Tropical Rainforests  

are evergreen tropical woodland regions which are located around the equator and home to the most diverse fauna and flora of any ecosystems in the world. Trees are the main feature and constitute 70% of all plants and often 200+ different species can be found in one hectare alone. They structure the forest vertically with several layers of canopies. The tallest trees, reaching heights over 40m, are called emergents as they emerge over the lower closed canopies and stand alone. The lower levels are constituted by somewhat smaller trees and palms forming closed canopies. This is the vertical region of the forest with the majority of plants and animals. Epiphytes, like orchids, bromeliads and ferns sit there and the woody vines and strangler figs start growing in those treetops and shoot down their roots to reach the soil. It is also the habitat for most birds and mammals feeding on their fruits. The forest bottom receives very little light (often only 1%) and the vegetation is therefore sparse and easy to move through with only a few seedlings and shade tolerant shrubs and plants. Only in spots where more light reaches the bottom like at the shores of rivers and lakes can flowering plants like heliconias establish themselves. Trees reach ages for several centuries in this forest and only in areas where natural disasters like wind or lightning felled larger trees and opened up space can new vegetation establish itself and thus renew the forest.

The typical reddish or yellowish tropical forest soils are very poor in nutrients because of continuous leaching by rainfall. The root system of the trees are very shallow running on top where some nutrients can be found through decompositions of dead foliage. Often fungi on the root ends help with an rapid uptake of them. Three major sub-ecosystems can be distinguished in rainforests, which are guazu or terra firme, higher land which are never flooded and support the tallest trees like the Ceibo. Regions which are flooded periodically are called varzea and support smaller trees needing more water like the latex trees. Areas which are almost always flooded or swamps are named igapo, having their own distinct vegetation and animals.

From all the tropical rainforest regions of the world, the one of the Amazon, which has still a continuous area of about 6 million km2 is the richest of them all, with the highest biodiversity of any ecosystem in the world. There are guesses of up to 10 million possible species, most of them insects, which inhabit those woods. Ecuador has a small part of this rich ecosystem, starting in the foothills east of the Andes mountains at 1500m and stretching into the Lowlands of a few hundred meters. But the country also boasts of another rainforest on the coastal plains in the northern province of Esmeraldas, stretching west from the Andes to the Pacific ocean, which is smaller in area but as biological diverse as the Amazonian part.

The most numerous of all animals living in the rainforests are the invertebrates, which number in the millions and still wait to be classified. Ants play an important role in the forest, living often together in a symbiotic relationship with trees. Beetles abound and often individual tree species have their own species of beetles. Often many generations of butterflies fly at the same time in the woods and the famous bright blue Morpho can be admired along small streams. Spiders are well represented with many species, among them the large tarantulas. Walking sticks, grasshoppers, praying mantis, wasps, flies and many others, all play an important role in the forest.

The rainforest is also home to a wide range of birds, which often are important seed dispersers along with mammals. The most famous but unfortunately already rarely seen, is the mighty King Vulture, called so because all other birds yield once it arrives at a feeding place. Other interesting birds are Eagles, among them the famous Harpy Eagle which can grab monkeys right out of the tree tops. A strange and pre-historic bird is the hoatzin, which is found in the shrubs near lagoons. Other well known birds are the colorful Macaws and the huge billed Toucans, which can be seen mostly flying over the tree tops. Caciques & Oropendulas weave beautiful pendant nests suspended from branches of taller trees. Other ones making their home in the forests are Hummingbirds, kingfishers, cotingas, woodpeckers, Caracaras and many more.

The largest mammal found in the rainforest is the Amazon Tapir. This non-aggressive animal eats plants and can weigh up to 300kg and is the largest land animal of Ecuador. The cat family is represented by the mighty jaguar, the versatile puma and the smaller ocelot. All of them are rarely seen now and endangered due to hunting and habitat destruction. Primates are made up by the New World monkeys, all of them tree dwellers and excellent climbers using a strong prehensile tail. There are 19 species of primates, among them the woolly and spider monkeys, two of the more larger ones, capuchins and the small squirrel monkeys. Another important group are the edentates, to which the armadillo, sloth and anteater belong. Rodents are well represented in the rainforests, with the largest living rodent in the world, the capybara found among them.

 Amphibians are also well represented and interesting ones are the tree frogs, including the colorful and tiny poison-arrow frogs, so called because the indigenous used and still use their toxins on the tip of their blow pipe arrows. Reptiles are numerous with many snakes inhabiting the forests. The mighty anaconda is the queen among them, growing to several meters and are found near rivers and lagoons. Turtles inhabit the waters and one specie is found on land and crocodiles are represented by the caimans.

 Another area which is very rich in species are the waters of the rainforest, where you find more species of fish like in a comparable area of the open oceans. Piranhas, stingrays, huge catfish and electric eels are among the more interesting ones. The reason for that is, as many fruits and plants fall into the water there is always a great supply of food present for them. But not only fish, also river dolphins and manatee make their home there.

The natural rainforest is very diverse in plants with woody species being dominant as mentioned above. Over thousand of years the indigenous people of the forest learned to use many plants for their benefits. Palm trees were used in construction of their houses or yielded material for their weapons like blowpipes and spears. Some species of trees were perfect for making dugout canoes, the most important mean of transportation on the rivers. They also found plants with medicinal properties used by the shamans to cure their own people. Modern science confirms now that those plants indeed have those properties and some already found their way into modern medicine like the curare, a woody vine, used in heart and lung surgery.

 The forest is home to various Indian Ethnic Groups, like Cofans, Secoyas, Huaoranis, Shuars and Achuars to mention some, who have their own distinct culture and language. They lived there for thousand of years, adapting themselves to the unique forest environment and became an integral part of it. For a long time those people were left to themselves and the first time outside people showed real interest in the rainforest were in the 19th century by the discovery of natural rubber, when northern Indian tribes were hired to gather this precious tree sap. But still the contact with the Amazon Indians was very limited with only a few missionaries daring to venture into deeper wood regions and harvesting of valuable hardwood trees started at the edges of the forest. All this changed after the second world war with the building of roads into the interior and outside people starting to colonize the fringes. The big push came then in the 1970's with the discovery of oil and the whole region became an economic priority of the nation. The lives of the indigenous people changed completely and their old traditional ways are getting replaced by the modern lifestyles like in the rest of the country. But not only the life of the first nation people changes, there also significant changes to the forest ecosystem. Oil exploration continues and protected areas like Yasuni National Park are not immune to them. With the building of roads, more and more colonists come to those frontiers from poor regions of the country to try to improve their lives. Although no slash and burn are practiced on such a large scale like on the eastern edges of the Amazon, more and more of the trees are cut as valuable lumber or have to yield to the establishing of farms and cattle ranches and infrastructure in general.

 An educated guess is that in less than a hundred years, most of the Amazon forest is gone and only remnants of this ecosystem are left, like it happened a hundred years ago with the grasslands of the American and Canadian prairies or the dry tropical forests on the American Pacific Coast. Some species will survive but the majority will be lost.