The Common Trees of the Amazon Rainforest

March 25, 2019Written by Fernando Vaca

Learn about the Common Trees of the Amazon Rainforest living in the Yasuní.

Amazon Rainforest or Amazon Basin is an Ocean of Trees.

During your Trip to the Amazon Rainforest in Ecuador, you will be learning about trees, their life history, ecological relationships with other forest creatures and also watch local people use it.

It seems endless, Yes! The Amazon Rainforest is an ocean of trees.

The Wildlife of the Amazon Rainforest have all kinds of use for trees.

You will learn about the Common trees living in the Yasuní Biosphere Reserve, which comprises the Yasuní National Park, the Waorani Ethnic Reserve, and the 10 km Buffer Zone.

The Yasuní National Park was established on 29 July 1979 and the Waorani Ethnic Reserve was established in 1990.

The Yasuní Biosphere Reserve was established in 1989 by the UNESCO as a Mankind Biosphere Reserve for the future generations of the world.

The most important rivers in the Yasuní are the Napo River, Tiputini River, Tivacuno River, Shiripuno River, Yasuní River, Nashiño River, Cononaco River, and Curaray River.

Ceiba Tree or Kapok is the largest tree found in the Amazon Rainforest in Ecuador.

What Weather is needed for An Ocean of Trees?

The trees have adapted to live in Tropical Humid with no seasons, with an average of 3200 mms of rainfall and an average temperature between 24 – 27 °C with the absolute extreme of 15 – 38 °C.

The Trees in the Amazon Rainforest have all kind of uses, for navigation is selected the water-resistant species of trees.

What Soil types Trees of the Rainforest Prefer?

The Soil of the Yasuní derived from tertiary drained sediments and volcanic sediments, like in many northern Amazonian, the Yasuní it has a wide range of topographic variations causing important changes in the type of soil and vegetation.

The Terra Tirme soils are well drained and oxygenated with a high content of clay and poor in organic matter. There is a significant variation in the nutrients accumulation related to inclination and elevation.

List of the Trees that can be found in Terra Firme:

Anacardium excelsum (Bertero & Balb.) Anacardiaceae
Calophyllum longifolium (Willd.) Clusiaceae
Dipteryx panamensis (Pitt.) Papilionoideae
Gustavia superba (H.B.K.) Berg. Lecythidaceae
Tabebuia rosea (Bertl.) Bignoniaceae
Virola surinamensis (Rol.) Warb. Myristicaceae

Many Mammals of the Amazon Rainforest uses trees to hide in plain sight!!

Várzea or Seasonal Floodplain soils inundated by whitewater rivers that occur in the Amazon biome composed of alluvial and fluvial Holocene sediments (less than 10,000 years old) loosed from the eastern slopes of the Andes Mountains.

List of the Trees that can be found in Varzea or Seasonal Floodplain:

Seasonally flooded forest
Carapa guianensis (Aubl.) Meliaceae
Pachira aquatica (Aubl.) Bombacaceae
Pentaclethra macroloba (Willd. Kuntze) Mimosoideae
Prioria copaifera (Griseb.) Caesalpinioideae
Pterocarpus officinalis (Jacq.) Papilionoideae
Pterocarpus sp. Papilionoideae

The Trees in the Rainforest provides all kind of resources to the forest creatures. Brownea produces a lot of sugar for hummingbirds and bees and other insect driven by the sugar.

The Common Genera of Pioneer Trees of the Rainforest

Spondias (ANACARDIACEAE)

Spondias is a genus of flowering plants in the cashew family. They are distantly related to apple and plum trees. There are 7 species native to the Neotropics. They have commonly named hog plums, Spanish plums, in some cases golden apples.

Schefflera (ARALIACEAE)
Jacaranda (BIGNONIACEACE)
Ochroma BOMBACACEAE
Cordia BORAGINACEAE
Jacaratia CARICACEAE
Cecropia CECROPIACEAE
Pourouma CECROPIACEAE
Terminalia COMBRETACEACE
Muntingia TILIACEAE – MUNTINGIACEAE
Aparisthmium EUPHORBIACEAE
Croton EUPHORBIACEAE
Hyeronima EUPHORBIACEAE
Margaritaria EUPHORBIACEAE
Sapium EUPHORBIACEAE
Inga FABACEAE
Schizolobium FABACEAE
Miconia MELASTOMASTACEAE
Cedrela
Ficus MORACEAE
Triplaris POLYGONIACEAE
Zanthoxylum RUTACEAE
Guazuma STRECULIACEAE
Apeiba TILIACEAE
Heliocarpus TILIACEAE
Trema ULMACEAE

The forest clay clicks is a special location for several species of forest creatures such as tapir, bats, deers, peccaries, tapirs, macaws , pigeon guans and others.

The pygmy marmoset is a small species of New World monkey native to rainforests of the western Amazon Basin in South America. The species is notable for being the smallest monkey and one of the smallest primates in the world, at just over 100 grams. Wikipedia

Napo Saky Monkey . Yasuni Biosphere Reserve in Ecuador

Shiripuno Lodge – Peccary Pit Hole in the Yasuni Biosphere Reserve.

Shiripuno Lodge – Frugivores very important in the forest, they play a dispesing seed for many trees, liana, epifitas and other plants use Common Woolly Monkey.

Nine-banded Armadillo. Yasuni Biosphere Reserve in Ecuador.

Lophostoma_carrikeri-yasuni_synonymy-2016_Camacho-Chávez-Burne

Squirrel Monkeys are New World monkeys of the genus Saimiri. They are the only genus in the subfamily Saimirinae. The name of the genus is of Tupi origin (sai-mirim or gai-mbirin < sai 'monkey' and mirim 'small') and was also used as an English name by early researchers. Wikipedia

Giant Anteater. Yasuni Biosphere Reserve in Ecuador.

Red Brocket Deer ~ Shiripuno Lodge ~ Amazon Rainforest Mammals

Shiripuno Lodge – The Yasuni Biosphere Reserve is home pumas, jaguars, ocelotes, jaguarundy impressive density.

Noisy Night Monkey. Yasuni Biosphere Reserve in Ecuador

Napo Saky Monkey. Yasuni Biosphere Reserve in Ecuador

The White-bellied Spider Monkey (Ateles belzebuth), also known as the white-fronted or long-haired spider monkey, is an endangered species of spider monkey, a type of New World monkey. It is found in the north-western Amazon in Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru and Brazil, ranging as far south as the lower Ucayali River and as far east as the Branco River. Over the last 45 years (3 generations), the population has declined by approximately 50% due to habitat loss and hunting.[6] Because of this, A. belzebuth is listed as endangered by the IUCN. Wikipedia

The Lowland Tapir is the largest mammalliving in the Amazon Rainforest, it feeds on fresh and young leaves and visit forest clay licks.

Humboldt’s Woolly Monkey. Yasuni Biosphere Reserve in Ecuador

Calico is ground-dwelling snake, found in the flooded forest of the Yasuni Biosphere Reserve.

Chironius Whip Snake exploring for prey

A new species of the hylid frog genus Osteocephalus from the upper Amazon Basin of Ecuador and Pen! is described. It most closely resembles 0, planiceps, but it differs in the absence of pale stripes on the heels and above the vent, in being smaller, and lacking brown spots on the Hanks. The new species, O. yasuni, is unique within Osteocephalus in having extensive yellow ventral coloration.

Shiripuno Lodge ~ The Amazon Horned Rain Frog, it’s a ground-dweller amphibian using its camouflage waits for its prey to pass by, the sit-and-wait technique is used by many species of the Amazon Rainforest.