Hey kids, do you know where you can find more living things in one place than anywhere else in the world?  In a tropical rainforest!

Rainforests are exactly what their name suggests: warm, dense forests that are very wet.Tropical rainforests are found close to the Earth’s equator, and they are home to millions of plant and animals. In school science, we can learn the four layers of the rainforest.

Towering above all the other parts of the rainforest are emergents: giant trees taller than any other in the rainforest that stick up above their neighbours. Emergents are homes to many birds and insects.

The canopy is the leafy part of the rainforest, made up of the tops of the trees. The canopy grows so thick and close together that rain falling on it can take 10 minutes to reach the ground!  Many amazing plants and animals are found here, including sloths. Sloths have long toes that they use to hang upside down from branches; they spend most of their lives upside-down, and will eat, sleep, and even give birth upside down!  Sloths are also famous for being the slowest animals on earth. They are so slow that algae grows in their fur and turns them green!

Under the canopy but above the ground is the understory of the rainforest. It consists mainly of the trunks of trees and the vines and other plantlife that grows over them. Many flowers grow in the understory, and thousands of birds and butterflies find their food there.

Finally, we reach the lowest part of the rainforest: the forest floor. It is home to millions of insects, and some of the largest animals in the rainforest also live there.

School science tells us that it’s important to preserve the rainforest because of all the plants and animals that live  there, but one of the most interesting facts about rainforests is that the trees also provide much of the air that we breathe! Rainforests are also important because the cures to many illnesses have been found in the plants that grow there.

Here are some other interesting facts about tropical rainforests:

The largest butterfly in the world is the Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing butterfly from the rainforests of Papua New Guinea. This massive butterfly has a wingspan of 30 cm, and it’s also poisonous! The caterpillars eat a poisonous rainforest plant, which means that any predators that try to eat a Queen Alexandra’s birdwing get very sick, and soon learn to leave all of them alone.

The rainforests of Sumatra are home to the largest flower in the world – which is also the smelliest.  The corpse flower has a blossom over a metre wide, and it gives off a stench like rotting flesh that can be smelled up to 800 metres away!

The Congo rainforest in Africa has its very own unicorns! Okapi are deerlike animals related to giraffes, with striped legs like a zebra. They have two horns on their heads, but if you look at an okapi from the right angle, the two horns look like one. This earned them their nickname of “African unicorns.”

And the coolest thing about rainforests is that there are so many plants and animals in them that we haven’t discovered them all yet! Maybe you can visit a rainforest and discover a new species someday.

Discover more kids science articles, look up amazing fun facts, do animated science quizzes with talking characters, meet friends in virtual worlds, play games and do fun science activities at Science Score – the world’s most fun online elearning product for kids. Join the thousands of kids to play with Science Score and do well in Science. Visit http://www.sciencescore.com/home/sciencequizforkids.php

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/parenting-articles/a-romp-through-a-rainforest-1062923.html

About the Author

Sarah Jane Elliott is a contributing author of curious science articles for an online kids science portal. She holds a honors bachelor of Science degree from University of Toronto, specializing in zoology and behavior. Sarah is an author of speculative fiction, as well as a teacher and museum educator. Visit http://www.sciencescore.com.

A TripAdvisor™ TripWow slideshow of a travel blog to Tena, Ecuador by TravelPod blogger Rjsmith titled “Amazon Jungle” Rjsmith’s travel blog entry: “Getting out of Otavalo was a bit of a problem due to the locals protesting about a lack of water. They decided to blockade the main roads which meant a long journey over rough single track roads high up in the mountains. We ended up camping overnight by some hot springs which were really nice for relaxing in. It gets quite cold at 3000m so I was pleased I had brought a decent sleeping bag. We finally got to Tena and then after a boat trip along the river Arajuno we arrived at the isolated Arajuno Jungle Lodge. The eco-lodge is run by a really nice American called Tom, who had previously worked for Peace Corps and the Charles Darwin Research Station in the Galapagos. Tom bought about 80 hectares of rainforest several years ago for about $10000. He is currently working on a number of projects to preserve the local environment and to help the locals. It was really nice to see somebody working with the locals and achieving results. One project is setting up fish breeding ponds so that locals can have a reliable and much needed source of protein. Once established the ponds will also stop the locals using dynamite fishing. A local guide called Miguel took us for day and night walks through the primary and secondary rainforests and pointed out lots of wildlife. Unlike the Galapagos it is really difficult to see bigger animals, but …

Source: YouTube

The tropical rainforest food web is all about who eats who in the tropics. The web describes the chain of events every organism goes through to obtain nutrition, or energy, in order to survive. A food web is a network of food chains.

