1. Tropical rainforests receive the greatest amount of rainfall of any other biome and are consistently warm.
Few abiotic limiting factors for plant growth.
Rainforests are so dense with life that they are divided into four layers:
Emergent layer
Canopy
Understory
Forest Floor

2. Iguaçu Falls, border of Brazil, Argentina, and Bolivia.
The emergent layer and canopy contains the majority of the fruit, leaves, and flowers of the trees.
Most of the animal life is also found in the canopy.
Iguaçu Falls, border of Brazil, Argentina, and Bolivia.

3. Beneath the Canopy
Video

4. Tropical Rain Forests
Tropical rain forests are forests or jungles near the equator. They are characterized by large amounts of rain and little variation in temperature and contain the greatest known diversity of organisms on Earth.

5. Tropical Rain Forests
They help regulate world climate and play vital roles in the nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon cycles.
They are humid, warm, and get strong sunlight which allows them to maintain a fairly constant temperature that is ideal for a wide variety of plants and animals.

6. Tropical Rain Forests

7. The understory only receives about 5% of the sunlight that shines on the canopy.
Contains shrubs, seedlings, and some animals.
The forest floor is the darkest layer and is mostly home to decomposers like insect larvae and fungi.
Despite the rapid decomposition rate, the nutrients are reabsorbed so quickly that the topsoil is very thin.
Phallus indusiatus, Veiled Lady Fungus

8. Nutrients in Tropical Rain Forests
Most nutrients are within the plants, not the soil.
Decomposers on the rain-forest floor break down dead organisms and return the nutrients to the soil, but plants quickly absorb the nutrients.

9. Nutrients in Tropical Rain Forests
Some trees in the tropical rain forest support fungi that feed on dead organic matter on the rain-forest floor. In this relationship, the fungi transfer the nutrients form the dead matter directly to the tree.

10. Nutrients in Tropical Rain Forests
Nutrients from dead organic matter are removed so efficiently that runoff from rain forests is often as pure as distilled water.
Most tropical soils that are cleared of plants for agriculture lack nutrients and cannot support crops for more than a few years.

11. Nutrients in Tropical Rain Forests
Nutrients from dead organic matter are removed so many of the trees form above ground roots called buttresses or braces that grow sideways from the tree to provide it with extra support in the thin soil.