Biotic and abiotic factors of the jungle

Located in the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, the jungles have become ideal scenarios for the development of life; Therefore, they are considered Hotspots either Hot biodiversity points. In this way, Biotic factors of the jungles They are very diverse.

Flora of the jungle

There are various types of jungles, each characterized by certain climatic conditions that have given rise to the development of one type of vegetation or another. However, everyone has in common the great richness of flora species that house, mostly in woody plants.

Thanks to the vertical stratification, this forest flora is distributed in various floors or levels that favor the diversity of habitats, among which it is worth highlighting:

• The Emerging areawhere high trees predominate, with dense leaves and branches, such as ceibas, rubbers or caobas.
• He canopy either Conopial area Where, as in the emerging area, the lianas stand out (plants that root on the ground and take advantage of others to grow) and the epiphytes (plants that live on others without rooting on the ground) of jokes, lilies or orchids, although the trees are smaller and more dense (species of the genus ficus), thus preventing the passage of light at lower strata. In addition, it should be noted that some of them have leaf with an elongated tip to facilitate runoff phenomena during abundant rainfall.
• He Sotobosque Configure a floor of bushes and thickets up to 5 m (such as palm trees and philodendros), which grow in spaces that are available among the large upper levels.
• He INTERIOR STRATE TO SOTOBOSQUEin which mosses and plants adapted to the absence of light predominate (eg: sclerophils).

Jungle fauna

The diversity, abundance and distribution of the jungle’s fauna species is strongly influenced by the peculiarities of the vegetation. This is what, on each floor it is possible to find different species of fauna, with the particularity that it is in the trees where most of the animals of the jungle live, being the most abundant type of vegetation.

In this sense, it is possible to find parrots or Eagles Harpías in the emerging area; Flying squirrels, chameleons, toucans, monkeys or arborícola frogs in the canopy; Arboreal Pangolines, toads, sajinos or turtles in the Sotobosque; Tube rats, worms, ants or antiques in the stratum lower than the undergrowth. Here you can learn more about what animals live in the tropical jungle.

You can read more about this topic in this other article about biotic factors: what are, characteristics, classification and examples.

The abiotic factors or environmental conditions that most influence the development and metabolism of the living beings of the jungle are:

Solar radiation

Solar radiation is the only energy source used by plants to perform photosynthetic activity. In the jungle, the vegetation of the upper strata is exposed to solar radiation throughout the year, favoring its development. In response to this exposure, many plants have adaptations to avoid water stress. For example: In larger plants, the leaves are smaller to avoid the loss of water due to direct exposure to light. However, the Sotobosque plants, which do not receive so much direct light, have larger leaves to take advantage of all the light. In addition, it should be noted that, since most of light is absorbed in the highest layers, in this ecosystem we find many epiphytes that grow over larger plants to have greater exposure to sunlight.

Atmospheric humidity

Atmospheric humidity is a factor that determines more the development of animals than that of plants, being for the latter an important resource. In these ecosystems, relative humidity (HR) is high, normally superior to 80% steam.

Temperature

Temperature is the most important ecological factor, since it usually increases the speed of metabolic processes. In the jungle, with an average annual temperature of 25ºC, the humidity levels remain high and, consequently, living beings show rapid growth. In the case of animals, not needing to spend body energy to maintain a warm temperature, they use it to reproduce more frequently, which explains the great biodiversity that we can find in the jungles.

Floor

Plants obtain soil mineral water and nutrients and, although they mostly need to absorb the same essential elements, the proportion and destination of them is different, so the mineral composition of plant tissues varies from some species to another.

In the jungles, the soil is not very fertile, as it is subject to chemical weathering. In this sense, high temperatures favor the processes of decomposition of organic matter and nutrients in many cases are washed by heavy rains. The latter causes soil acidification, with high aluminum concentrations and iron oxides, which gives them reddish coloration.

To learn more about the biotic and abiotic factors of an ecosystem or bioma, we encourage you to read these other ecology articles about a difference between biotic and abiotic and abiotic factors: what are, characteristics and examples.

There are different types of jungles according to some forestry factors of the jungles, such as: altitude, humidity or latitude.

Types of jungle according to altitude

Mainly we can differentiate 3 types of jungles:

• Basal jungle, of plain either of plaincharacterized by presenting a flat relief, with a height below 1000 meters above sea level.
• Montana jungle, of mountain, cloud forest either highland jungle. An example is the Yungas that we find in the Andes mountain range.
• Gallery jungle either Riveramore typical of intertropical areas, it is located on river margins.

Types of jungle according to moisture

Mainly we can differentiate 3 types of jungles:

• Superhuma junglewith high precipitation rates, the foliage is always see, although it can be lost 25% of it in times of drought.
• Wet junglewith lower rainfall than in the Super Humed jungle, the foliar loss is greater, ranging between 25-50% during the dry times.
• Subhuma jungle, Decide either Dry jungleis characterized by alternating dry stations (in which foliage is lost in its entirety) and rainy. In comparison, these jungles are less biodiverse, but the species that house constitute the most valuable timber resources for human being.

Types of jungle according to latitude

Mainly we can differentiate 5 types of jungles:

• Equatorial junglelocated in the equatorial zone, as the name implies, it is one of the most biodiverse jungles that exist. With average annual temperatures that are around 27ºC, it keeps certain similarities with tropical jungles, although they are not the same. The equatorial jungle predominates in the Amazon (South America), the Congo (Africa) and in evil, biogeographic region located between the Indomalaya or Oriental region (from Afghanistan and Pakistan to occupy Southeast Asia) and Australasia (Australia, Melanesia and New Zealand).
• Rain forest either tropical forestcharacterized by its warm climate, with average annual temperatures that exceed 24ºC, it is one of the dense and populated jungles, widely distributed by Latin America. In fact, thanks to these abiotic factors of the tropical jungle, despite occupying only 6% of the earth’s surface, it is estimated that it houses more than 50% of species of flora and fauna on our planet.
• Subtropical jungleassociated with wet climates with average annual temperatures below 24ºC, presents a geographical distribution higher than that of the tropical forest, located in areas of southern Brazil, in Paraguay, in northern Argentina and in the coastal areas of Austral and Australia Africa and Australia
• Temperate junglealso known as Laurifolio or Laurisilva forest, is located in areas with softer temperatures that can descend to 10ºC and with less abundant rainfall. They highlight the jungle of the Apalaches (North America) and the Valdivian jungle (South America, mainly in Chile and Argentina).
• Subpolar jungle either cold junglewith colder and drier temperatures than in the Valdivian forests, it extends through the southernmost areas of the Andes, occupied by glaciers during the last glaciation, which explains the presence of Fjords and glacial lakes in these ecosystems.

In this other summary we tell you much more about the types of jungles and their characteristics.

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