There are some things we need to know about the food web. Each level of the chain is dependent on the adjoining levels. Autotrophs make their food from light or some form of chemical energy and are at the bottom of each food chain. These primary producers are eaten by herbivores (plant eating organisms) that are eaten by carnivores and omnivores. The secondary consumers may be eaten by tertiary consumers, who are carnivores. When any organism dies, tiny microbes (detrivores) take over and what we humans know as decay occurs. And the food web starts all over again.

The rainforest is home to more plants and small insects than any other organism. And herbivores far outweigh carnivores and omnivores. We could provide pages of scientific facts about tropical rainforest food webs. Instead, we’ll cut to the chase and tell you why all this is important.

Its importance lies in the very critical concept of interdependence. Each organism in the food web depends upon all other organisms in the chain for basic survival. For example, if an insect becomes extinct, plants that it consumes will proliferate and equilibrium in the rainforest will be disturbed. In addition, members of the food web that rank above the insect in question will be affected because it will no longer be available for consumption. This disruption leads to further extinction of species and ultimately the entire food web is drastically changed if not completely obliterated.

We humans need to work to avoid obliteration of any member of the tropical rainforest food web. The endangered species list keeps getting longer, not shorter. We should be concerned.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/understanding-the-tropical-rainforest-food-web-178173.html

About the Author
The Tropical Rainforest Food Web article provided by Mandarich Media group

The Wire-tailed Manakin (Pipra filicauda) is a species of bird in the Pipridae family. It is found upriver in the western Amazon Basin and the neighboring countries of northern Peru, eastern Ecuador and Colombia, and southern and western portions of Venezuela. In Venezuela it occurs upriver in the Orinoco River basin, but not the final 1300 km; its range in Venezuela continues around the Andes cordillera to the northwestern coast. In northwest Brazil, the species ranges from Roraima and Amazonas west to Venezuela and Colombia, and southwest from Rondônia and Acre to Peru and Ecuador. Wire-tailed Manakin’s natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical swamps. Physical characteristics: Wire-tailed manakins are about 4.5 inches (11 centimeters) long. The females are dull olive-colored birds, but the males are brilliantly colored. Males have red from the top of their head through their upper back, a black back, bright yellow undersides, and long, thin tail feathers. Geographic range: These birds are found in northeastern Peru, southeastern Colombia, eastern Ecuador, and in the rainforests of Venezuela and Brazil. Habitat: Wire-tailed Manakins prefer the edges of humid, tropical forests, forest clearings, and the edges of agricultural land. Diet: Wire-tailed Manakins eat berries and fruit. They hunt for food near the top part of the forest close to the canopy. Behavior and reproduction: Wire-tailed Manakins do not clear a lek <b>…</b>

Source: YouTube

In this brief introduction we will discuss the geographical location of rainforests, some of their main structural features, flora and fauna, effect on climate and human use.

1) Main locations of Tropical Rain Forests

In the broadest terms we can find tropical rain forests around the equator between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn all around the world, in Asia, Africa, Central and South America, Australia and Pacific islands. Basically speaking in the continents of the Americas they are spread across the following countries: Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Surinam and Venezuela. The Amazonian region is the biggest area forming more than half of the world’s total rainforest area. In Africa tropical rain forest is found in the following countries: Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo, Central African Republic, Cameroun, Gabon, Nigeria, Madagascar etc but African rainforest is mainly found in the Congo river basin. This covers an area of one third of the world’s total rainforests. In Asia and we find tropical rainforest in Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and some parts of India.

