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Causes and impacts of rainforests
Importance of tropical rainforests environmental sciences essay
Importance of tropical rainforests environmental sciences essay
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Rainforests The rain forests are incredible places. They only cover 6 % of the world’s surface however they have more than ½ the world’s plant and animals species. A rain forest can be described as tall and thick jungles. There is a reason behind the forest being called a “Rain forest” and it is because the high rainfall it gets per year. On average, 50 to 260 inches of rain falls yearly. The temperature in a rain forest rarely gets higher than 34 ºC or drops below 20 ºC. The average humidity in a rainforest is between 77 to 88%. Rainfall is often more than 100 inches a year. There are 4 layers in a rainforest. Each has some importance in some way to the rainforest. If these 4 layers were not there then a rain forest wouldn’t exist. Here …show more content…
They provide a habitat for plants and animals. Tropical rainforests took between 60 to 100 million years to evolve and are believed to be the most complex and the oldest ecosystem on the earth, containing over 30 million species of plants and animals. That is half the world’s species and 2/3 of its plant species. Most tropical rainforest grown in warm and steamy environments. One hectare of lowland may have around 100 trees with up to 300 species. If we compare this to UK, where the UK forests have 5-10 species per hectare. That’s 30 to 60 times less species in UK than a hectare of …show more content…
Here are the 4 main places where the tropical jungles. Central America: The Central American region was once entirely covered with rainforest, sadly now large areas have been cleared for cattle ranching and for sugar cane plantations. The jungles and mangrove swamps of Central America have many plants and animals found nowhere else. The forest in Central America is famous for it’s large number of tropical birds. Amazon: This is one of the most famous tropical rainforest in the world. Currently, it is the largest tropical rainforest in the world. The forest covers the basin of amazon, the world’s second longest river. The Amazon is home to many animals and even some of the plants greats. This rainforest has a great variety of plants and animals. 1/5 of the world’s plants and 1/10 of all mammal species are found there. Africa: Central Africa has the world’s second largest rainforest. In the southeast, in the large island of Madagascar, the land was once intensively forested, but sorrowfully much of it has vanished. The island of Madagascar is home to many unique plants and animals not found anywhere
the rainforest are about 70% of plants.the trees are very important and the trees actually give us
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%. A high average year round temperature, coupled with the moisture rich environment, creates an ecosystem that allows for a level of biodiversity seen nowhere else on the planet. This also results in a specific type of layering design that allows the system to survive and recycle its nutrients.
The Amazon Rain Forest crosses several national boundaries in South America, although the majority of it is located in Brazil. It covers over 3,562,000 acres, making it the largest in the world. But globally, over 138,600 acres of rain forest are lost each year to deforestation, 50,000 of those in Brazil alone (Holdsforth), and the world's rain forests are quickly disappearing. Deforestation in the Amazon occurs primarily for three reasons: clear-cutting, fragmentation, and edge effects.
A tropical rainforest is an ecosystem type which occurs roughly within the latitudes 28 degrees north and south of the equator. The forests are dominated by tall, closely spread trees, with a predominately continuous canopy. This ecosystem experiences high average temperatures and a significant amount of rainfall during the year. Elements of the biophysical environment of the biome and their interaction with each other Ecosystems develop in response to the interactions between biotic and abiotic components. Certain conditions in the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere must occur for the formation of tropical rainforests.
The ecosystem I have chosen is tropical rainforest. In the following paragraphs, I am going to firstly introduced the structure of tropical rainforest in brief, with the second part of the plant ecology and last the diversity within this ecosystem.
There are many rainforests in the world but one of the biggest one is the Amazon rainforest, which is located in the northern half of South America and lies in the countries of Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia. The Amazon also lies in between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer. The size of the Amazon resembles the size of the United States from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky Mountains. Since this rain forest lies next to the Equator, the climate is warm and humid. The average temperature is in between sixty-eight to ninety- three degrees. The Amazon has two seasons but each one is six months each. They are classified as the wet season and the dry season. The wet season occurs between December to May and the dry season occurs between June to November. The average rainfall is fifty to two hundred and sixty inches per year. The forest floor only gets up to two to five percent of sunlight since the canopy blocks the sunlight from getting to the forest floor. The Amazon rain forest got the nickname, the world’s pharmacy, because many medicines have been found in the tree bark, the tree’s leaves, and other parts of the trees.
Therefore, the consequences of destroying it will be very harsh on us humans. If we take the resources such as wood from the rainforest, for our everyday use now, we will be the ones suffering in long term. Rainforest use to cover 14% of our earth, and now its left with only 6%. From looking at the rainforest from different perspective actually tells us a lot.
Simply speaking, rainforests are basically the foundation of the earth. The most important role that rainforests play is ‘the lungs of the earth’. This is extremely vital to the earth’s survival as the trees and plants absorb carbon dioxide which they use to help grow and let out oxygen which we need to live. This system is known as the carbon-oxygen cycle and with numbers of rainforests declining, it is highly threatened. The largest rainforest in the world, the Amazon, alone is known to produce half of the world’s oxygen. A break down in the carbon-oxygen cycle means that we will not only have less oxygen, but an increase in carbon dioxide which eventually leads to global warming. This occurs as carbon dioxide traps heat which actually keeps the earth warm, with the right amount of carbon dioxide that is. This is called the greenhouse effect and occurs naturally however due to decreasing number of trees, there is more carbon dioxide than needed which traps extra heat making the earth hotter than needed, this is known as global warming which also causes a rise in sea level.
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.
...tropical rain forest, savannah, temperate, desert, taiga, tundra, and mountain) and aquatic communities (i.e. freshwater, estuaries, and marine).
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.
oxygen for the planet. Numerous rainforests exist around the globe. The largest rain forest is
Along the point of climate stability, forests have less water lost through evapotranspiration compared to let’s say the desert ecosystem because the floors of the forest are covered in humus and different habitats of the forest floor therefore water is retained within the floor and there is no room at all for the water to evapotranspirate. This then helps humans in that, there is readily available supply of fresh water from the forest, and there is also stability in the climate of that
Forests for Our Lives When during the day and the sun is very hot, we would look for a place to take shelter under an old tree, with large and dense leaves. Why do you need to be a member? Because trees perform photosynthesis and evapotranspiration processes that can cause the surrounding temperature to lower and humidity levels to rise. That way we will feel more cool and comfortable and easy to breathe and can breathe fresh air. Once the magnitude of the benefits of a tree.