These birds spend most time in their lives flying; they can hunt, eat, get some materials for their little nests and even copulate in the air. Moreover their legs are so short adapted to "hang" and their folded wings; can almost not even stand very good on the earth.
They can remain suspended in the air to feed the nectar of flowers and are the unique capable birds of flying backwards due to the combination of its small size, shape of the wings and the high frequency of his beaten, up to 80 frequencies per second. You've just read an interesting fact, now close your eyes and try to imagine, 80 times per second.
The experience you have to enter in the jungle without having any knowledge about who live there and "how works", could be compared to face a sport without having any idea about the "rules of game." Although the best move in the "game" happen in front of our noses, maybe you even not realize about it! "The Laws" wants to introduce you to the rules of the game with a simple and entertaining style. There are reviews and comparisons with "viewable" concepts to help fix ideas. As fair as you enrich your experiences in the jungle you will have a notion about the fantastic complexity of this environment.
| ATTITUDES IN THE "FIELD": |
The ABC for your hiking: mind awake, open eyes and ears. Also an attentive smell worth to search for wildlife: Shhh ... (silence). Be on the lookout not only for large animals. The surprises may be in the smallest details.
To observe flowers, seeds, fruit or leaves, not outbursts of plants. You can pay attention to the falls samples on the ground treating them as "pieces of glass”, it still may be food for many animals, and even the origin of new plants. Butterflies are the insects that will call most your attention, you may observe them very well while flying or when pose on flowers, leaves, puddles and even on your clothes or skin.
Do not touch them and do it also this way with the others organisms. You must be careful not to put your hands anywhere to prevent contact with poisonous animals such as snakes, spiders and some insects.
We recommend: The first few hours of light and dusk are the best times to explore the trails of the forest, especially for bird watching. Any time of day is appropriate to engage in plants or insects in general. You'll also find various birds, lizards and who knows what other surprises.
The forests are characterized by extremely high strata of vegetation. Creepers and vines interconnect these different strata, and many plants grow on other plants searching for light. The soils are rich in iron and aluminum and the humus layer is shallow. Leaves, branches, excrement, dead animals, and all soil organic material are decomposed quickly to inorganic compounds by the action of different factors, among them:
The inorganic compounds re-enter into the cycle by the roots, many of them have a relationship of mutual benefit with certain fungi. The roots achieve a takeover of water and minerals more efficiently and fungi obtained organic compounds.
The hanging trees and plants also act in the absorption and decomposition of organic materials before reach the ground. The true is that things are not so simple and schematic. On one hand the young trees appear in almost every stage "masking" the concept of strata.
Changes and renewal are constant in this environment. Falling trees caused by the strong winds or flooding of rivers, cause open spaces in the jungle where some species appear immediately re-colonizing and the following stages happen again.
There is a fundamental question: What means a specie?... The concept is the key and can not be ignored in interpreting the "laws of the jungle". In easy words: Specie is a group of individuals that can reproduce together and have fertile offspring. The most important that these individuals have in common is their genetic information, which is unique.
The taxonomy result of established conventions by man to classify nature. One or more similar species are grouped into the same Genus; Genus into the same Family; families in common in an Order, and these in a Class. Examples: Common name: Yellow Headed Side neck Turtle. Its taxonomic classification is: Class: Reptiles; Order: Testudinata; Family: Chelidae; Genus: Podocnemis; Specie: Podocnemis unifilis.
| EVOLUTION AND EXTINCTION: |
The "co-evolution" and the millions of years are very difficult to visualize. Therefore I will give an example but very blunt that only intended to help fixing fundamental concepts about nature, evolution, changes, diversity and extinction of species.
Example:
imagine you are on front of a gondola of perfumery products in a hypermarket (who can not imagine this example in these days? Tip: Do not buy anything although you imagine for sales). Dozens of shampoos, deodorants, toothpaste, perfume, soaps, etc., how many types of each of these products have passed since, let say the last 50 years?; many, for sure. Let’s take in particular the shampoo; it is probably in the beginning it was only one kind of shampoo, what we find now?: hair shampoo for dry, normal, fatty, damaged by the sun, kids, etc.. are offered. These emerged through a specialization process.