2) Rainforests

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750–2000 mm. The monsoon trough, alternately known as the intertropical convergence zone, plays a significant role in creating Earth’s tropical rain forests. About 40 to 75% of all species on the world’s habitats are indigenous to the rainforests. For example 90% of the Earth’s insect species are to be found there. It has been estimated that many millions of species of plants, insects, and microorganisms are still undiscovered. Tropical rainforests have been called the “jewels of the Earth”, and the “world’s largest pharmacy”, because over one quarter of natural  medicines have been discovered there. Rainforests are also responsible for 28% of the world’s oxygen turn over, often misunderstood as oxygen production, processing it through photosynthesis from carbon dioxide and storing it as carbon through biosequestration. The undergrowth in a rainforest is restricted in many areas by the lack of sunlight at ground level. This makes it possible to walk through the forest. If the leaf canopy is destroyed or thinned, the ground beneath is soon colonized by a dense, tangled growth of vines, shrubs and small trees called a jungle. There are several main types of rainforest, but perhaps the two most important are tropical rainforesttand temperate rain forest. In this articles we will be discussing the tropical rainforest only.

3) Structure of the Rainforest

A tropical rainforest is typically divided into four main layers, each with different plants and animals adapted for life in that particular area: the emergent, canopy, understory, and forest floor layers.

Emergent layer

The emergent layer contains a small number of very large trees called emergents, which grow above the general canopy, reaching heights of 45–55 m, although on occasion a few species will grow to 70–80 m tall.  They need to be able to withstand the hot temperatures and strong winds in some areas. Eagles, butterflies bats and certain monkeys inhabit this layer.

Canopy layer

The canopy layer contains the majority of the largest trees, typically 30–45 m tall. The densest areas of biodiversity are found in the forest canopy, a more or less continuous cover of foliage formed by adjacent treetops. The canopy, by some estimates, is home to 50 percent of all plant species, suggesting that perhaps half of all life on Earth could be found there. Epiphytic plants attach to trunks and branches, and obtain water and minerals from rain and debris that collects on the supporting plants. The fauna is similar to that found in the emergent layer, but more diverse. A quarter of all insect species are believed to exist in the rainforest canopy.

Scientists have long suspected the richness of the canopy as a habitat, but have only recently developed practical methods of exploring it. As long ago as 1917, naturalist William Beebe declared that “another continent of life remains to be discovered, not upon the Earth, but one to two hundred feet above it, extending over thousands of square miles.” True exploration of this habitat only began in the 1980s, when scientists developed methods to reach the canopy, such as firing ropes into the trees using crossbows. Exploration of the canopy is still in its infancy, but other methods include the use of balloons and airships to float above the highest branches and the building of cranes and walkways planted on the forest floor. The science of accessing tropical forest canopy using airships, or similar aerial platforms, is called dendronautics.

Understory layer

The understory layer lies between the canopy and the forest floor. The understory (or understory) is home to a number of birds, monkeys, snakes, lizards, as well as predators such as jaguars, boa constrictors and leopards. The leaves are much larger at this level. Insect life is also abundant. Many seedlings that will grow to the canopy level are present in the understory. Only about 5 percent of the sunlight shining on the rainforest reaches the understory. This layer can also be called a shrub layer, although the shrub layer may also be considered a separate layer.

Forest floor

This is a much understudied area – perhaps less glamorous than the other layers to some. The forest floor, the bottom-most layer, receives only 2 percent of sunlight. Only plants adapted to low light can grow in this region. Away from riverbanks, swamps and clearings where dense undergrowth is found, the forest floor is relatively clear of vegetation because of the low sunlight penetration. It also contains decaying plant and animal matter, which disappears quickly due to the warm, humid conditions promoting rapid decay. Many forms of fungi grow here which help decay the animal and plant waste.

