Tropical rainforest

Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests of the world

Amazon river rain forest in Peru

Amazon river rainforest in Brazil

Tropical rainforests are rainforests generally found near the equator. They are common in Asia, Africa, South America, Central America, and on many of the Pacific Islands.

Within the World Wildlife Fund's biome classification scheme, tropical rainforests are considered a type of tropical wet forest (or tropical moist broadleaf forest) and may also be referred to as lowland equatorial evergreen rainforests.

Characteristics

The tropical rainforests are home to more species than all other biomes combined. The leafy tops of tall trees-extending from 50 to 80 meters above the forest floor-forms an understory. Organic matter that falls to the forest floor quickly decomposes, and the nutrients are recycled.

Rainforests are characterized by high rainfall. This often results in poor soils due to leaching of soluble nutrients. Oxisols, infertile, and deeply weathered, have developed on the ancient Gondwanan shields. Rapid bacterial decay prevents the accumulation of humus. The concentration of iron and aluminium oxides by the laterization process gives the oxisols a bright red color and sometimes produces mineral deposits (e.g. bauxite). On younger substrates, especially of volcanic origin, tropical soils may be quite fertile, as are the soils of many seasonally flooded forests, which are annually replenished with fertile silt.

Rainforests are home to two-thirds of all the living animal and plant species on the planet. It has been estimated that many hundreds of millions of new species of plants, insects, and microorganisms are still undiscovered and as yet unnamed by science. Tropical rainforests are also often called the "Earth's lungs", however there is no scientific basis for such a claim as tropical rainforests are known to be essentially oxygen neutral, with little or no net oxygen production.

Tall, broad-leaved evergreen trees are the dominant plants, forming a leafy canopy over the forest floor. Taller trees, called emergents, may rise above the canopy. The upper portion of the canopy often supports a rich flora of epiphytes, including orchids, bromeliads, mosses, and lichens, who live attached to the branches of trees. The undergrowth or understory in a rain forest is often restricted by the lack of sunlight at ground level, and generally consists of shade-tolerant shrubs, herbs, ferns, small trees, and large woody vines which climb into the trees to capture sunlight. The relatively sparse under story vegetation makes it possible for people and other animals to walk through the forest. In deciduous and semi-deciduous forests, or forests where the canopy is disturbed for some reason, the ground beneath is soon colonized by a dense tangled growth of vines, shrubs and small trees called jungle.

The temperature ranges from 20°C to 25°C and 50 to 260 inches (125 to 660 cm) of rainfall yearly.

Layers

Main article: Rainforest § Rainforest layers

The rainforest is divided into five different parts, each with different plants and animals, adapted for life in the particular area. These are: the floor layer, the shrub layer, the understory layer, the canopy layer and the emergent layer. Only the emergent layer is unique to tropical rainforests, while the others are also found in temperate rainforests.

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

Human uses

Habitation

Tropical rainforests have historically supported only sparse human populations. Food resources within the forest are extremely dispersed due to the high biological diversity and what food does exist is largely restricted to the canopy and requires considerable energy to obtain. Rainforest soils are often thin and leached of many minerals, and the heavy rainfall can quickly leach nutrients from rainforest plots cleared for cultivation. Nonetheless, tribes of people do live deep inside some rainforests, for example, the Yanomami people in the Amazon rainforest. Many agriculturalists, particularly within the Amazon and New Guinean rainforests, obtain their food primarily from farm plots cleared from the forest and hunt and forage within the forest to supplement this. Other peoples described as rainforest dwellers are hunter-gatherers who subsist in large part by trading high value forest products such as hides, feathers, and honey with agricultural people living outside the forest. Other groups of hunter-gatherers have exploited rainforest on a seasonal basis but dwell primarily in adjacent savanna and open forest environments where food is much more abundant.

