Life in Forests
Trees are the pillars of the forest upon which much of the other forest life is shaped.
Associated with them, there may be more than a thousand kinds of shrubs, vines, herbs, ferns, mosses, and toadstool, even in a small area of forest.
Using trees as support, the smaller plants grow in their shade, and depend on the high humidity that the canopy of leaves maintains.
In addition, the forest consists of all sorts of animals such as, birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals.
Forests are also the house of variety of insects, mites etc.
Some seek nectar from the flowers, other feed on green leaves and tender parts of plants, some bore deep holes in the wood, some from mines in the plant tissue and so on.
Ants and termites are everywhere.
It is a very rare forest that does not harbors a dazzling collection of beetles, butterflies, grasshoppers, spiders, scorpions and other insects.
Man too is the member of forest community- and probably is the most destructive of all.
Men are mostly intruders, who go into the forest for collecting wood or even for cutting down the trees to prepare land for cultivation.
There are, however, small segments of human population known as tribes, who live in the forests.
They have perfect adaptation to the environmental conditions of forest life.
Here are some features of the forest Forests are more widespread stretches of vegetation, harbouring diverse kinds of life forms.
They are dominated by trees.
Besides trees, forest ecosystem includes various types of small plant, mosses, ferns, fungi, several kinds of micro organisms, insects, reptiles, birds, mammal sand animals of diverse kinds.
Each organism is a part of the forest ecosystem, and each reacts with all other organism.
Forests possess multi-layered structure termed as stratification.
This makes available space for living for a wide variety of plant and animal species.
For example, there are small, tender plants, that forms the lowest most layer.
Then there are small shrubs which forms the second layer.
A third layer may consist of small trees.
And the tall trees that form roof or canopy of the entire vegetation may constitute the fourth layer.
Various kinds of animal life, depending on their living habits, occur in different layers of vegetation.
Associated with them, there may be more than a thousand kinds of shrubs, vines, herbs, ferns, mosses, and toadstool, even in a small area of forest.
Using trees as support, the smaller plants grow in their shade, and depend on the high humidity that the canopy of leaves maintains.
In addition, the forest consists of all sorts of animals such as, birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals.
Forests are also the house of variety of insects, mites etc.
Some seek nectar from the flowers, other feed on green leaves and tender parts of plants, some bore deep holes in the wood, some from mines in the plant tissue and so on.
Ants and termites are everywhere.
It is a very rare forest that does not harbors a dazzling collection of beetles, butterflies, grasshoppers, spiders, scorpions and other insects.
Man too is the member of forest community- and probably is the most destructive of all.
Men are mostly intruders, who go into the forest for collecting wood or even for cutting down the trees to prepare land for cultivation.
There are, however, small segments of human population known as tribes, who live in the forests.
They have perfect adaptation to the environmental conditions of forest life.
Here are some features of the forest Forests are more widespread stretches of vegetation, harbouring diverse kinds of life forms.
They are dominated by trees.
Besides trees, forest ecosystem includes various types of small plant, mosses, ferns, fungi, several kinds of micro organisms, insects, reptiles, birds, mammal sand animals of diverse kinds.
Each organism is a part of the forest ecosystem, and each reacts with all other organism.
Forests possess multi-layered structure termed as stratification.
This makes available space for living for a wide variety of plant and animal species.
For example, there are small, tender plants, that forms the lowest most layer.
Then there are small shrubs which forms the second layer.
A third layer may consist of small trees.
And the tall trees that form roof or canopy of the entire vegetation may constitute the fourth layer.
Various kinds of animal life, depending on their living habits, occur in different layers of vegetation.
Source...