Basic facts about the tropical rainforest
From Science Online
The tropical rainforest can only be found on three of the the world's seven continents. Even thought the surface area of the rainforest is quite small compared to most of the other biomes, it still plays a very important role in the world around us. The tropical rainforest is home to about half of the world's plant and animal species, hundreds of which are being discovered daily as scientists explore the dense growth that is hopme to millions of organisms. With the diverse plant species that can be found throughout the biome, many of the medications that are used today have been created through the combination of the exotic vegetation. (About a quarter of all medication is created using resources from the rainforest.)Rainforests thrive in regions where there is year-round warmth, which explains the fact that all of the world's rainforest area is near the equator. Annualy there is about 60 to 250 inches of rainfall in this wet biome. Due to the fact that the rainforest is found close to the equator and there is so much rainfall the biome is consistantly quite warm and very humid all year round.
See image: (Rainforests Around the World)
Due to the immense growth in this biome there are several distict characteristics that tropical rainforest vegetation distinctly has. First is the emergent layer, which are the the trees that exceed 100 feet and stick out above the rest of the top forest layer. The next level is the upper canopy, where most of the larger trees in the forest stop their growth. These trees, which extend from about 60 to about 125 feet tall take in most of the sunlight, leaving very little for the lower canopy, which is the third level. The canopy is where most of rainforest's animals live. The lower canopy is composed of small trees, large shrubs and the lower portion of the upper canopy trees. The lowest layer of the rainforest is the forest floor, where there is very little growth due to the fact that about one percernt of light reaches the forest floor.
See image: (Rainforest Diagram)
The rainforest is experiencing major deforestation by humans who are trying to make a profit off of all of the timber from rainforest trees. This excessive removal of habitat area has many severe consequences, such as the extinction of many animals that only live in the rainforest, and loss of the earth's largest manufactorer of oxygen and holder of fresh water. This deforestation is also such a devestating factor due to the fact that naturally the rainforest has very infertile soil. The lack of sunlight that reaches the forest floor makes it hard for there to be any growth and decay to create topsoil for growth. When any fertile soil is created then the excessive rain washes it away before it has a chance to accumulate. Therefore the trees that are cut down by the logging industries never have a chance to grow back. The rainforest provides many different resources for the people and plays an important role in the economy. As stated before the rainforest provides the necessary componants to many of the known medications. The wood produced from the logging provides for paper and lumber.
As stated above, the rainforest is home to almost half of the world's animal and plant species can be found in the rainforest. This makes for a very diverse amount of producers and consumers. There are many producers found in the rainforest such as the balloon algae, cocoa, banana tree and the brazil nut. Some of the many consumers are the tapir, the jaguar, the howler monkey, the spider monkey, and the sloth. There are millions of animals and plants found in the rainforest, making it impossible to list such a vast amount.
Songs
Welcome to the Jungle- Guns n' Roses
Jungle Love- Steve Miller Band
Monkey in the Jungle- Gorillaz Rainforest Mix- Moby
Movies
Fergully
(Organisms and Their Ecosystems)
