Tropical Rainforest

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Tropical Rainforest

• Adaptations of plants to the conditions in the
  tropical rainforest

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Why Adapt

• Plants in the rainforest must adapt to the
  EQUATORIAL CLIMATE.
• It is a hot and wet climate.

• Adaptations help the plants in the rainforest to
• Get Sunlight, water, air or nutrients
• Not to be eaten
• Stay put
• Reproduce

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Adapting to high rainfall

• The leaves of many of the plants in the
  rainforest has drip tips for this purpose.
• Also the buttress roots provide extra support for
  trees growing in the spongy wet soils

• With over 2000mm of rain per year, plants must
  shed water efficiently

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Drip tip leaves and Buttress roots
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Adapting to A lot or lack of sunlight

• Large leaves are common in the rainforest. They
  increase the amount of sunlight a plant can
  capture.
• Other plants like orchids, bromeliads and ferns
  grow as epiphytes high up in the canopy where
  there is more sunlight.

• The Canopy layer of the tropical rainforest
  blocks out 90 of the sunlight, making the forest
  floor very dark.

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These are bromeliads
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Bark is thin and smooth

• Main objective is to grow towards the sunlight.
• Second, smoothness of the bark makes it difficult
  for other plants to grow on them.

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Lianas

• Lianas are climbing woody vines that drape
  rainforest trees. They have roots in the ground
  and climbing high into the tree canopy to reach
  available sunlight.
• Many start their lives in the rainforest canopy
  by sending their roots to the ground for food.

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