Cultivated foods and spices

Coffee, chocolate, bananas, mangoes, papayas, avocados, and sugar cane all originally came from tropical rainforests, and are still mostly grown on plantations in regions that were formerly primary forest. In the mid-80s and 90s, 40 million tons of bananas were consumed worldwide each year, along with 13 million tons of mangoes. Central American coffee exports were worth US$3 billion in 1970. Much of the genetic variation used in evading the damage caused by new pests is still derived from resistant wild stock. Tropical forests have supplied 250 cultivated kinds of fruit, compared to only 20 for temperate forests. Forests in New Guinea alone contain 251 tree species with edible fruits, of which only 43 had been established as cultivated crops by 1985. The chocolate that comes from the rainforest originates from the cacoa tree where the pods may carry 50-60 seeds. These trees are pollenated by a tiny fly called the midge.

Pharmaceutical and biodiversity resource

Tropical rainforests are called the 'world's largest "pharmacy"' because of the large amount of natural "medicines" discovered there. For example, rainforests contain the "basic ingredients of hormonal contraception methods, cocaine, stimulants, and tranquilizing drugs" (Banks 36). Curare (a paralyzing drug) and quinine (a malaria cure) are also found there.

Tourism

Currently one of the largest economic values of tropical rainforests comes in the form of tourism. People travel both nationally and internationally to experience rain forests firsthand. The economic benefits of tourism are the most promising way in which rainforests may be preserved.

Tourism in the tropical rainforest is done many different ways. Geotourism is the rising new conservational way approach to tourism. “The Geotourism approach is all-inclusive and integrated, focusing not only on the environment, but also on the diversity of the cultural, historic, and scenic assets”(Yachana Foundation). Being one of the few types of tourism done in the forest that has a positive affect on it, Geotourism explores the forest without damaging it, brings in the culture of the people around the forest into the outsiders tour and gives canoe rides with locals along with many other learning opportunities. Tourism done in the Ecuadorian Amazon Forest by Yachana foundation tours includes:

“• Explore our 4,300 acres of protected tropical rain forest;

• Learn about the rainforest's animals, medicinal plants and other flora from local indigenous guides;

• Visit the Mondaña Medical Clinic to gain an understanding of healthcare delivery in this remote area of the Amazon;

• Tour Yachana Gourmet's ecological chocolate production facility;

• Learn about sustainable living techniques and alternative in ecological cabins, complete with solar powered lights and septic systems:

• Spend time with indigenous families and engage in a meaningful cultural exchange;

• Learn how chicha (a traditional drink made from masticated yuca) is made;

• Make traditional pottery with an indigenous woman;

• Participate in a spiritual cleansing with a traditional Quichua healer;

• Take an early morning canoe ride to pick up local school children”(Yachana Foundation)

The Yachana foundation was ranked one of them best foundations that fully apply Geotourism as a positive affect on the forest especially the Ecuadorian Forest. Although Geotourism is one of the leading types of tourism today in the national forests, there are still many different other types of tourism.

Animals of 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. Birds include such families as vangidae and Cuculidae. Dozens of families of invertebrates are found in rainforests. More than half of the world's species of plants and animals are found in the rainforest

Ecosystem services

In addition to extractive human uses rainforests also have non-extractive uses that are frequently summarized as ecosystem services. Rain forests play an important role in maintaining biological diversity, modulating precipitation infiltration and flooding, increasing scientific knowledge and in the spiritual well-being of humans. Such ecosystem services are of use to humans without the need for any modification or management of the forest itself.

References

5.)Ecotourism-Amazon RainForest (1995). Retrieved December 5, 2007, from http://www.yachana.org.ec/.

See also

• Amazon Rainforest
• Rainforest
• Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests
• Temperate rain forest
• List of tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregions

External links

• Rainforest Action Network
• Info on Amazon Rainforest, the largest rainforest in the world
• Rain Forest Info from Blue Planet Biomes
• Passport to Knowledge Rainforests

Conservation Efforts

There have been many conservation efforts:

• World Wildlife Fund
  • Amazon - What you can do