The Tropical Rain Forest
Two things are noteworthy in comparing tropical forests with those of colder regions: the diversity of the vegetation, and the intensity of the struggle for existence. In the temperate or frigid regions of the earth which are forested we are accustomed to see one species or genus of trees dominate all other plants and become a "climax forest," e. g., oak, pine, spruce, beech forests. But in the tropics conditions are favorable for many species; the growing season is always good, and the forest is always varied. Tree ferns, palms, vines, deciduous trees, epiphytes, mosses, ferns—all grow in riotous confusion. Vines climb over great
trees and steal their sunlight; strangler trees grapple with forest giants, squeeze them out of existence, and take their places; epiphytes and mosses festoon the limbs of trees, stretching their leaves toward the light that filters through the canopy above. Any handicap means that a tree must give way to more successful rivals, and many drop out. But the floor of the forest is not always strewn with the remains of the unsuccessful, for where it is not too wet the termites, or white ants, honeycomb every bit of dead timber and convert it into powder, which in turn is soon "resolved to earth again." Thus the cycle goes round and tree succeeds tree. One who lives in a temperate climate has no idea of the manifold intensity of the struggle among the plants in tropical forests.
In the midst of such a struggle one would expect to find a great variety of adaptations for surviving, and such is indeed the case. Many
