rainforest

Also known as rain forest

Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can generally be classified as tropical rainforests or temperate rainforests, but other types have been described.

AI overview

A rainforest is a densely forested area with a continuous canopy of trees, moisture-loving plants, climbing vines, and plants that grow on other plants, where wildfires naturally don't occur. These forests exist in both tropical and temperate regions around the world, though scientists have identified additional types beyond these two main categories.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Research

7,372 papers

Rainforest origins.Nature ecology & evolution · 2022Nic Eoin LDOI: 10.1038/s41559-021-01618-6
Rainforest transformation reallocates energy from green to brown food webs.Nature · 2024Potapov AM, Drescher J, Darras K et al.DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07083-y
Litter-derived nitrogen reduces methane uptake in tropical rainforest soils.ReviewThe Science of the total environment · 2022Gao J, Zhou W, Liu Y et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157891
RAINFOREST: a random forest approach to predict treatment benefit in data from (failed) clinical drug trials.Bioinformatics (Oxford, England) · 2020Ubels J, Schaefers T, Punt C et al.DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btaa799
Amazon rainforest adjusts to long-term experimental drought.Nature ecology & evolution · 2025Sanchez-Martinez P, Martius LR, Bittencourt P et al.DOI: 10.1038/s41559-025-02702-x
Soil carbon as a blind spot in tropical rainforest restoration.ReviewCurrent biology : CB · 2025Keller N, Anthony MA, van der Voort TS et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2025.05.060
Rainforest-to-pasture conversion stimulates soil methanogenesis across the Brazilian Amazon.The ISME journal · 2021Kroeger ME, Meredith LK, Meyer KM et al.DOI: 10.1038/s41396-020-00804-x
Rainforest conversion to rubber and oil palm reduces abundance, biomass and diversity of canopy spiders.PeerJ · 2022Ramos D, Hartke TR, Buchori D et al.DOI: 10.7717/peerj.13898

via PubMed

Wikidata facts

Image: Taman-Negara.jpg

Show 2 more facts

Commons category: Rainforests
Commons gallery: Rainforest

Sources (5)

via Wikidata · CC0

~18 min read

Article

19 sections

Contents

Definition
Tropical rainforest
Temperate rainforest
Dry rainforest
Layers
Emergent layer
Canopy layer
Understory layer
Forest floor
Flora and fauna
Soils
Effect on global climate
Human uses
Native people
Deforestation
See also
References
Further reading
External links

Estimates vary from 40% to 75% of all biotic species being indigenous to the rainforests. There may be many millions of species of plants, insects and microorganisms still undiscovered in tropical rainforests. Tropical rainforests have been called the "jewels of the Earth" and the "world's largest pharmacy", because over one quarter of natural medicines have been discovered there.