerging trees. The rainforest canopy supports a majority of the entire rainforest animal population.
Under Canopy: Light in this layer is sparse. As a result, vegetation grows a lot shorter than the plants exposed to more sunlight.Trees in the under canopy can grow from up to 12 - 60ft tall, due to the lack of sunlight.
Forest Floor: This layer receives little to no sunlight. Not many organisms live on the forest floor. Shrubs that grow here don't live too long because less than 1% of sunlight filters through the canopy. The forest floor decomposes organic material at a quick pace because the humidity of the rainforest floor is a perfect habitat for decomposers like fungi and earth worms. Although materials decompose at a fast rate, the rainforest soil is usually nutrient poor do to it's composition and mineral deposits.
Emergents: This layer is called the upper-most part of the rainforest. Trees in the emergent layer can grow 200ft tall with trunks that measure 16 ft around! Trees in this level receive direct sunlight, while the canopy receives about 75% of that sunlight.
Canopy: This is the main layer. Trees in the rainforest canopy receive 25% less sunlight than emerging trees. The rainforest canopy supports a majority of the entire rainforest animal population.
Under Canopy: Light in this layer is sparse. As a result, vegetation grows a lot shorter than the plants exposed to more sunlight.Trees in the under canopy can grow from up to 12 - 60ft tall, due to the lack of sunlight.
Forest Floor: This layer receives little to no sunlight. Not many organisms live on the forest floor. Shrubs that grow here don't live too long because less than 1% of sunlight filters through the canopy. The forest floor decomposes organic material at a quick pace because the humidity of the rainforest floor is a perfect habitat for decomposers like fungi and earth worms. Although materials decompose at a fast rate, the rainforest soil is usually nutrient poor do to it's composition and mineral deposits.
Maintaining Equilibrium
How do plants contribute to a rainforest's humidity?
Transpiration is preformed by plants and is considerably similar to perspiration. Plants and humans have similar qualities relating to the structure of their skin.The outside layer of human skin is called the epidermis and the outside layer of plants is also called the epidermis. The paliside chlorophyll is located where the dermis layer is for humans, and the spongy mesophyll is where a human's hypodermis is located. More importantly the stoma of a plant serves as a pore and a sweat gland. The product is dew. This dew evaporates into the atmosphere during evaporative cooling. Transpiration allows gas exchanges between a water vapor and and carbon dioxide (CO2). The unbalanced exchange between H2O and CO2 cause a paradox. The larger a plants stomatal openings are the more efficiently CO2 molecules can enter and be stored for photosynthesis. The disadvantage of large stomatal openings are that plants will lose greater quantities of water, causing water-deficit stress.
Transpiration is preformed by plants and is considerably similar to perspiration. Plants and humans have similar qualities relating to the structure of their skin.The outside layer of human skin is called the epidermis and the outside layer of plants is also called the epidermis. The paliside chlorophyll is located where the dermis layer is for humans, and the spongy mesophyll is where a human's hypodermis is located. More importantly the stoma of a plant serves as a pore and a sweat gland. The product is dew. This dew evaporates into the atmosphere during evaporative cooling. Transpiration allows gas exchanges between a water vapor and and carbon dioxide (CO2). The unbalanced exchange between H2O and CO2 cause a paradox. The larger a plants stomatal openings are the more efficiently CO2 molecules can enter and be stored for photosynthesis. The disadvantage of large stomatal openings are that plants will lose greater quantities of water, causing water-deficit stress.
How much moisture?
Now that we know that plants "sweat" too we can better understand the misty wonders of the rainforest. Have you ever been packed into a crowded room on a hot day? This analogy relates to the millions of plant life packed into a tropical rainforest. Transpiration of the plants create a thick foggy atmosphere in the rainforest. One tree in the rainforest canopy can transpire 200 gallons of water vapor and 20,000 gallons of water vapor per acre into the atmosphere annually! Transpiration of rainforest trees generate the clouds and they make up for about 75% of its own rain.
Now that we know that plants "sweat" too we can better understand the misty wonders of the rainforest. Have you ever been packed into a crowded room on a hot day? This analogy relates to the millions of plant life packed into a tropical rainforest. Transpiration of the plants create a thick foggy atmosphere in the rainforest. One tree in the rainforest canopy can transpire 200 gallons of water vapor and 20,000 gallons of water vapor per acre into the atmosphere annually! Transpiration of rainforest trees generate the clouds and they make up for about 75% of its own rain.