As an example of the incredible diversity of fungi we have a recent update from Bolivia. On a 2007 expedition one researcher found over 276 different mushrooms in the jungle: ” there were Ganoderma lucidum, the medicinal reishi or lingQi mushroom; 3 or 4 species of edible oyster mushroom, growing on tropical palm or hardwood; over 20 collections of conks, wood-decomposing brown rot fungi that slowly decompose the tropical hardwood trees; a large variety of Marasmius mushrooms, a genus not much found in the north; 2 species of Boletus, 2 unique mushrooms that seem to be Amanita, several Cortinarius, 6 collections of Cordyceps, a group of insect-killing fungi; 3 Auricularia (tree ear) species; 3 species of Cotylidia, a tropical cartiliginous mushroom, over a dozen species of Lepiota, 3 Oudmansellias, 5 or 6 Agaricus, one with amazing blue gills; two species of mushroom cultivated by termites or ants, one of which produces large edible fruits; a Volvariella on a fig tree; a host of fungi in the Xylaria family, some with white tufted heads, others branched like barbed wire, some long and wiry, others short and corky; two adorable little scarlet cup fungi of the Cokeina genus, about a dozen other species that were members of familiar North American genera, two very different coral mushrooms, at least one species of mushroom that displays bioluminescence, and probably 40 or 50 species of fungi which were new to me. The physical specimens remain in Bolivia at the national herbarium for reference. ”

4) Flora and fauna

.More than half of the world’s species of plants and animals are found in the rainforest.  Rainforests support a very broad array of fauna including mammals, reptiles, birds and invertebrates. Mammals may include primates, felids and other families. Reptiles include snakes, turtles, chameleons and other families while birds include such families as vangidae and Cuculidae. Dozens of families of invertebrates are found in rainforests. Fungi are also very common in rainforest areas as they can feed on the decomposing remains of plant and animal life – see the extract about Bolivia above. These species are rapidly disappearing due to deforestation, habitat loss, and biochemical releases into the atmosphere. Lets take some specific geographical examples of animal communities. In the Amazon for example we can find: Spider monkeys, Golden Lion Tamarins, Sloths, Giant River Otters, Toucans, Macaws, Pink River Dolphins, Electric Eels, Piranhas, Black Caiman, Anaconda, Jaguar, and poison Arrow Frogs just to name some of the more famous species.

In the Congo we can find Chimpanzees, Western Lowland Gorillas, Okapi, Forest Elephants, Bonobo, Bongo, Warthogs etc, Perhaps the most famous residents of the tropical rain forest in Asia are the orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), proboscis monkey (Nasalis larvatus), gibbon (Hylobates muelleri), and long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis). In Borneo we also have the banteng (Bos javanicus), a species of wild ox; the highly endangered Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis); the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), which is smaller in stature than mainland elephants; the Sambar deer (Cervus unicolor), the clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) and the sun bear (Helarctos malayanus).  Lets take a look at two geographical examples or case studies:

Biodiversity Case Study One – The Amazon

Wet tropical forests are the most species-rich biome, and tropical forests in the Americas are consistently more species rich than the wet forests in Africa and Asia. As the largest tract of tropical rainforest in the Americas, the Amazonian rainforests have unparalleled biodiversity. One in ten known species in the world live in the Amazon Rainforest. This constitutes the largest collection of living plants and animal species in the world. The region is home to about 2.5 million insect species, tens of thousands of plants, and some 2,000 birds and animals. According to one estimate to date, at least 40,000 plant species, 3,000 fish, 1,294 birds, 427 mammals, 428 amphibians, and 378 reptiles have been scientifically classified in the region. One in five of all the birds in the world live in the rainforests of the Amazon.

Scientists have described between 96,660 and 128,843 invertebrate species in Brazil alone. The diversity of plant species is the highest on Earth with some experts estimating that one square kilometer may contain over 75,000 types of trees and 150,000 species of higher plants. One square kilometer of Amazon rainforest can contain about 90,790 tonnes of living plants. The average plant biomass is estimated at356 ± 47 tonnes ha−1.[To date, an estimated 438,000 species of plants of economic and social interest have been registered in the region with many more remaining to be discovered or catalogued. The green leaf area of plants and trees in the rainforest varies by about 25% as a result of seasonal changes. Leaves expand during the dry season when sunlight is at a maximum, then undergo abscission in the cloudy wet season. These changes provide a balance of carbon between photosynthesis and respiration.

