TREES

Trees are the basis of the forest as we experience it. Tall columns of gray and brown, some covered in white patches of lichen, surround us as we stroll along a trail. Innumerable hues of green light filter through their foliage. From their leafy crowns come the calls of various birds that forage among the rich bounty of freely provided fruit. Broad branches, in of themselves big enough to be a respectably sized tree, spread out from the trunk, shading the canopy below. On these boughs hundreds of feet above the ground live communities of abundant epiphytes—forests within a forest. These in turn provide microhabitats for animals that spend their entire lives in the canopy—birds, lizards, tree frogs, insects, and countless unknown smaller animals.