Building Biomes - Tropical Rainforests | Worldbuilding

Episode 10: Ecology Part 1 - Tropical Rainforests
In this video we discuss worldbuilding tropical rainforests, where rainforests can be found across an earth-like planet, and how to create some interesting flora and fauna to populate their ecosystems.
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WORLDBUILDING CORNER: www.worldbuildingcorner.com
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All music, images, and other media used in this video are available for commercial use with Creative Commons licensing, found on www.pixabay.com and www.pexels.com, or are individually credited below under the following license: creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Euterpe Precatoria Image Credit: Dick Culbert
Rainforest Layers Image Credit: Ville Koistinen
Stone Image Credit: The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS)

[@thaprofessa2296]

This series is really scratching my Alien Biosphere addiction. Surprised you haven’t mentioned Biblaridion yet

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Biblaridion is a huge inspiration for me! I love his Alien Biospheres series. I have been really torn while making my own content because I want my world to be more 'earth-like' than his, but I love how much his series deep-dives into speculative evolution! Glad you are enjoying the content :)

[@liamjohnston2000]

Great video!! On the topic of the Mortevello, there's a couple of things you might want to keep in mind. First, parasitic organisms tend to be highly specialized, with each species only being able to successfully infect hosts from one species or a few closely related species. This means that there'd probably be hundreds of different Mortevello species on Locus, each with a specific host. The closest analog on Earth, the Cordyceps fungus, has hundreds of species, each with a specific arthropod host. Generally, the more complicated the interaction between host and parasite, the more specialization is required. This would mean that a species that affects the human analogs of this planet isn't likely to be transmitted via other, distantly related organisms. One way around this is to have the species affect different hosts for different life stages, which the Cordyceps does not but which many other parasites do. Second, transmission by biting isn't always that efficient, so species most commonly affected by Mortevello would likely have high bite forces, like the Magnamaw. Infection would increase the aggressiveness of these species. I don't yet know what the human analogs of this planet would be, but these are just some things you might want to keep in mind. I can't wait to see where this planet goes!! Edit: Another thing that would be interesting for this fungus would be to have a range of infection levels between species, similar to the Cordyceps, with only a few species taking the full zombie route and others only being able to infect either living or dead organisms, but not both.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

I love the in-depth explanation and thought you've put into this! Thank you for your response! You're 100% correct, parasites tend to specialise for a particular species. As cool as the story of The Last of Us is, the jump from infecting insects to humans is incredulous. On Locus, there would be a wide variety of Mortevello as you mentioned, each evolving to target specific species, though the variations between them would be far too extensive to appropriately list in this series. As I'm going through a more 'wide scope' speculative evolution throughout the series, I'm trying to avoid discussing individual species (at this stage). The intention is to provide an umbrella that individual species can be built under (designing 'big cats' as a whole, rather than individual tigers, lions, cheetahs, etc.). But you are absolutely right, the most likely scenario for Mortevello outbreaks is that a specific type of Mortevello would outbreak, which is problematic mostly for the individual species that type targets and perhaps other species that are closely related. Fascinating point regarding related species only being infected as living or dead, but not both! You're also correct that biting is not an efficient transmission method (comparatively speaking), though it's iconic and I want to design organisms that are recognisable and relatable. Can you imagine zombification with high transmissibility though? Terrifying... I'm glad you are enjoying the series, I'm really enjoying building the planet as we go along! :)

[@Lilas.Duveteux]

Tropical rainforests are just part of my personal idea of hell. I just once went outside in Miami at an airport...It felt like a giant sauna, and my lungs hate saunas. Also, large bugs (I am afraid of large bugs, and I have some mild arachnophobia) and aligators. I grew up in an area with loads of bears, and thus I know what to expect from one. But aligators...It's just my idea of a nightmare.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

I don't personally love humidity, and I'm not a huge fan of bugs, especially spiders. There are tropical rainforests in northern Queensland and Indonesia that I have visited and they are beautiful, but I certainly wouldn't want to live there!