Biodiversity Case Study Two – Borneo

Borneo’s forests are highly biodiverse. According to WWF, the island is estimated to have at least 222 species of mammals (44 of which are endemic), 420 resident birds (37 endemic), 100 amphibians, 394 fish (19 endemic), and 15,000 plants (6,000 endemic) — more than 400 of which have been discovered in surveys since 1994. In fact new species are being discovered here still: Discovery of new species of bird in Borneo in 2009 While walking along a 250 meter-high canopy-walkway set-up for tourists, Richard Webster discovered a bird he didn’t recognize feeding on mistletoe berries. He took photos of the individual and later shared them with Dr. David Edwards, an ornithologist from Leeds University who has been studying birds in the area for three years. After checking with several museums, they realized that no one had ever recorded such a bird.  “This discovery shows once more how little is known about the diversity of life on our planet,” Jean-Christophe Vié, Deputy Director of IUCN’s Species Programme said. “2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity. It is an opportunity to increase our knowledge of nature and its functioning, explain its importance to the wider public, and most of all, undertake action to reduce the current threats in order to allow thousands of more discoveries like this one in the future.”  The discovery has been published in the latest issue (Jan 2010) of the Oriental Bird Club’s magazine, BirdingASIA. The species, known only as the ‘spectacled flowerpecker, has not yet received a scientific name.

5) Effect of Tropical Rainforests on global climate

A natural rainforest emits and absorbs vast quantities of carbon dioxide. On a global scale, long-term fluxes are approximately in balance, so that an undisturbed rainforest would have a small net impact on atmospheric carbon dioxide levels though they may have other climatic effects (on cloud formation, for example, by recycling water vapour). No rainforest today can be considered to be undisturbed. Human induced deforestation plays a significant role in causing rainforests to release carbon dioxide as do natural processes such as drought that result in tree death. Some climate models run with interactive vegetation and predict a large loss of Amazonian rainforest around 2050 due to drought, leading to forest dieback and the subsequent feedback of releasing more carbon dioxide. We need to increase efforts to preserve large tracts of the rainforests in all locations to combat this. Please see Dr Simon Harding’s article “A Brief History of the Earth’s Climate”.

6) Human uses

Tropical rainforests provide timber as well as animal products such as meat and hides. Rainforests also have value as tourism destinations and for the ecosystem services provided. Many foods originally came from tropical forests, and are still mostly grown on plantations in regions that were formerly primary forest. Also, plant derived medicines are commonly used for fever, fungal infections, burns, gastrointestinal problems, pain, respiratory problems, and wound treatment. In fact the human uses for the products of the rainforest are so diverse and numerous they should form the basis of another article.

Dr Simon Harding

www.coberongreen.com

www.chronosconsulting.com

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/science-articles/introduction-to-the-tropical-rainforest-2045891.html

About the Author

We all know a few facts about rainforests from Tarzan movies; for instance, in the rainforest you will find lush green vegetation, exotic animals, restless natives, and usually a few white men up to no good. But beyond those stereotypes, what are the real rainforest facts? What is the status of the world’s rainforests, and why is it important to preserve them?

Here’s the first rainforest fact: Rainforests are the oldest ecosystems on earth – they have been evolving for 70-100 million years.

The largest rainforest in the world is the Amazonrainforest in South America, which covers an area about two-thirds the size of the continental United States. To date, more than a quarter of a million square miles of Amazon rainforest have been cleared – about 17.5 percent of it.

Average temperatures in rainforests stay relatively constant year-round, usually in the 75-80F range.

Mongabay lists the following countries as having the largest areas of rainforest:

1) Brazil
2) Congo (Democratic Republic)
3) Indonesia
4) Peru
5) Bolivia
6) Angola
7) Venezuela
8) Papua New Guinea
9) Mexico
10) India

Although most rainforests are found in tropical regions, they are sometimes also found in temperate-zone countries like Canada, the United States, and some of the former-USSR countries. Like tropical rainforests, these rainforests receive abundant, year-round rainfall and have a dense rainforest canopy, but they do not get the year-round consistent sunlight and warmth.

To be considered a rainforest, the forest must get at least 80 inches of rain per year. Most tropical rainforests get anywhere from 160 to 400 inches of rain a year. That’s a lot compared to Grinning Planet’s home state of Kentucky, which gets a moderate amount of rainfall – 0-45 inches per year.

