Rainforests

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What is a Rainforest?

A tropical rainforest is a forest near the equator that is warm all year. Tropical rainforests currently cover less than 6% of the Earth’s surface, yet they produce 40% of the Earth’s oxygen. Many rainforest trees are very tall. Over 254 centimeters (100 inches) of rain falls in a rainforest per year. Rainforests are very moist all of the time. In fact, the average humidity is between 77% and 88%. The loss of these incredible forests would be a tremendous loss to science, and make it even less likely for humans to survive in our changing world. Tropical rainforests are the oldest and most stable ecosystems on earth, not to mention the most biodiverse, and should be protected.

Temperate rainforests can be found at any latitude, not just near the equator. They generally have a bit less rain than tropical rainforests, but they still get at least 254 centimeters of rain annually. Temperate rainforests also have a cooler climate than tropical rainforests, but they are still moist.

This page is mostly dedicated to tropical rainforests.

Climate

Most tropical rainforests have only one season of wet and dryness which continues all year round. Sometimes there is a wet season and a dry season but tropical rainforests are always humid, warm, and wet. Being near the Equator, tropical rainforests receive more radiation from the sun than any other ecosystem on earth. This is one of the main reasons for their extreme biodiversity.

Layers

rainforest layers

Emergent Layer

This layer is made up of a few exceptionally large trees which surpass the height of the canopy layer. These trees are generally 45-55 meters tall, although some occasionally grow to heights of 60 and even 70 meters. This layer is home to eagles, butterflies, bats, and some species of monkeys.

Canopy Layer

The canopy is the most diverse of all the rainforest layers. Out of the over 50% of the world’s species of plants and animals that can be found in rainforests, at least 40% can be found in this layer. The trees found in the canopy layer are 30-45 meters tall. Scientists have only recently discovered ways of exploring the rainforest canopy. The science of exploring a tropical rainforest canopy is called dendronautics.

Understorey Layer

This layer is inhabited by a variety of birds, snakes, and lizards, as well as predators such as leopards, jaguars, and boa constrictors. There are a lot of insects in this layer. Many trees at the understorey level will eventually grow up to the canopy layer. Since very little sunlight penetrates all the way to this layer, only about 5%, the leaves of the plants in the understorey are quite large.

Shrub Layer

The shrub layer is just above the forest floor. The leaves in this layer are very big. This layer is far less diverse than the upper layers which receive more sunlight.

Forest Floor

Receiving only a measly 2% of the sunlight of the, plants and animals must be well-adapted to live in this layer. The forest floor holds decaying matter from plants and animals, and there are a wide variety of fungi which speed up the decaying process.

Biota

More than half of the world’s plants and animals can be found in rainforests. That is to say, over 5 million species. The tropical rainforest ecosystem is the most biodiverse in the world. There are also many species of fungi that are found in rainforests.

Fauna

The animals that can be found in a tropical include mammals (primates, felids, other families), reptiles (snakes, lizards, chameleons, other families), birds, and invertebrates. There are many incredibly bizzare animals that live in the tropical rainforest and nowhere else.

Flora

Trees

Rainforest trees have huge, buttressed roots, especially those in tropical rainforests where the soil is very thin. The majority of both plant and animal life in a rainforest is found in the canopyformed by the trees.

Other Plants

Rainforests have many weird plants from huge woody vines to tiny mosses to gigantic meat-eating flowers.

Soil

Tropical Rainforest Soil

The soil of a tropical rainforest is, surprisingly, low in nutrients and quite poor. It is ancient and also very delicate; if the soil of a tropical rainforest is damaged, it can take many years to recover. This soil is only about 8-10 centimeters (3-4 inches) thick. Underneath the soil is solid clay.

Temperate Rainforest Soil

Temperate rainforests have soil that is much richer in nutrients than the soil of tropical rainforests. It is not very old, and is also much less prone to damage.

Locations of Rainforests

tropical rainforest locations

Above: A map of the world showing the locations of tropical rainforests. Picture courtesy of Wikimedia.

temperate rainforest locations

Above: A map of the world showing the locations of temperate rainforests. Picture courtesy of Wikimedia.

