Tropical Rainforest

A biome of dense, multi-layered forest found in a band close to the equator, where warmth and rainfall stay high and nearly constant through the year rather than swinging with distinct seasons. Tropical rainforests cover only a small fraction of the Earth's land surface but hold more than half of its known terrestrial plant and animal species, packed into a vertical structure of forest floor, understory, canopy and emergent layer that each support a different community of life. The largest contiguous tropical rainforest lies in the Amazon Basin of South America, with major counterparts in the Congo Basin of central Africa and across Southeast Asia.