These
incredible places cover only 6 % of the Earth's surface
but yet they contain MORE THAN 1/2 of the world's plant
and animal species!
A Rainforest can be described as a tall, dense
jungle. The reason it is called a "rain"
forest is because of the high amount of rainfall it gets per year.
The climate of a rain forest is very hot and humid
so the animals and plants that exist there must learn to adapt
to this climate.
Tropical rainforests are defined primarily by two factors: location
(in the tropics) and amount of rainfall they receive. Rainforests
receive from 4 to 8 meters of rain a year -- 5 meters of rain
falls on the rainforests of Borneo each year, five times as much
as on the state of New York. The heavy vegetation blocks the rainfall,
and water reaches the forest floor by rolling down branches and
trunks or as a fine spray. Another distinctive characteristic
is that rainforests have no "seasonality" -- no dry
or cold season of slower growth. (Myers, Norman, The Primary Source)
Tropical rainforests are the Earth's oldest living ecosystems.
Fossil records show that the forests of Southeast Asia have existed
in more or less their present form for 70 to 100 million years.
(Myers, Norman, The Primary Source)
Tropical rainforests are the Earth's
oldest living ecosystems.
Despite the small land area they
cover, rainforests are home to about half of the 5 to 10 million
plant and animal species on the globe. Rainforests also support
90,000 of the 250,000 identified plant species. Scientists estimate
that there are at least 30,000 as yet undiscovered plants, most
of which are rainforest species. (Myers, Norman, The Primary Source)