In some tropical rainforests, sudden deluges of rain can cause streams to rise 10-20 feet in a couple of hours.

Rainforests create their own mini-climates – the water that evaporates from the forest forms clouds above the area and later falls as rain. Not all of the water stays local, of course, but in the Amazon rainforest, 50-80% of the water remains in the local ecosystem’s water cycle. When rainforests are cut down, much of the moisture in the ecosystem is lost, leading to droughts and further devastation of species.

A tropical rainforest consists of four layers:

1) canopy — the level where most of the tops of the trees are

2) emergent trees — the few trees that manage to grow tall enough to poke up above the canopy

3) understory — young trees and shrubs below the canopy, where growth is limited by lack of strong sunlight

4) forest floor — fallen leaves and branches and dead trees; some animals and insects; dark and humid; lots of decomposition and recycling.

The top few inches of rainforest soil has most of the nutrients, so the roots of rainforest trees are not very deep. Most of the plant growth is in the emergent and canopy layers, where the sun is strongest. That means most of the available nutrients are there too, so it makes sense that most rainforest animals, including monkeys, birds, and tree frogs, live in the canopy.

Rainforests cover only 2% of the earth’s surface, but they host more than half of the planet’s plant and animal species – more species per acre than any other type of land-based ecosystem on the planet. The main reasons for this are:

1) the mega-doses of sunlight and rainfall in the rainforests make for lots of plant growth, which means lots of food for lots of animals; and

2) the structure of the canopy, which has a large volume with many varied niches for plants and animals to fill.

The sidebar to the right gives fun facts about five rainforest species. For more interesting facts about rainforest species, check out the general species pages from Rainforest Alliance or Rainforest Action Network; or these themed species pages from Mongabay, which have great pictures as well as basic information about rainforest species:

1) Mammals
2) Birds
3) Reptiles and Amphibians
4) Fish
5) Insects

Some animals that normally live outside the tropics – including hummingbirds, warblers and thousands of other North American birds – migrate to spend their winters in rainforests.

One poison-dart frog produces enough toxin to coat 50 to 100 poison darts. Leafcutter ants practice sustainable agriculture. They gather fragments from different plants and trees, thus ensuring that no species is harvested to the point of harm and limiting the ability of any one species to evolve to build up defenses against the leafcutters’ operations.

The cocoa tree – whose pods are the source of chocolate – originated in the lowland rainforests near the Amazon River in South America but is now cultivated as far north as southern Mexico.

The coffee plant is another shade-lover. Unfortunately, in the 1970s, many coffee farmers began planting coffee bushes that produced higher yields and required no shade. This has resulted in the clearing of forested area for more full-sun coffee plantations.

Poinsettias originated in the tropical forests of southern Mexico and Central America but are now the number-one flowering potted plant in the US.

There are many now-common foods that originated from rainforest plants:

1) Beverages and snacks: coffee, cocoa, popcorn, cola, salsa

2) Nuts and legumes: cashews, peanuts, Brazil nuts

3) Fruit: bananas, pineapples, oranges, lemons, coconuts

4) Staples: rice

5) Vegetables: avocados, onions, tomatoes, eggplants, peppers

6) Spices: ginger, cinnamon, vanilla

We’re sorry to report, however, that the vast world of plants and animals in the rainforest is suffering. An average of 137 rainforest species are driven to extinction every day. The number one cause is loss of habitat due to logging for lumber or tree clearing to provide land for farming and cattle ranching. Another problem is trade in rainforest species – sometimes legal, sometimes not – for exotic pets and plants; for fur, clothing, and shoes; even for research animals.

Pollution from industrial operations like mining and oil extraction also take a toll. Finally, climate change is emerging as a serious threat to rainforest animals; many biologists now believe climate change is second only habitat destruction in its capacity to wipe out species.

The Amazon rainforest is sometimes called the “lungs of the planet” – it recycles enough carbon dioxide to produce more than 20% of the world’s oxygen. Globally, rainforests also play a critical part in maintaining the earth’s climate by helping regulate hydrologic cycles and by storing massive amounts of carbon that might otherwise be converted to heat-trapping carbon dioxide. Rainforests are estimated to be storing 610 billion tons of carbon.

