Layers+of+a+Rainforest

=**What are the layers of a Rainforest?**=

A rain forest is different form other forests because it gets a lot of rain. It is dense with trees. Rainforests are home to two thirds of all the living [|animal] and [|plant] species on the planet. It has been estimated that many hundreds of millions of new species of plants, insects and microorganisms are still undiscovered. Tropical rain forests are called the "jewels of the earth", and the "world's largest pharmacy" because of the large number of natural medicines discovered there. Tropical rain forests are also often called the "Earth's lungs", however there is no scientific basis for such a claim as tropical rainforests are known to be essentially oxygen neutral, with little or no net oxygen production.[|[1]].[|[2]] The undergrowth in a rainforest is restricted in many areas by the lack of sunlight at ground level. This makes it possible for people and other animals to walk through the forest. If the leaf canopy is destroyed or thinned for any reason, the ground beneath is soon colonized by a dense tangled growth of vines, shrubs and small trees called [|jungl]
 * Researcher1**
 * rain forests**, are [|forests] characterized by high [|rainfall], with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750 mm and 2000 mm (68 inches to 78 inches).


 * Researcher 2**[[image:rainforest_monkey.jpg width="55" height="78" align="left"]]
 * The natural distribution of equatorial rainforest.** The global distribution of equatorial rainforest is closely tied to the warm, moist climates that occur near to the Equator. Ecologists recognize this class of forests from a characteristic assemblage of features; the trees tend to have wide buttress roots that splay out near the ground, and the leaves tend to be large, evergreen and laurel-like, with an elongated tip (a 'drip tip') on the end of each leaf. In many areas the equatorial forest grades almost imperceptably over hundreds of kilometres into the vegetation of cooler and drier climates - with drip tips and buttress roots becoming progressively less common - so that there is no single point where one can objectively say that equatorial forest ends and another vegetation type begins. A gradation to colder climate vegetation occurs much more rapidly on the tropical mountains; above a few hundred metres altitude the character of the forest starts to change, until beyond about 2000m above sea level it is seen to be different enough to warrant the separate name of 'montane forest'.

**Students Research on Rainforest**
=What is a Rainforest?=

A rain forest is different form other forests because it gets a lot of rain. It is dense with trees. Rainforests are home to two thirds of all the living [|animal] and [|plant] species on the planet. It has been estimated that many hundreds of millions of new species of plants, insects and microorganisms are still undiscovered. Tropical rain forests are called the "jewels of the earth", and the "world's largest pharmacy" because of the large number of natural medicines discovered there. Tropical rain forests are also often called the "Earth's lungs", however there is no scientific basis for such a claim as tropical rainforests are known to be essentially oxygen neutral, with little or no net oxygen production.[|[1]].[|[2]] The undergrowth in a rainforest is restricted in many areas by the lack of sunlight at ground level. This makes it possible for people and other animals to walk through the forest. If the leaf canopy is destroyed or thinned for any reason, the ground beneath is soon colonized by a dense tangled growth of vines, shrubs and small trees called [|jungl]
 * Researcher1**
 * rain forests**, are [|forests] characterized by high [|rainfall], with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750 mm and 2000 mm (68 inches to 78 inches).