More handpicked essays just for you.
The importance of rainforest and biodiversity
The importance of rainforest and biodiversity
The importance of rainforest and biodiversity
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
By the year 2060, rainforests will be but a dream (facts about the rainforest). The rainforests are the lungs of Earth providing 40% of the world’s oxygen yearly. The world needs to preserve the rainforests because without them our ecosystem will suffer. The rainforests provide the western world with one out of four of the prescription drugs sold today and many valuable resources (contribution of rainforests to mankind). The balance of the ecosystem, water cycle, and carbon dioxide levels depend on the rainforests. Furthermore, rainforests are home to many animals, plants, endangered species, and tribes.
Background:
The rainforests are the world’s oldest ecosystems dating back to almost 100 million years. The largest rainforests are located around the Amazon in South America, around the Equator in Africa, and in South Asia. Smaller rainforests thrive in Central America, Islands on the Pacific and Caribbean, and Mexico. Rainforests maintain a temperature of 50 degrees Fahrenheit and get between 160 to 400 inches of rain per year. The conditions that the Rainforests have are exemplary for life to grow and flourish. The area where the rainforests are located saves them from natural disasters and saved them from the loss of life during the ice ages. Due to these conditions the Rainforest is home to 50-70 million species (Facts about Rainforests). The rainforest’s resources began to be favored by the economy in the early 1990’s.
Ever since then the deforestation for resources has dramatically increased to an alarming rate. Every second we lose an area of two football fields and every week an area twice as big as Rhode Island. The Rainforests once covered fourteen percent of the Earth compared to the two percent now. In the...
... middle of paper ...
...y different species of animals and plants. Many tribes of Indians call the rainforest their home. They use the resources of the rainforest to survive and thrive as a community. However as rainforests are being destroyed their homes are destroyed and important information is lost about plants and medicine.
Conclusion:
The rainforests are home to many plants, animals, and people. It holds many secrets that are yet to be found by people. Those secrets can be a cure to cancer or new sources of food. It provides the west with a lot of important medicine and resources. The most important resource is oxygen that the rainforest produces. Furthermore, the deforestation of rainforests sets off chain reactions around the world’s ecosystem that affect more than just the rainforest. It is important to save the rainforests because by 2060 there might not be any left to save.
Tropical rainforests are an extremely unique and diverse ecosystem that are located around the earth’s equator. They once covered roughly 7% of the world, but due to human encroachment that has dwindled to just 2%. It is a highly moisture rich environment that typically receives anywhere between 60 and 400 inches of rainfall annually and average humidity ranges from 70 to 90%.
The Amazon Rain Forest Is in Danger of Being Destroyed" by Devadas Vittal. Rain Forests. HaiSong Harvey, Ed. At Issue Series. Greenhaven Press, 2002. Reprinted from Devadas Vittal, Introduction: What Is the Amazon Rainforest? Internet: http://www.homepages.go.com/homepages/d/v/i/dvittal/amazon/intro.html, November 1999, by permission of the author. http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=Viewpoints&disableHighlighting=false&prodId=OVIC&action=e&windowstate=normal&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CEJ3010021212&mode=view
Forests cover 31% of the land area on our planet. They produce vital oxygen and provide homes for people and wildlife. Many of the world’s most threatened and endangered animals live in forests, and 1.6 billion people rely on benefits forests offer, including food, fresh water, clothing, traditional medicine and shelter (drug war facts, Page 1).
Tropical rainforests are found in the area between the Tropic of Cancer (23.5° N latitude) and the Tropic of Capricorn (23.5° S latitude) (EL 2014: para.1). There are rainforests at South and Central America, Africa, Australia and Asia (EL, 2014: para.2). These places are in a 4800 km wide ring that is referred to as “The Tropics.” (EL, 2014: para.3) The largest rainforest is the Amazon River Basin in South America (EL, 2014: para.4).
The Human Impact on Rainforests Human Impact on Rainforest is it a necessity? Rainforest are the beautiful gift of Mother Nature. It consists of the most magnificent species and plants in the world. 4.2% of the world’s animals live in the rainforest. This statistic it self shows how bad it would be to destroy such essential part of the worlds biodiversity.
WPF/World Preservation Foundation, 2010, Deforestation statistics, sponsored by WPF, viewed 3rd November 2013, Available at: http://www.worldpreservationfoundation.org/blog/news/deforestation-statistics/#.UoFtypQY3TV
Rainforests once covered 14% of the worlds land surface, however now it only covers a mere 6%. It is estimated that all rainforests could be consumed in less than 40 years. Trees are becoming more needed and used everyday. We need them cut down for many reasons such as paper and timber, while also needing them ‘untouched’ for other reasons like oxygen, we have to ask ourselves, which is more important? At the current rate, most of the rainforests are being cut down for resources like paper and timber, but less importance is being placed on main resources like oxygen.
