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The tropical rainforests that exist in Hawaii are considered to be a tropical humid broadleaf forest area, which covers approximately 2,600 square miles of the Islands of Hawaii. The rain forests of Hawaii are among the most diverse in the world. Due to the fact that the Hawaiian Islands traditionally have been an isolated area, separated from the rest of the world by the Pacific Ocean, the tropical rainforests that exist there have been allowed to evolve at their own pace, resulting in an incredible diversity of the wild and plant life. In the mountains are lush moist forests, while Coastal mesic forests are found at heights ranging from sea level to 980ft. In between at ranges of 2460ft to 4100ft mixed mesic forests are found, and wet forests exist at altitudes of 4100ft and upwards.
At the lower regions the so called Coastal mesic forests are found. This type of forest is largely dominated by hala and hau, which are native to the region, while completed by kukui and milo that have been introduced from Polynesia approximately 2000 years ago. The Polynesians also introduced noni, pia and ki to the region, which are still common to the area but not as abundantly present as the previously mentioned plants.
At higher altitudes, between 2460ft and 4100ft, the so called mixed mesic forests are found with a wide variety of wild and plant life. These types of forests are largely dominated by koa and ōhiʻa lehua. In the mountains the typical wet forests are found. These receive the most rain and in those areas Ōhiʻa lehua is dominating the region. In areas where the rainfall is higher than the drainage can cope with bogs exist with vegetation that largely consists out of shrubs grasses and sedges.
The assortment of plants that exist in the so called dry forest region of Hawaii has changed significantly since the Polynesians introduced species not native to the area. Before the introduction of these, the forests were mostly dominated by lulu, Ka palupalu o Kanaloa and ʻaʻaliʻi, from at least before 1210 B.C.
These plants still exist but in a highly diminished form.
With this much diversity, at the Hawaiian tropical rain forests, this region belongs to the ones with the widest variety of foliage, trees and vegetation in the world. The forests are also the home of several animal species that only exist in this part of the world and contains some of the rarest flora and fauna of the world.
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