[@Ninjaananas]

Great video. Regarding the intertropical convergence zone: In case of your planet, your ITCZ should travel a lot to the north in the western continent during northern summer because of how much landmass there is. This is exactly what happens in Asia during summer which also has much landmass. This makes for great monsoon climates. You probably kept it out because it is not important to the tropical rainforests but I just wanted to mention it. Also, red currants are not tropical plants, but that was probably just symbol imagery. Just throught it was funny that you showed a temperate plant instead. Another addition: Tropical rainforests also appear outside the equator when influenced all year around from tradewinds coming from the ocean. I think those equatorial isles should be covered more in rainforests because the tradewinds come to them from the ocean and thus everything there should be humid. They get much moister tradewinds than the continental savannas. This is what is happening in Southeast Asia. Then again, your planet is cooler so that could mess with things more.

[@wyvernscale9634]

Wait, I'm sorry this is an amazing video but I just got thrown for a loop Who thinks of deserts when they think of the equator? Granted in my worldbuilding project, there is a desert at the equator, but that's mostly because it's way too far inland and surrounded by mountains to get enough rain to really sustain much life.

[@SebRomu]

While I really like the taxonomic sorting of species, I am torn on the matter for my own world. The sapient cultures on the planet haven't reached that level of biological and ecological understanding quite yet, so there isn't an in-world taxonomic system. However as an outside observer there is much usefulness in using such a system to organise the life-trees (three of them actually) for the world. I'll need to think about this as I delve into the ecology further. I really like the idea of showcasing just a few iconic and noteworthy species, then moving on. It would be a exhaustive exercise to try and create the whole ecosystem down to the varied and often overlooked microfauna. I've done something similar with my own world.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

I wanted to use our 'real-life' taxonomic classifications, because it's what most people will turn to as a skeleton structure for their own sorting systems within their worlds. My thought at the moment is that as creatures evolve their own civilisations and eventually their own sorting systems, having a pre-existing structure that I can base theirs off will make things simpler. And yeah, I had originally written up 10+ organisms for each biome, but then realised it was going to be overwhelmingly long! I have picked the ones I feel are the most interesting / important, or those that really highlight what an organism of X biome really exemplifies.

[@bumbread5989]

That's a cool place to evolve dragons (aka the magical flying lizards) in. Though I think their form needs to be adapted for a rainforest a bit, since having a giant lizard maneuver around trees seems a bit awkward. I dont have particular ideas, except adapting the environment for the dragons making the pathways larger and have more open areas in between trees

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Totally agree. My thoughts currently are that fire-breathing drakes would be easy enough to evolve, as huge lizards are already present in the rainforests of Locus, and they're already exposed to fire-producing flora. Giving them wings would be the next challenge, but it's something that's always floating in the back of my mind haha. Stay tuned, I love dragons, they'll almost certainly get a gig!

[@bedlaskybedla6361]

You can make dragons endothermic, this allow them to inhabit colder and more open reagons. Today's reptiles are ecthothermic, but for example archosaurs evolve from endothermic ancestors. Most of triassic archosaurs were warm-blooded. Crocodylomorphs lost this ability later in jurassic, due to their more passive water based life style (though land crocs had metabolism similar to monitor lizards, they were more active than their aquatic cousins). Dinosaurs however are still endothermic to present day. Lots of non-archosaur marine reptiles also evolved endothermic metabolism (ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, mosasaurs). Just keep in mind that endothermic reptiles had little bit slower metabolism than mammals.

[@digitaldritten]

​@@WorldbuildingCorner can't wait for the dragon episode, i'm so excited! i love when a more scientific approach is taken when designing dragons (so you don't end up with a huge beast with tiny wings)

[@drpigglesnuudelworte5209]

I like to make fictional worlds for fun and this is really helping so much. I’m planning a story abt a midwife in a medieval fantasy world with magic so many of these things won’t be super important, but it’s still so good to know bc now after calculating the orbit of the planet, I know how long years and days are (20 hour days, 230 days per year with a leap month consisting of fifteen days added every four years) and now I can build all the stuff relevant to the story based on that information

[@AidenMalacariaMusic]

You're seriously one of the best world building channels out! Loving the videos!

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Thank you! That is really lovely to hear, I'm glad you are enjoying the content! 😊

[@Alkis05]

As far as I remember, Antarctica was covered by rainforest when its continental plate was a little bit to the north and still attached to australia. But yeah, the earth was more than 20ºC warmer than today.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

My understanding of climate zones is that once we go higher than ~5°C warmer, we can almost throw away most of we know and expect from current climate zones. Which would make for a fascinating fictional world!