There are those diversified, others have disappeared, some are new and others are brewing. There is big competition, but also a wide range of cooperation between the diversity of products (special offers, with the purchase of shampoo "our jungle" you become free the conditioner "preserve”. All these continuing changes are part of the co-evolution among consumers - products, but should not be so simple.
What force govern changes?, where and when originated each of these products and what happens with disasters as hyperinflation?; these are questions we can not make with a slight analysis. Let’s now go back to the jungle to give equivalence with our gondola and the species of plants and animals compared with perfumery products (I apologize to nature by lack of consideration, but I think it serves). One question that arises is then: How many different species of life forms have been caused by each species of bee, hummingbird, monkey, orchid, or each species that are known? Many, is the answer, and over millions of years.
Sure, it's very different for example talk about mammals, birds or insects, very old group that leaves almost no fossils and a lack of vast information that even today we don’t know how many species exist. Among mammals in the world are known some 150 "elephants” fossils species, while there are 2 living species; some 200 species of “rhinos” fossils but only 5 are living species, 250 fossil species of "monkeys" and there are 200 in existence. The museums of natural sciences retain diversity of bones of extinct species of fauna, which represent a minimum number of those that existed. But how many species there are in the world? A good question, nobody can answer or close approximation. Studies in 1980's at the top of the trees in the rainforest gave surprising results; for example, a single hectare of jungle in the Tambopata Reserve can contain up to 41,000 insects species.
Currently, some scientists estimate that for every one of the nearly 1,200,000 known species, there are about 30 to discover (mostly insects), which would result in around 30 million species in the world. What we do know is that there is a direct link between the decline of natural areas and species extinction. The average duration of a species until their naturally extinction change according if is plant or animal the group in question or the leaving area (land or water), but is estimated between one million and ten million years. They have also happened major natural disasters causing mass extinctions like those of dinosaurs.
But with the ongoing destruction of natural environments, extinction is happening hundreds or thousands times faster, in most cases; species become extinct before the man even reach to know them. Moreover, since the origin of life, the earth hat climate changes, continents shifting, formation of mountain ranges, volcanoes, migrating species. All phenomena are still in effect.
Centers of origin and dispersal of species. Consider now the mammal species in tropical forests of South America, such us: the deer, cats, tapir and other animals belong to groups of animals who came from North America. When three million years ago the Panama Isthmus was formed, representatives of these species migrated to South America. When climate changes occurred as glaciations more migrations happen, many extinctions and new species appeared. Enter in the jungle without mentioning concepts of evolution would be like playing a game of chess without the queen.
TELL ME HOW YOU ARE AND I TELL YOU WHERE YOU COME FROM::
This title is too ambitious and can not aspire to fulfill properly the assertion in practice. There are many exceptions to the rules in Nature, and more in the complex world of the jungle. But the phrase is good to understand general concepts.
Emergent trees and canopy stratum: long and straight trunks dominate. The ramifications are born from the main trunk at a similar altitude like an umbrella. Prevail wide crown.
Middle and bushy Stratum: the tendency of searching for light determines that the canopies of middle size trees are almost as long as wide, and in the shrub stratum elongated and less broad.
Trees that grow in the open spaces of the jungle usually have good coverage of leaves because they receive more sunlight. In general are colonizing species of rapid growth.
Texture of barks trees are very variable, there are many with smooth bark or pealed bark. One possible benefit would be to hinder the growth of hanging plants. In species of rough bark with cracks the growing of plants diversity would be facilitated.
Many trees in the rainforest have a kind of ribs on the base that support them, especially to emerging large trees that usually exceed 50 meters. Tree roots are not deep: they must obtain nutrients from the thin fertile and moreover provides some protection against the winds. Although most powerful storms often cause the fall of the highest trees, opening clears in the jungle.
| THE LEAVES OF THE TREES IN THE JUNGLE: |
In the jungle dominate the oval leaves of trees, with smooth and tip termination edges. Such termination would assist the rapid drainage of water that falls on the leaves, hampering the growth of algae or lichens on its surface (as they diminish the ability to capture light for photosynthesis). There are also frequently wide leaves to increase the absorption of light. Those which persist throughout the year are usually thick, coriaceous (texture like leather), and cerosa.
