Composition

Abstract

What are the elements that make up a tropical rain forest? The composition in the first place is a matter of plant and animal species collectively known as the flora and fauna. But a list of species is merely a beginning, notwithstanding its fundamental value. The following aspects are also important:

• 1. The life forms in which the species manifest themselves;

• 2. The part each life form plays in the vegetation;

• 3. The size of the largest trees and climbers;

• 4. The sizes of species of trees and climbers, classed according to diameter;

• 5. The numbers of seedlings and juvenile stages of the various species;

• 6. The density of individuals per hectare or larger unit, per species;

• 7. The associations between individuals of one species: scattered or in groups;

• 8. The associations between species.