[@bedlaskybedla6361]

Antarctica was warmer because its connection to South America. South America block warm tropical ocean current, which than bring warm and wet climate to Antarctica. When South America and Australia broke from Antarctica, cold Antarctic circumpolar current was formed. This current isolate Antarctica from any warm currents. Thats why Antarctica is cold desert now. Some parts of Antarctic rainforest survive on relatively warm Antarctic peninsula until 4 milion years ago, when South and North America collide, blocking equatorial current which make Earth further colder. This caused that Antarctic peninsula and Arctic ocean permanently froze. You can find remnants of this Gondwana temperate rainforest in southern Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Australia and New Zeland.

[@Lilas.Duveteux]

A thing that would block the rapid spread of this fungi is just how fast decomposition happens in the tropics. As little as eleven days are necessary to reduce a corpse to bones, and if the thing started consuming the organism while it was alive, probably "zombie apocalypses" would be very short-lived epidemics. Depending on the pain level of this corpse-fungi causes the infected individual, there is a high chance that they would fatally wound themselves in an attempt to get rid of it before it would reach peak-dangerosity unless this directly targets pain receptors. Also, something this dangerous would cause species to have behavioral adaptations. Another fact is that in real-life, any undead thing would have peak danger in cold, dry climates. Unless this dangerous "fungi" has no adaptations to the cold nor draught, it's peak danger would be in drier climates and it would travel poleward dangerously fast.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

That's a really fascinating point. I had considered the decomposition rate in the tropics being a limiting factor, and that epidemics would be short lived, but not that it would be highly advantageous for it to migrate away from the tropics to compensate. In the interest of keeping things as 'logical' as possible, I imagine it may be quite reliant on the ambient humidity of the rainforest. My limited understanding and research into fungi suggests that this is not uncommon or improbable. To migrate away from the tropical rainforest it would require a vector able to provide it with an appropriate water source, and it's entirely plausible that a mutation would allow an individual species to exit its environment through a number of means quite quickly. It's also exceptionally likely that this exodus has probably occurred numerous times across history, and has likely been devastating in the short term to whichever species have been targeted by the specific type of mortevello. In regards to pain levels caused, if a creature is alive while infected, I imagine it to be about as painful as any other nervous-system affecting disease. That is to say, it is likely to be excruciating to the point creatures may self-terminate to stop the pain. The self-termination however would not stop the secondary function of the mortevello, and subsequent re-animation of the infected creature.

[@Lilas.Duveteux]

@@WorldbuildingCorner True, however, it would shorten the amount of time mortevello has to spread.

[@ephraimboateng5239]

Mortevello is Cordiceptfungus from TLOU and i love that. Such a cool concept

[@elijahcandage]

I love the way he introduces himself, like, "My name is Matthew, at least at this level of humidity," lol!

[@DaDunge]

I think it very likely that a warmer planet would not get less rainforest. Plants would evolve that can handle the increased heat. If you increase the temperature of a planet yes but a planter where life evolved at a higher temperature would not leave such useful biomes empty. Some plants would figure out a way to handle the heat and colonise the region, providing a foothold for other species.

[@danieljensen9221]

I love this series! I'm currently binge watching the playlist. Fascinating to approach world building from such a scientific stand point, even though my own projects aren't centered around sci-fi, i find it very inspirational to consider all these geographical and biological rules in terms of what can and cannot exist at it's very foundation. - Great content! :D

[@kzeriar25]

for planets with way higher average temperatures than Earth, you're stating that tropical rainforests would only be present in higher latitudes, but in that case, how would the climate distribution be in the rest of the globe, especially in the Equator? I've checked some maps of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic and it seems that while the poles were green, rainforests still dominated the equator, so why did you conclude that the Equator would have little to no rainforests? thanks and great video!

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Great question! The short answer is that if temperatures are too high, flora struggles to survive, and so a planet with very high surface temperatures are expected to have equatorial rainforests give way to deserts instead. They would still exist, depending hot how it was, but would have less spread. The longer answer is that there are a tonne of variables, and there are a lot of climates in locations that we know existed in the past through a medley of different scientific methods, though some of what existed conflicts with our current understanding of climatology. Rainforests exist primarily due to water vapour in the atmosphere, not temperature. Anywhere you can have high levels of water vapour settle, rainforests can exist. On earth in the past, that means examining things like atmospheric composition, volcanic activity, greenhouse levels, rotational speed, and I'm sure other factors as well. Covering all of that is way beyond the scope of just one of my videos though, and if I'm honest, is a little beyond my scientific capability to compile together for worldbuilding! Thanks for the question :) those are the kind of questions I also ask when learning all this stuff, but can't include in the video haha

[@minutemansam1214]

@@WorldbuildingCorner I think another thing to take into account is the fact that the poles will increase in temperature faster than the equator, so a planet that is 5 degrees C warmer than Earth on average might only be 1 degrees C warmer at the equator while being 10 degrees warmer at the poles, or even higher.

