top of page
Layers of a
Rainforest
Emergent Layer
The top layer of the rainforest is called an emergent layer, it’s where trees as tall as 60 meters (200 feet), foliage is often dispersed on tree trunks. Small, waxy leaves help trees to retain water during long droughts or dry seasons. In the Amazon rainforest, the towering trees of the emergent layer are mostly composed of the Brazil nut tree and the Kapok tree. The Brazil nut tree can live up to 1,000 years in undisturbed rainforest habitats. Different from many other rainforest species, both the Brazil nut tree and the Kapok tree are deciduous, meaning that they shed their leaves annually.
Canopy Layer
Beneath the Emergent layer is the Canopy layer, which is a deep layer of vegetation roughly around 6 meters (20 feet) thick. The canopy’s dense and connections of leaves and branches forms a roof over the two remaining layers. The canopy blocks winds, sunlight, and rainfall, which creates, a dark, still, and humid environment on the layers below. The trees below have adapted by producing gloss leaves with pointed tips that repel water. While the trees in the emergent layers depend on wind to spread their seeds, the trees on the canopy layer rely on animals eating fruits that the trees produce, and encased in their fruits are the seeds. Fig trees, common throughout most of the world’s tropical rainforests, may be one of the most familiar fruits in the rainforest. Most animals in the rainforest reside in the canopy layer because of the bountiful vegetation that the canopy layer has, and most canopy dwellers are notable for their shrill or frequent vocalizing, in the Amazon rainforest canopy fruits are picked up in the beaks of screeching scarlet macaws and keel-billed toucans, and picked by barking spider and howler monkeys. The silent two-toed sloth feeds on the leaves, shoots, and fruit in the canopy.
Understory Layer
Located several meters below the Canopy layer is the understory layer, the trees in the understory layer has wider leaves than those at the canopy layers. Understory plants’ large leaves catch the minimal sunlight reaching beyond the dense canopy. In the understory layers the trees produce flowers that are large and easy to see, such as Heliconia, native to the Americas and the South Pacific. The fruit and seeds of many understory shrubs in temperate rainforests are edible. Central Africa’s tropical rainforest canopies and understory is home to many endangered animals such as, forest elephants, pythons, antelopes, and gorillas. Animals such as jaguars call the understory layers as their home because of the camouflage it gives to them.
Forest Floor
The forest floor layer is the darkest of all 4 layers, making it extremely difficult for plants to grow. Leaves that fall to the forest floors decay quickly. Decomposers, thrive on the forest floor because organic matters fall from above and they can decompose of it, the shallow roots of the rainforest trees absorbs the nutrients from the organic matters, and there’re dozens of predators to consume the decomposers. The forest floor is mostly composed of predator and prey, predators such as, anteaters & leopards lurk on the forest floor searching for prey. The prey hides from predators beneath the shallow roots of trees that dominate the canopy and emergent layer. Rivers that run through the forest floor often creates an unusual freshwater habitat, such as the amazon river, the amazon river is home to the pink river dolphin, one of the fewer freshwater dolphin species in the world.
bottom of page