Ants and termites....

Some of the most important components of a tropical rain forests are also some of the tiniest members - ants and termites. In the Old World, ants may live in the hollow interiors of swollen tubers which are characterisitc of some epiphytes. The waste matter that the ants produce, as well as the humus which they accumulate, help to provide nourishment for the plant.

There are some New World ants that even act as farmers. They collect plants seeds, then bury them, and collect animal feces to help these seeds to sprout and grow. The plants, in turn, produce starch grains or sugary secretions, which the ants use.

As for an ant and termite homes, some insct hills (dirt mounds constructed by certain types of ants/termites) can reach heighths of four or five feet.

In some areas, ants live in climbing rattan palms, but when these are not available, they often make their homes amongst the bases of interlocking plates of spines on the sheaths of leaves.

Of course, there are some types of ants which feed on the starch grains on the edges of the recurved stipulus of certain Macaranga species. More importantly, the ants bite off parts of other plants that grow to touch their host (which is beneficial to the plant), and bury these leaves underground. There, the leaves, in combination with saliva produced by the ants, allow a type of fungus to grow, which is the only food that the ants need to consume in order to survive. These ants are typically called "leaf-cutter" ants.

One type of ant - the Azteca ant - lives on the swollen thorn acacia tree because it provides shelter, water, and food. In return for this, these ants defend the trees they inhabit against predators, vines, and competing plants.

Bats

Bats have life spans of up to 30 years and can live in a variety of places - in caves, tree trunks,house roofs, and on and on. Some bats live inside the folded leaves of plants - see left..(some even put notches in these leaves to purposely cause them to fold over), some roost together in the tree tops, and some small bats can crawl underneath the bark of trees to roost.

In the tropical rainforest, a wide variety of bats can be found. These nocturnal animals specialize on many different food sources, probably because there are so many food sources to be found. Some of these bats eat insects, some eat frogs, some eat fish, some eat fruit (these bats have excellent eyesight to help them locate their food), and some survive on nectar. The vampire bat of South America usualy feeds on small rodents by sucking their blood.

Bats also vary greatly in size. Some insect-eaters are very small (about the size of a thumbnail), while the fruit bats of Asia can have wing spans reaching two meters.

Virtually all bats, however, are integral parts of the rainforest ecosystem. Fruit bats spread fruit seeds across the forest, thus enabling the plant to reproduce, bats that eat nectar help to pollinate trees and lianes in their movements from one flower to another, and insect-eating bats help to keep the insect populations relatively stable by keeping the insect populations down (each individual bat can consume up to 4,000 insects per night).