[@Texan_christian1132]

I’ve made up planets with a variety of different creatures. And I’ve made up at least HUNDREDS of creatures. Your Channel has helped. I’m subscribed now.

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Glad the content has been helpful! Especially to a seasoned worldbuilder. Stay tuned for more!

[@Texan_christian1132]

@@WorldbuildingCorner ok thx

[@kentario1610]

I just realised the Mortevello reminds me of the creatures from Gemini Home Entertainment and the informational video on them. "Burn the bodies, lest they stand up again." Awesome!

[@boborson5536]

I love this, I can't explain how much I love this. Do you make the art yourself?

[@kelmirosue3251]

So, I have a question: Something I don't think you covered is what if a world has less water then earth? How would that affect the world? I think my world has like 50% water and 50% landmass or less water. Not sure on the actual percentage

[@midzyblinkonce7716]

Ok, but Cuti Berries just sounds so cute XD I can imagine them being a really popular fruit at parties or a fruit flavoured candy or sweet haha

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Hehe that was exactly my intention when naming them, I feel like they even sound sweet!

[@DavidGlenn]

Is this biome what people usually associate with stories like The Jungle Book or Tarzan?

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Tarzan yes, is set in equatorial Africa in a tropical rainforest. The Jungle Book is set in Indian forestland, and even though India is not equatorial, it's monsoonal conditions make it's climate tropical, so yes The Jungle Book too is set in tropical rainforest!

[@DavidGlenn]

Awesome. Thanks for answering

[@NovaRuner]

question.... is there a difference between "rain forest" and "jungle"? or maybe is a Jungle just a sub-type of Rain forest? just curious. any way awesome video and amazing series.

[@440hurtz4]

I have a question. How do you come up with these unique ideas for life? They seem so, well, seamless to come up with, but whenever I try to come up with them, I always fail or make something generic. Any ideas on how to get ideas? (btw this dosent just have to be from Worldbuilding Corner, Id like to hear other peoples responses as well).

[@LeDingueDeJeuxVideos]

I think exposing yourself to alien worlds and online communities such as speculative evolution would help if you're not at it already. Reading or learning more on real organisms will also reveal incredible stuff. Then you can steal and mix an match stuff! Interconnectedness might also help give consistency to eco-systems. Determine how organisms relate to each other (both genetically and in how they interact) and what novel adaptatations they could force on one another or build from towards yet novelle things. Leave artefact-like traits that are repurposed away from their original function. Stuff like that. Also being concrete, like drawing your ideas instead of keeping them all in the head (am guilty) will probably give you new perspectives, maybe you will make a mistake but use it as simulation of mutation opening the path for a new breed to evolve

[@seanmartin3973]

Does the intertropical convergence zone move with the yearly change in axial tilt? Thus, would the size of the intertropical convergence zone be determined by the planet's tilt?

[@griffincrump5077]

12:54 Dinosaurs and Crocodiles are actually both Archosaurs which is a very separate group of reptiles from Lizards and are more closely related to modern day birds!

[@TheChrisYamez]

I Think Sibérie from HBO was watching this video and got inspired to use the mouth spore idea in the TV adaptation of TLUO 🤣🤣🤣

[@myri_the_weirdo]

Now that I think about it, doesn't locus mean ''crazyness'' in latin ? If yes that's a perfect name for a worldbuilding project this detailed

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Haha I'll take the compliment! I'm not sure what language Locus might be 'crazy' in (is definitely 'place' in Latin), my only thought is that 'loco' is crazy in Spanish!

[@minutemansam1214]

"lunaticus" means crazy in Latin, and is where we get the word lunatic from.

[@kp-legacy-5477]

When a worldbuilding video basically points out that the amazon is man made accidentally.

[@charliewilde7011]

Fuck Mortevello! I guess I won't be able to sleep tonight.. Anyway, thanks for the series!!