In South America lies the largest and most wondrous rainforest in the world, the Amazon Rainforest. This 1.4 billion acre forest represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests, and comprises the largest and most bio-diverse tract of rainforest in the world. Ten percent of all known species on the planet are found in this rain forest, most of which have yet to be discovered. For the past century, the Amazon has been gradually decreasing in size due to agricultural expansion, ranching, infrastructure projects, energy exploration and illegal logging. In its current state, the Amazon is losing land equal to the size of the state of Delaware every year.
The Disappearing Rainforests Conserving the rainforest is a global issue of great importance. Tropical rainforests provide a habitat for animals, a unique ecosystem for vegetation, and an abundance of resources for humans, yet they are being destroyed at an astonishing rate. Experts estimate that if these endangered territories continue to be consumed in this manner, no more will be standing in forty years (Rainforest). Examining the social, environmental, and economic costs of the continued destruction of the Earth's tropical rainforests will prove that deforestation for short-term profit is ultimately not viable.
Though deforestation has increased at an alarming rate throughout the past fifty years, deforestation has been performed during the course of history. According to the World Resources Institute, a majority of the world’s enduring naturally occurring forests are found in Alaska, Canada, Russia and the Northwestern Amazon. Research has demonstrated forests are more likely to be destroyed and repurposed where economic revenues tied to agriculture and pasture are prominent, typically attributed to advantageous weather conditions, or lower expenses of demolishing the forest and delivering merchandises to the global
Tropical rainforests have many species of plants and animals. They are very interesting and many scientists today study it. Rainforests are an important part of our environment and it is important for us to protect it. That’s why we have to stop global warming.
A rain forest can be merely defined as a evergreen forest inhabiting a tropical region, filled with a wide variety of plants and animals, with an annual rainfall of at least 2.5 meters. Simply speaking, they are the richest, oldest, most productive ecosystems on earth. An ecosystem is a living community together with its environment, together both functioning as a unit. Biologist, Norman Myers, states "rainforests are the finest celebration of nature ever known to the planet" (1). There are three main types of rainforests; temperate, sub-tropical, and tropical. Most of the rain forests still left in the world today are tropical. Tropical rain forests cover less then 6% of the earth, yet they contain half of the world’s species. As a matter of fact, rain forests support 90,000 of the 250,000 identifies plant species. A tropical rain forest has three layers: the canopy (treetops), the understory (young trees, ferns, shrubs), and the forest floor. Rain forests have been known as the "womb of life" (1) because they are home to so many species. Temperate (much younger, and more full of nutrients, located along Canada and the United States, among others) and sub-tropical rain forests also contain many ranges of animals (monkeys, birds, snakes, jaguars), however they are not as different. Regardless, the rain forests possess an array of foliage and fauna. Tropical rain forests lie near the equator, which means the temperature is extremely hot, above eighty degrees year round, and the climate is extremely wet. Rainforests cover about two percent of the earth’s surface, or six percent of it’s land mass, and yet they are the primary shelter for over half of the plant and animal species on earth....
The Amazon rainforest has a huge role not only in the forest itself but in our future and with the way we humans live. Daily, the Amazon provides the world with things such as medicines, fruits and nuts, spices, and of course some of the air that we breathe. The Amazon rainforest itself absorbs over two and a half billion tons of carbon dioxide a year. It also releases over two billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. With the deforestation of the Amazon increasing with time, less trees are being used to control the intake and outtake of the carbon dioxide. Other than releasing the carbon dioxide the rainforest also is responsible for twenty percent of earth’s oxygen. The Amazon additionally generates the hydrological cycle, which
Imagine going on a tour throughout the Amazon Rainforest. To your right you see a variety of exotic animals and insects. To your left, you then see a ton of rare species of plants that you have never seen before. Finally, ahead of you are tribes of many people. You are soaking in all these amazing sights until suddenly, you hear the sound of wrecking balls and chainsaws destroying everything in it’s path making you feel like someone is pounding at your brain, causing a horrific headache. Horrible right? This is why protecting the Amazon Rainforest is important to the people, animal, insect and plant life. Not to mention, the species that live in this rainforest are actually living in the last rainforest existing in the world. Getting rid of the last rainforest standing can
You are standing in the middle of a hot and muggy tropical rainforest near the equator. As you feel rain hit your head you look up to see trees upon trees which are hundreds of feet tall.When you look at around the area surrounding you, you notice many types of life. Whether it be small plants like ferns or large animals such as jaguars and apes. The tropical rainforest is a very important piece of our earth. This is because they provide much life such as trees and plants. These trees and plants provide oxygen for us and our world. Which is why it is so important to treat it well.This paper will share information about the climate, the food chain, and the landscapes of the tropical rainforests.