What are the main characteristics of a rain forest?

Answer 1

The tropical rain forest is a forest of tall trees in a region of year-round warmth. An average of 50 to 260 inches (125 to 660 cm.) of rain falls yearly.

Temperature is on average 20-25° C and varies little throughout the year: the average temperatures of the three warmest and three coldest months do not differ by more than 5 degrees.
Precipitation is evenly distributed throughout the year, with annual rainfall exceeding 2000 mm.
Soil is nutrient-poor and acidic. Decomposition is rapid and soils are subject to heavy leaching.
Canopy in tropical forests is multilayered and continuous, allowing little light penetration.
Flora is highly diverse: one square kilometer may contain as many as 100 different tree species. Trees are 25-35 m tall, with buttressed trunks and shallow roots, mostly evergreen, with large dark green leaves. Plants such as orchids, bromeliads, vines (lianas), ferns, mosses, and palms are present in tropical forests.
Fauna include numerous birds, bats, small mammals, and insects.

Answer 2

They have a lot of trees!! Common characteristics of tropical trees. Tropical species frequently possess one or more of the following attributes not seen in trees of higher latitudes. Buttresses: many species have broad, woody flanges at the base of the trunk. Originally believed to help support the tree, now it is believed that the buttresses channel stem flow and its dissolved nutrients to the roots. Large leaves are common among trees of the C layer. Young individuals of trees destined for the B and A layers may also have large trees. When the reach the canopy new leaves will be smaller. The large leaf surface helps intercept light in the sun-dappled lower strata of the forest. Drip tips facilitate drainage of precipitation off the leaf to promote transpiration. They occur in the lower layers and among the saplings of species of the emergent layer (A layer). Other characteristics that distinguish tropical species of trees from those of temperate forests include Exceptionally thin bark, often only 1-2 mm thick. Usually very smooth, although sometimes armed with spines or thorns. Cauliflory, the development of flowers (and hence fruits) directly from the trunk, rather than at the tips of branches. Large fleshy fruits attract birds, mammals, and even fish as dispersal agents. Soil: Oxisols, infertile, deeply weathered and severely leached, have developed on the ancient Gondwanan shields. Rapid bacterial decay prevents the accumulation of humus. The concentration of iron and aluminum oxides by the laterization process gives the oxisols a bright red color and sometimes produces minable deposits (e.g., bauxite). On younger substrates, especially of volcanic origin, tropical soils may be quite fertile. Subclimaxes: Distinct communities (varzea) develop on floodplains. Jungles may line rivers where sunlight penetrates all layers of the forest. Where forests have long been cleared and laterites have developed to cause season waterlogging of the substrate, tropical grasslands and palm savannas occur. Fauna: Animal life is highly diverse. Common characteristics found among mammals and birds (and reptiles and amphibians, too) include adaptations to an arboreal life (for example, the prehensile tails of New World monkeys), bright colors and sharp patterns, loud vocalizations, and diets heavy on fruits.

Answer 3

Plants and trees that u can not get through ,with rain and more rain. Every thing grows like it is a wild plant.

Answer 4

produces its own rain
high canapy,
complex levels of bio diversity.
constant humidity
and in the tropics ,constant heat
uninterupted growth

Answer 5

in rain forests u find very big trees, and very dense environment that is swampy.