The compound leaves of trees, as the legumes family members (the best represented family in American rainforests), beyond this model. The compound leaves tend to correspond to trees that need to get height in short time. Some plants that grow in the shade presented pigments that cause reddish stains on the underside of leaves. It helps; as the red reflect (as a mirror) light that has passed through the upper layers of the leaf and thus captures more energy for photosynthesis.
| MIDDLE AND BUSHY STRATUM: |
the tendency of searching for light determines that the canopies of middle size trees are almost as long as wide, and in the shrub stratum elongated and less broad.
Trees that grow in the open spaces of the jungle usually have good coverage of leaves because they receive more sunlight. In general are colonizing species of rapid growth.
Texture of barks trees are very variable, there are many with smooth bark or pealed bark. One possible benefit would be to hinder the growth of hanging plants. In species of rough bark with cracks the growing of plants diversity would be facilitated.
Many trees in the rainforest have a kind of ribs on the base that support them, especially to emerging large trees that usually exceed 50 meters. Tree roots are not deep: they must obtain nutrients from the thin fertile and moreover provides some protection against the winds. Although most powerful storms often cause the fall of the highest trees, opening clears in the jungle.
 But what does a flower mean in the nature? Without going into comments about their parts or on their wide variety of shapes and sizes, their size range go from flowers of less than a millimeter to the world's largest flower seven kilograms and one meter in diameter (the rain forest of Borneo and Sumatra ), the basic concept is that they contain the sexual reproduction organs of plants. The grain of pollen from the male flower must somehow reach the ovum of female flower to ensure fertilization, and the seed is formed. In many cases both sexes are in the same flower, but few that can be inbred. In an open environment, the wind is the major carrier of pollen.
In this system it has been compared to "airmail" and there is even "long distance" shipments. But in the jungle there is a basic rule: there are many different species of plants and little quantities of each one. Conclusion: it lowers the likelihood that pollen from a male flower comes only with the wind to another female flower (remember the concept of species). On the other hand the dense vegetation not allows the wind be so effective, except that there are some cases such as between higher trees. Just take look at the jungle to live and really feel this. The result is that during the co-evolution between species of plants and animals, many of the flowers of the jungle have acquired mechanisms to attract different insects, birds, mammals and involved them as carriers of pollen. A competitive and effective system of "mail door to door", (although often ring the wrong bell) this system does not almost never stop, only often is interrupted by heavy rain. It has been found that water can get to wash the pollen and nectar destroying the flower and making it inaccessible to pollinators.
| HOW FLOWERS ATTRACT THEIR POLLINATORS?: |
Fragrances, colors and shapes are the main sources of "seduction" they use, also most of them offered a nutritious food and sweet nectar or pollen. Almost all animals attracted by flowers are loaded with pollen in different parts of theirs bodies, as you can observe in insects. "I seduce you and give you food and you bring my pollen to another flower of my kind, so I can reproduce me" are the conditions that evolution has found without "letting them know" to the species involved. A complex and sometimes very close relationship of mutual benefit. The colors in particular are used to attract birds and many insects.
Flowers pollinated by hummingbirds are red, pink, orange, sometimes yellow. In addition many have tubular shape and are positioned around the plant giving easy access to these birds. In most insects play combination of colors, fragrances and shapes of the flowers. Flowers pollinated by butterflies in general are in clear jungle and are mostly red or orange. The opening of "scented" whitish flowers (not pleasant odor) captivates the attention of bats and moths. The pollinated by flies (aristolochia) have smell of rotten meat. A different world emerges with the onset of darkness. The bat species that feed on nectar are very good and smell better than their relatives insectivorous, but their sound system is less developed. |
