TROPICAL RAIN FOREST

By:Cecep Kusmana

Faculty of Forestry, IPB2010

The word of TROPICAL RAIN FOREST was introduced by the German Botanist A.F.W. Schimper pada tahun 1898 (Abad 19)

TROPISCHE REGENDWALD = Tropical Rain Forest pada buku : Plant Geography upon an ecological basis

Morphological Stand Characteristic of Tropical Rain Forest

High species richness with the greatest numbers of co-existing plant and animal special

The vast majoring of the plants are woody. Only some of the epiphytes and a small proportion of the undergrowth are herbaceous

The basic components of forests are tall trees with an average maximum height of about 30 m, which asosiation with herbs, climbers, epiphytes, stranglers, saprophytes and parasites

Liana

Strangler

Liverworth

mosses

Lichen

Sisik naga (epifit)

Tropical Rain Forest shows 5 layers (3 layers for trees, shrub layer, and herb layer)

Flowering, fruiting, shedding of leaves and their replacement often take place continuously throughout the year with different species involved at different times

Trees in Tropical rain Forest are strikingly uniform in general appearance and form

Straight and slender trend with branching mostly near top

At the base, the trunks of some trees have buttresses

Barks of trees are often thin and smooth without conspicuous figures or lenticels

Leaves tend to be large, leathery, and dark green with entire or nearly entire margin simple with extended driptips. Some young leaves are brightly colour bring either reddish or whitish in colour

The flowers are often small, inconspicuous, and of greenish or whitish colour

The size of trees is high in heights (46 – 55 m, exceptional 60 – 90 m, average 30 m) and large in girths (up to 17 m). But, the trees of Tropical Rain Forest are not the tallest and the biggest on earth

Even though the undergrowth of Tropical Rain Forest is made up of shrubs, herbs, saplings and seedlings of trees, the undisturbed forest is easy to be penetred

Abundant and luxuriance of climbers and epiphytes (orchids, ferns, semi-parasitic Lorantheceae and stranglers of ficus)

Stratification (layering)

1) A-Storey (upperanst tree layer) is made up of emergent trees about 30 – 45 m high with discontinuous canopy. Those emergent trees show shallow rooting and buttresses

2) B-Storey (second tree layer, main canopy) is made up of the trees of about 18 – 27 m high with continuous canopy layer

3) C-Storey (third tree layer) is composed of trees rising to a height of about 8 – 14 m, with form dense layer, particularly the B-Storey does not do so

4) Shrub layer consisting of species with heights mostly below 10 m

a. Shrub with branching near the base, no main axis

b. Small trees with prominent main axis (treelet) and including the saplings)

5) Herb layer consisting of smaller plants which are either seedlings or herbacious species (Zingiberaceae, Acanthaceae, Commelinaceae, Araceae, Maranthaceae, etc.)

6) In some regions, there is single-dominant rain forest, in which a single species of tree forms as much as 80% or more of the whole stand. The highest stratum often forms a continuous canopy unlike in mixed forest. i.e.:

Mora Forest in the lowland of Trinidad

Wallaba Forest of Guiana, dominated by Eperua falcata

Cynometra alexandri forest in Africa

Talbotiella gentii forest in Ghana

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