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Jungle Ecosystems or Biomes

An ecosystem is a community of plants and animals sharing an environment. Ecosystems vary in size. A garden pond is a microecosystem, while a forest is a medium-sized one. The largest ecosystems are called biomes. A tropical rain forest is a biome that contains a jungle ecosystem. The jungle is the most impenetrable part of the rain forest and has the highest density of plant and animal life.

Forest
- The rain forest jungle has four layers: emergent, canopy, understory and forest floor. Emergents are the trees that push up through the canopy layer toward the sunlight. Some of these trees reach 90 m, or 295 feet, in height and provide a home for bird species like the jungle eagle. The canopy layer typically reaches about 40 m, or 131 feet. The canopy is home to about 40 percent of the world's species and is one of the most productive habitats on Earth. The understory is typically composed of saplings, while the humid forest floor is covered in decomposing fruit and leaves.
Lianas
- Lianas, or creeping vines, give the jungle its characteristic appearance. Tarzan could not swing between trees without these woody plants that climb every tree to reach the sun. When the lianas reach the canopy layer, they grow across the trees to form a kind of mesh that holds all the canopy trees together. They provide bridges for animals to travel across the trees, and forest areas with a high density of lianas also have more animal species.
Animal Life
- Bats are among the most important jungle species, because they eat fruit and disperse the seeds to ensure pollination. They also consume large amounts of insects. Ants and termites are among the decomposers who keep the jungle floor cleared of debris. Parrots and many bird species live high in the canopy trees, while below them, the various monkey species, apes and lemurs live on the fruit trees. Predators in the form of big cats are traditionally a part of the jungle. The South American jungle has jaguars, the African jungle has leopards the Indian jungle regions have tigers. These large animals feed on the larger herbivores living on the jungle floor.
Climate
- The jungle climate is constant all year, as most of them are located around the equator. It is usually between 68 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit, and rarely deviates from this range. The jungle usually has sunny mornings and rainy afternoons, and like the temperature, rainfall is also constant all year. Jungles have about 80 inches of rainfall per year. Humidity is a major feature of the jungle, and is particularly high during the day. The cooler temperatures at night turn the humidity into water and cause the constant dripping from foliage.

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