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How Tropical Rainforests Work
A plain-language overview of tropical rainforests: the warm, wet climate, the layered structure, the huge variety of species and the pressures they face.
Forest Types and Biology
Tropical Rainforests
Structure, soils, rainfall and pressures in the wet tropics.
Causes of Tropical Deforestation Explained
A clear look at the direct and underlying drivers of forest clearing in the tropics, from agriculture and roads to land tenure, markets and policy.
Cloud Forests and the Mist They Catch
How high-altitude cloud forests capture water from fog and mist, the mossy, epiphyte-rich plants and animals adapted to them, and why they are vulnerable.
How Rainforests Help Make Their Own Rain
Explains transpiration and moisture recycling: how rainforests return water to the air, how much of the rain may be locally recycled, and what forest loss could change.
Layers of the Rainforest from Floor to Emergent Trees
A walk up through the rainforest layers, from the dim forest floor and understory to the canopy and emergent trees, and the light, humidity and animals of each.
Lianas and Epiphytes in the Canopy
An introduction to lianas and epiphytes in tropical forest canopies: how they grow, what they add to the habitat and how they affect their host trees.
Peat Swamp Forests and Their Stored Carbon
How waterlogged peat swamp forests build deep carbon-rich peat, and why draining and burning them releases large amounts of carbon dioxide.
Secondary Forest Regrowth in the Tropics
How abandoned tropical clearings regrow into secondary forest, the stages of recovery, and how regrown forest differs from untouched primary forest.
Seed Dispersal by Animals in Tropical Forests
How birds, bats, monkeys and other animals carry and bury seeds in tropical forests, and how that shapes which trees grow where and what replaces them.
Why Rainforest Soils Are Poorer Than They Look
Why lush rainforest often grows on thin, leached, nutrient-poor soil, how fast nutrient recycling keeps it going and why cleared land can quickly lose fertility.
Why Tropical Forests Hold So Many Tree Species
A review of the main ideas ecologists offer for why tropical forests pack in far more tree species than cooler forests, and what remains uncertain.
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