In the rainforest, increased humidity and fever. How did plants and animals adapt to its bathing conditions?
How did the leaves adapt?
Throughout life, the leaves of some tropical plants change shape. Young trees, while they still cover them with the crowns of the trees of the upper tier, have broad, soft leaves. They are adapted to catch the smallest rays of light breaking through the upper canopy. They have a yellowish or reddish tint. So they try to escape from animal devouring. Red or yellow color may seem inedible to them.
When a tree grows to the first tier, then its leaves are reduced in size and as if covered with wax. Now there is a lot of light and the leaves have a different task. Water should completely drain from them, without attracting small animals.
The leaves of some plants can regulate the flow of sunlight. In order not to overheat in bright light, they stand parallel to the sun's rays. When the sun obscures the cloud, the leaves turn horizontally to take more solar energy for photosynthesis.
Pollination of flowers
For pollination, flowers must attract insects, birds, or bats. They attract with its bright color, smell and delicious nectar. To attract their pollinators, even plants of the upper tier decorate themselves with beautiful flowers. Moreover, during flowering, they even discard part of their leaves so that their flowers stand out more clearly.
To attract insects, orchids secrete nectar, from which the bees get drunk. They are forced to crawl along the flower, pollinating it.Other species of orchids simply slam, pollinating the insect.
But not enough, pollinate the flowers, it is still necessary to spread the seeds. Seeds are carried by animals. To attract them, plants offer them delicious fruits with seeds hidden inside. The animal eats the fruit, and the seed comes out of it along with excrement, quite capable of germination.
Sometimes plants reproduce using only one species of animal. So the American nut propagates only with the help of a large rodent agouti. Although agouti nuts are eaten completely, they burrow part of them in the ground. Our squirrels make such a reserve. Forgotten seeds germinate.
Animal food in the tropics
Animals in the midst of plenty of food are not enough food. Plants learned to protect themselves with thorns, poisons, and bitter substances. Animals over the years of evolution have found their way to adapt to living in tropical forests. They live in a certain place and lead the life that ensures his survival.
It happens that a predator eats bugs of a certain species. He learned to catch bugs quickly, spending a minimum of time and effort hunting. The predator and its prey have adapted to each other. If the bug does not become extinct, then the predator that eats them will die out.
Adaptation of animals to subtropical habitats
In the tropics, food grows and flutters all year round, but it is not enough. All conditions are created for invertebrates in the forest, and they grow to large sizes. These are millipedes, snails and stick insects. Mammals are small. There are few herbivores in the forest. There is not enough food for them.This means that there are few predators feeding them. There are no animals with long horns. With them it is difficult to navigate the tropics. Mammals move quietly. Thus, they are saved from overheating.
Excellent live in the tropics for nimble monkeys. They quickly move through the forest, looking for places where a lot of fruit has grown. The tail of a monkey replaces its fifth limb. The anteater, the porcupine of the igloosherst, also have a grasping tail. Animals that are unable to climb well learned to fly well. They are easy to plan. They have a leathery membrane that connects the front and hind legs.
Union tree with ants
Trees grow in the tropics with hollow branches. Ants live in the cavity of the branches. They protect their tree from herbivores. Ants give the tree enough light. They eat leaves of creepers in nearby trees, obscuring the light for their host tree. Ants eat all the leaves that are not like the leaves of their native tree. They even remove all organics from his crown. The tree is well-groomed, like a gardener. For this, insects have dry housing and safety.
How did the frogs adapt?
High humidity allows toads and frogs to live far from the river. They live beautifully, living in the upper tiers of the forest. For the pond, frogs chose the hollow of trees. They coat it with resin from the inside and wait for it to fill with rainwater. Then the frog lays eggs there. Dart frog, arranges holes for its offspring in moist soil.
The male remains to guard the clutch.Then it transfers the tadpoles to the reservoir formed between the leaves of bromeliad. Some frogs lay eggs in a nest of foam. They sculpt a nest on branches hanging over the river. Hatched tadpoles immediately fall into the river. Other frogs lay their eggs in moist ground. They come out of there already young individuals.
Animal disguise
Animals in the forest are trying to become invisible to their predators. Under the forest canopy there is a constant play of light and shadow. Such spotted skins in okapi, antelopes, bongos. Spotting blurs the contours of their bodies and makes them difficult to distinguish. You can very well mask under the leaves. If the animal looks like a leaf and does not move, then it is difficult to see. Because many insects and frogs are green or brown. In addition, they move little. And the sticks disguise themselves as a twig.
Many animals, on the contrary, have a bright color. They mimic the color of poisonous animals that have poisonous skin. Predators do not attack harmless animals. They suggest that they are poisonous. Some arthropods look like an ant. The combination of black and yellow, predators consider a warning color. The wings of butterflies and grasshoppers are decorated with bright, eye-like spots.
The mating season in animals
Animals need to attract a partner and not attract the dangerous attention of predators. To do this, they use signals using sound and light. Painted birds have the ability to reflect light falling on them. Fireflies adapted to emit flashing lights.They are located at the end of their abdomen. Fireflies flash and go out at the same time, filling the air with mysterious light. Some animals make loud, non-continuous cries to attract the attention of the opposite sex. They fear that predators could not find them in their voices. And frogs without fear sing in chorus.
Unfortunately, the rainforest is getting smaller. They are destroyed mainly due to valuable wood. Deserts form on the site of rainforests. People want to save the rainforests. The movement to protect forests began in Germany, Colombia, Sweden. Indeed, the preservation of tropical forests in the interests of all mankind.
