A rainforest is a forest that gets heavy rainfall. The most notable rainforests are in the tropics or subtropics. The biggest rainforest is the Amazon rainforest, which is mostly in Brazil.
Forests like this have extraordinary biodiversity. Over half of all plant and animal species live in the rainforest. Also more than 1/4 of all medicines come from here.[1] They are an important source of oxygen, but not so much as the seas.[2][3]
The rainforest gets an average of 50 to 250 inches (1.2-6.3m) of rain through the year. It is warm all year round rarely getting above 34°C (94 °F) or getting below 20 °C (68 °F). It has an average humidity of 77 to 88%. Tropical rainforests occur in three major geographical areas around the world.[4]
A less-used term is temperate rainforest. For temperate rain forests of North America,[5] annual precipitation is over 140 cm (55 in), and the mean annual temperature is between 4 and 12 °C (39 and 54 °F). However, definitions in other countries differ. For example, Australian definitions are ecological-structural rather than climatic:
This definition would not suit the forests of western North America, and so the term "temperate rainforest" is not so widely agreed. The weather in a rainforest would be humid, which is wet but warm like a greenhouse.
The bottom-most layer gets only 2% of the sunlight. Only plants adapted to low light can grow in this region. The understory layer lies between the canopy and forest floor. It is a home to a number of birds, snakes and lizards as well as predators such as jaguars or leopards on the forest floor. The leaves are much bigger at this level and insect life is abundant.
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