Rainforests that are cleared by burning generate the most immediate release of CO2. But even plant debris that is left to rot causes a problem. In a healthy rainforest, dead leaves and trees are broken down into nutrients that are then quickly converted back to new plant growth, which uses carbon dioxide and locks it away where it can’t add to the problem of greenhouse gas build-up. In a cleared forest, the nutrients and carbon dioxide are still produced graphic of logger during the breakdown of dead plant and animal matter, but there is no lush growth to use the CO2, so it floats up into the atmosphere to add to global warming.

While destruction of rainforests adds to the global warming problem, global warming itself hurts rainforests. As the earth’s climate warms, it tends to dry out the rainforests and causes there to be less rainfall there. As the rainforest dries out, its ecosystems begin to degrade and the area becomes more susceptible to natural fire events, which cause further rainforest destruction. Roots that once held soil in place are no longer there, so when it does rain, the topsoil washes away, making reestablishment of rainforest areas difficult or impossible. Further, the eroded soil washes into streams and rivers, polluting the water and degrading aquatic habitat.

The clearing of rainforests is a big negative in earth’s CO2 equation. Release of carbon dioxide from the carbonaceous materials in the soil of cleared, burned, and drought-devastated rainforest areas is one of a number of “feedback loops” that scientists think could lead to runaway climate change – that is, climate change that is driven by factors that we no longer can combat, no matter how much we try.

So, because climate change and rainforest health are, in fact, closely connected, implementing your own personal global warming solutions will help the rainforests.

Rainforests are amazing sources of products, both in terms of uniqueness and volume. But that can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on the way production is managed. Some products, such as plants for medicines, Brazil nuts, and shade-grown coffee and cocoa, can be sustainably harvested from rainforests without damaging or destroying the forests. Unfortunately, such operations often are done in an unsustainable manner. Industrial operations such as gold mining and oil extraction are usually very destructive to rainforests.

Logging operations for tropical timber products are often done by clearcutting and have contributed to much of the destruction of tropical rainforests. Each year, more than thirty million tropical rainforest acres are destroyed.

Tropical rainforests have given us pharmaceuticals to treat or cure problems such as inflammation, fungal diseases, rheumatism, diabetes, muscle tension, malaria, heart conditions, skin diseases, arthritis, and glaucoma. The US National Cancer Institute has identified over 2,200 rainforest plants that are active against cancer cells. And those are just the ones they’ve looked at so far. Many, many more rainforest-based compounds remain to be evaluated for their healing properties. But that future bounty is put at risk by the continued loss of rainforest acreage and species.

Logging advocates are fond of saying that today the world actually has more acres of forest land than it did in the past, with the implication being that there is still plenty of forest for us to cut down, including rainforests and other old growth forests. But clearcutting a rainforest and then replanting trees does not leave us with the same original forest – not even close. While it is possible for a company to replant the trees, it is impossible for the company to recreate an ancient forest with its complex ecosystem of plants, animals, insects, and people that lived there before all the original trees were cut down. Only nature can create healthy rainforest ecosystems, and she takes thousands, sometimes millions, of years to do it.

Rainforests are fascinating, exotic places, full of ecological and mineral riches. But continued unsustainable exploitation of those riches is damaging the rainforests, and because of their connection to global climate change, these actions (among other things) endanger us all.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/nature-articles/what-are-the-real-rainforest-facts-582785.html

About the Author

James Nash is a climate scientist with Greatest Planet (www.greatestplanet.org). Greatest Planet is a non-profit environmental organization specialising in carbon offset investments.

James Nash is solely responsible for the contents of this article.

Ecosystem that dominates the area around Ecuador is known as a tropical rainforest ecosystem. Food chain / web that takes place in this ecosystem is called a rainforest food chain. Study foods contain information about how predators and prey organisms in a given ecosystem. Read more about Facts about tropical rain forests.

