Welcome to a tropical rainforest, home to over half of all known plant and animal species. This greenhouse offers a view unimaginable in the wild. Here you can see both the canopy – the top part of the forest – and the plants on the ground level.
Lush and diverse
With all the sunlight, heat and humidity, the plants of the tropical rainforest never get any rest. They thrive high in the canopy, where the light is brightest, and grow more slowly on the shady forest floor. Epiphytic plants and lianas cling to the trees everywhere.
Hot and humid
These tropical rainforests form a largely unbroken belt around the equator. The most extensive is in the Amazon basin in South America, followed by those in Central Africa and Southeast Asia. These regions are hot and humid all year round.
Although this ecosystem covers barely 10% of our planet’s land surface, it is home to a wider diversity of plant and animal life than any other terrestrial habitat.
Rich and threatened
The world’s tropical rainforests have been home to different peoples for thousands of years. They provide us with precious timber and medicinal plants. They also provide essential habitats for countless numbers of insects and animals.
Tropical rainforests are responsible for one third of the photosynthesis occurring on the surface of the Earth. But these vast expanses have been plundered and have already lost much of their wealth. They continue to disappear, taking part of our global genetic heritage along with them.