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Haha thankfully parasites like mortevello and cordyceps generally specialise to target just one species, so we're safe! For now...

[@charliewilde7011]

@@WorldbuildingCorner 😁😁😄

[@charliewilde7011]

​@@WorldbuildingCorner By the way, what about birds and waterland(none-sapience, I mean) species on Locus? I guess it would be cool to make some of them majestic and somewhat magical. For example, high in the snow mountains there are giant eagle-like night birds who cause of insufficient amount of food were forced to add some plantes to their ration. And because few plantes were able to survive up the in the cold and cruel environment the only option they could find were bizarre dry grass/bushes/flowers, whatever you prefer, which while rubbing against each other generate a lot of static electricity that helps them stay warm. Eventually, birds mutated - like plants their feathers as well started generate bright sparks of electricity, making them look like thunderballs while flying - which tragically let them to extinction, since most of night prey were able to easily see them coming, but at the same time saved those plants which will become quite handy for humans(they are most likely to be successful at it, cause bear-people are not as graceful when it comes to climbing, or anything else :). While lizards are too sensitive to extreme temperatures. And....Octopuses high in mountains, really??) when they begin exploring mountains. I thought it would perfectly fit both scientific and magical parts of you world.))

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

@@charliewilde7011 That's a really cool concept! I had intended on leaving flying creatures for a separate video, as they are quite unique with a different evolutionary path to land-dwellers. I wanted to cover magic first (which is my most recent release as of this comment), so that any magical flying creatures made sense. Foreshadowing for dragons... Same as ocean-dwellers, which I also haven't done a video on yet. It's really lovely to see how into the evolutionary path of Locus yourself and others have gotten, it's very inspiring and pushes me to make more content! So thank you :)

[@drpigglesnuudelworte5209]

Where do the deserts go when there are polar rainforests

[@danielkover7157]

Cuti berries, lol 😆

[@nicholasbridges7857]

I really like this series but feel like you owe Bibladarion and Artifexian money or a s shoutout or something.

[@nicholasbridges7857]

Probably Hello Future Me too later in the series

[@KITTYMANYA]

artifexian did get a shoutout in a previous episode

[@realhuman4879]

DINOSAURS YAA WOOO *BLOW HORN* ITS ALL ABOUT THE DINOSAURS LOVE THE DINOSAURS *BLOW HORN AGAIN*

[@smergthedargon8974]

There better be pet/domesticated Visecs once once the intelligent cultures roll around

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

I imagine rainforest dwellers coexisting with Visec as they established settlements, possibly even domesticating them as working animals, using them to create paths as needed.

[@Kholan95]

If you think rain forecasts are cool, check out Terra Prata. The Amazon isn't entirely "natural."

[@WorldbuildingCorner]

Terra Preta is so cool! Bodes well for any expansion efforts we have in the future :)

[@minutemansam1214]

Recent research suggests that much of the Amazons Terra Prata is naturally occurring, not just the result of human activity.

[@Kholan95]

@@minutemansam1214 Really? Do you mind sharing links or sources?

[@jonathanthomas8736]

Firstly, this is an outstanding fantasy worldbuilding series. Where you are factually incorrect is pretty much irrelevant to that. So... as constructive criticism: 1) In this video you make far too much of hair as a limiting factor in Af climates. Felids, canids, primates, artiodactyls, perissodactyls, xenarthera, and most other mammalian order level clades have representatives. 2) Your taxonomic approach is about 30 years out of date. What you have is very useful for worldbuilding, but current thinking divides taxa into clades, which include everything descended from a common ancestor and nothing else, and while some of them do map to your 9 levels, many more are in between. Remember, all tetrapods are fish, and all birds are dinosaurs. Last thing: by taking this particular science adjacent path, you're really taking vertebrate hexapods (Dragons, Centaurs, etc al) off the board. I think there's a modified hybrid system based on dimensional interchange which may allow multiple chemistry congruent trees of life to coexist on one planet. Might even allow for supernatural precursors (e.g. Elves as materialized fey, Dragons as dimensional interlopers with an ultimately elemental origin but which evolved semi naturally elsewhere before arriving, giants from a dimension where physics will allow extreme gigantism, and so on.) In any case, I needed to get that out to continue enjoying. I have resources for some of it if you're interested.

[@NangzhipoLiam]

Aren't dogs actually livestock

[@LittleCrowYT]

Bro made zombies 😬