The concept of food
Predator-prey relationship between species provide ecosystem represented by food. Food networks are influenced by environmental factors and geography of the region. Some simple things remain the same in different food network through a variety of habitats. Constants / Basically digestion (which generates energy through photosysnthesis), herbivores and predators. Read more at:

* Birds of tropical forests
* Important Rainforest – Tropical rainforest plants

Tropical Rainforest Food Web
Food Network rainforest is very complicated, and many different food chains in this Important connected. Tropical forest food chain complex in shape, can not know the exact number of chains and links. But food is roughly divided into four levels. The first level includes the plant (leaves, flowers and fruits), plankton, larvae, spiders and insects. plankton-eating insects, plants, together with the other levels. Different types of plankton, fish, frogs, possums, Bandicoots, birds, echidnas, kangaroos and wallabies. Small animals are canteen on the third level in the food chain. Quoll, snakes, Platypus, Fat-tailed Dunnart, owls, kookaburras, etc., are small animals that eat at that level. Larger animals such as crocodiles, Pythons, wild cats, dingo and wild dog are at the top (fourth) level. Thus the top of the animal and plant-based food pyramid rainforest

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/facts-about-tropical-rainforest-food-web-2214578.html

About the Author

Learn today all about tropical rainforest food web and also Plants in the Rainforest

Facts About the Rainforest You Need to Know

Every 1 second, a piece of the rainforest the size of a football field is being destroyed while we go about our business.
 Did you know that:

Rainforests are being destroyed because the value of rainforest land is perceived as only the value of its timber by short-sighted governments, land owners and global companies seeking to extract its wealth.
 The rainforests once covered 14% of the earth’s land surface, and now they only cover a mere 6%. It is being estimated that in less than 40 years the last remaining rainforests could disappear forever.
 Almost half of the world’s species of plants and animals that dwell in the rainforest may soon disappear completely as a result of rainforest deforestation.
 We are losing 137 plant, animal and insect species every single day due to rainforest deforestation which equates to 50,000 species a year and rising.
 Many possible cures for life-threatening diseases may now never be found because of the extinction of so many rainforest species. Today, 121 prescription drugs sold worldwide come from plant-derived sources. Less that 1% of these tropical trees and plants have been tested by scientists while about 25% of all Western pharmaceuticals are made from rainforest plants.
It is estimated that more than 90 indigenous tribal people have been destroyed by colonists since the 1900′s in Brazil alone, and with them have gone centuries of accumulated knowledge of the medicinal value of rainforest species, and all that wisdom.
 Today there are less than 200,000 Indians living in the Amazon Rainforest when five centuries ago there were an estimated ten million.
 The world loses thousands of years of irreplaceable knowledge about medicinal plants when a medicine man dies, and has failed to pass on his wisdom to the next generation.
Rainforests are so biologically diverse that the loss of them will have a devastating impact on the whole world. The destruction of rainforest species and rainforest habitats is apt to be the one thing our children will never forgive us for.

More facts about the rainforests you need to know:
There are more varieties of fish in a single pond in Brazil than all the rivers combined in Europe.
The total tree diversity in North America is about 700 varieties. This same amount is found in a single 25 acre plot in Borneo.
More species of birds are found in a single Peruvian rainforest reserve than in all of the United States.
Forty-three different species of ants were found in just a single tree in Peru.
The number of different fish species in the entire Atlantic ocean is surpassed by the number of fish species in the Amazon river alone.
Today, rainforests occupy only 2 percent of the entire Earth’s surface and 6 percent of the world’s land surface, yet these remaining lush rainforests support over half of our planet’s wild plants and trees and one-half of the world’s wildlife. Hundreds and thousands of these rainforest species are being extinguished before they have even been identified, much less identified and studied.
We must stop destroying the rainforest. These facts about the rainforest you need to know are crucial. It is vital that we learn all we can about rainforests before humanity makes an irreversible mistake. It is estimated that ninety percent of all rainforest ecosystems will be destroyed by 2020 if deforestation continues at the current rate. There is no more time. We must all do what we can NOW to help the rainforest.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/environment-articles/facts-about-the-rainforest-you-need-to-know-2724330.html

About the Author

Annie Horkan is an artist/internet marketer who loves everything green, travel adventure, longevity and all matters of the heart and spirit.

Determined to help save the rainforest before it is too late.

Facts About the Rainforest You Need to Know