Natural Resources

Food and Agricultural Uses

Many foods we eat today come from rainforests. Coffee is an obvious example. Many fruits such as oranges, bananas, lemons, avocados, and pineapples come from rainforests. Nuts such as cashews and brazilnuts are found in tropical rainforests as well. Even the domestic chickens of today are descended from the wild chickens living in rainforests.

Commercial Use

Latex for making rubber comes from the sap of a rainforest tree. Almost everything from pesticides to chewing gum, from golf balls to toothpaste to lipstick is made from raw materials originating in rainforests. Fuel sources such as oil from a fast growing ‘petroleum nut’ tree are more sustainable than fossil fuels, except if whole rainforests are completely destroyed just for the fuel.

Medicinal Use

Tropical rainforests, like coral reefs, have many undiscovered remedies and drugs for curing sickness and many more purposes. If we destroy them before we can uncover their full potential, we are really going in the wrong direction. Many plants from rainforests have successfully treated cancer, malaria, schizophrenia, and other ailments and disorders.

Extreme Weather–What Does it Do?

Rain Patterns

Tropical rainforests have very consistent rain patterns, because there are specific time where it should or should not rain for the good of the ecosystem. These important rain patterns are synchronized with all other events; the birth of animals and insects, the seasons, seed releasing of plants, and basically all else that goes on in a rainforest. In short, consistent rain patterns are vital to the rainforest ecosystem. So what happens when it rains when it shouldn’t, and does not when it should? This, caused by warmer overall world climate, upsets the timing of flowering and fruiting, which needs to be the same few days that most of the animals and insects are born in, or when flocks of migratory birds and bats pass through. Without perfect timing, mass starvation of the new generation, migratory birds, and to a lesser extent all the other animals occurs.

Droughts

Droughts are another significant threat to tropical rainforest. Droughts often result in the loss of large trees, as they dry out and die. They then become unstable, grow fungi, decompose, and generally can no longer support rainforest life in any form other than that dirt (or perhaps nurse logs, for a limited amount of time). Each of these trees are likely to formerly have been home to thousands of creatures (the majority of which are insects) and many of those thousand will accordingly be rendered homeless and often lacking their staple food source as the tree dies. Droughts also cause lack of food due to offset of blooming and fruit production schedule.

Hurricanes

Threats

Rainforest Logging ans Burning

The worlds largest (hopefully it will stay that way) and most famous tropical rainforest is the Brazilian Amazon. However, in spite of all it’s fame, hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of it were cut down in just six years– from 2000-2006. That is already several years ago, and since then rainforest logging speed is steadily increasing. Most of the logging and burning is to turn the natural rainforest into pastureland, which is apparently more valuble. The rest is for the wood.

Now, you may be wondering why the native Brazilians do not do anything about their forests being destroyed and the reason ins this: many native Brazilians are poor and are so busy trying to make a living that they do not have the time to try and protect the Amazon. if they are eventually helped enough by charity, maybe the amazon would stand a better chance.

All this logging is giving billions of animals no place to live. They probably loose their food sources too. Every 20 minutes due to rainforest logging, and burning, a species is pushed to extinction and more than 1200 acres of forest is destroyed. In fact, EVERY SECOND AN AREA OF RAINFOREST THE SIZE OF A BASEBALL FIELD IS DESTROYED. This cannot continue happening, and must be stopped for the sake of life on Earth. Stop the Clock for extinction now.

Rainforest burning is also the current #1 source of CO2 emmissions which cause global warming↓. This creates a viscous circle— which, unless we take action fast, will end with the complete loss of allthe worlds rainforests.

Climate Change/Global Warming

Climate change has many negative effects on rainforests. See Extreme Weather–What Does it Do?

How You Can Help

Buy shade grown coffee. Shade grown means that it is planted in the rainforest rather than having the rainforest cleared for a coffee plantation.
Donate to Cobwebs and Seaslugs—all our donations and money from the store currently go to saving rainforests.
Stop the Clock for extinction now.
Protect an Acre of rainforest with Conservation International for only 15$.