Tropical Rainforest Research Paper
Rain Forests Rainforests cover only 6% of the earth's surface but they house more than half of the world's animal and plant population. Rainforests have beautiful layered ecosystems and water features that home massive amounts of living things. There is a very diverse food chain in rainforests. Deforestation is limiting what the rainforest can provide to the world. Rainforests are very large forests that help the earth in many ways. They house many plants, animals, insects, and even people. Rainforest Geography All of the tropical rainforests grow in hot, humid places. All of the tropical rainforests are in Costa Rica, the Peruvian Amazon, the Brazilian Amazon, the Brazilian coast, Congo basin, Madagascar, Borneo, New Guinea, Tasmania, and Australia. The biggest rainforest is the entire Amazon region. The temperate rainforests and tropical rainforests are on both sides of the equator. The equator provides perfect conditions for lush tropical rainforests to grow. The Amazon region is considered the biggest rainforest of all. Temperate rainforests grow in cooler places. Only the temperate rainforests are in the pacific northwest. In the tropical rainforests it rains most of the year. It normally rains 80-200 inches a year!
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Tropical rainforests get 1 ½ inches of rain a day. That is 10x more rain than San Francisco gets! One year a rainforest in Cherrapunji India got 1,042 inches of rain! It is extremely humid in the tropical rainforests. Because of all of the rain forest fires are extremely rare. The temperature stays almost the same every day. It doesn’t have the season winter, it is always summer in the tropical rainforests. Temperate rainforests don’t only have summer, they have all four seasons. They have very warm summers, but also very cold winters. Deforestation is a very severe problems for rainforests. 50 football fields of rainforest disappears every minute. It is estimated that 25 million acres of rainforests are cleared every year. Since 1940 most of the rainforests in southeast Asia have been destroyed. Lots of people like to log in rainforests, which is a massive problem. Clear cutting is a farming practice where land is cleared completely. Clear cutting loosens carbon dioxide in the soil releasing it into the air, and it can contribute to climate change. Clear cutting is a tremendous problem to rainforests. Contents of the Rainforest Unlike temperate rainforests tropical rainforests have a layered ecosystem.
The layered ecosystem is an extremely big contributor to how many animals the rainforest can house. The top layer is the emergent layer. It is the windiest layer and it has most of the monkeys. Next is the second layer, the canopy. The canopy has thick branches, tons of trees, and is the most popular place to live. The canopy is the most lively layer of all! The 3rd layer is the understory. The understory has leafy bushes, it is dark and hot, and doesn’t get any sunlight. Lastly, the 4th layer is the forest floor. The forest floor has tons of insects, and doesn’t get any sunlight either so it is tremendously dark
also. The rainforest has tons of water features. There is an immense amount of tiny streams, creeks, and rivers caused by the rainfall but there are also major rivers also. The largest rivers are the Amazon river, the Madeira river, the Mekong river, the Negro river, the Orinoco river and the Congo river. The rainforest also has Oxbow lakes. There are approximately 50,000,000 different tribes of rainforest people. The Pygmies, the Mbuti and the Baka Pygmies live in the rainforests of Central America. They are hunters and gatherers. The Huli live in the highland forests of Papua New Guinea, hunting, gathering, and growing crops. THe men decorated themselves with colored clay and they wore headdresses. The Yanomami, one of the largest Amerindian people in South America. Their village life is centered around the yano, or communal house. The yano is a large, circular building constructed of vine and leaf thatch, which has a living space in the middle. The Living Things of the Rainforest There are over 30 million plants and animals in the rainforests. More than half of the world’s animal and plant population live in the rainforest. Many species of animal life can be found in the rain forest. Common characteristics found among mammals and birds include adaptations to a life in the trees, such as the prehensile tails of New World monkeys. Other characteristics are bright colors and sharp patterns, loud vocalizations, and diets heavy on fruits. Insects make up the largest single group of animals that live in tropical forests. They include brightly colored butterflies, mosquitoes, camouflaged stick insects, and huge colonies of ants.There may be 40 to 100 different species in 2.5 acres of a tropical rain forest. Rainforests home approximately ⅔ of the world’s plant life. The trees can grow 200 feet tall. Plants have made adaptations that helps them shed water off their leaves quickly so the branches don't get weighed down and break. Leaves in the upper canopy are dark green, small and leathery to reduce water loss in the strong sunlight. Some trees have leaf stalks that turn with the movement of the sun so they always absorb the maximum amount of light. The rainforests have an extremely complex food chain that will go on for a very long time, but you can simplify it. For example figs-sloth-jaguar-bacteria. The producers jobs are to produce food a nutrients to its predator. The primary consumer eats the producer, but still has a predator. The secondary consumer is the consumer of the primary consumer. Bacteria eats the secondary consumer or its prey, once dead. Conclusion The rainforest is a phenomenal area of the world. It is in many different areas around the world, it even has two totally different types of rainforests. Rainforests rain an incredible amount each year. The rainforest deforestation is a very sad topic. Tropical and temperate rainforests both house an immense amount of animals, plants, insects, and even people. Rainforests have beautiful lush forests and rivers. They provide so much for our world. They offer us chocolate, sugar, cinnamon, rubber, medicine, pineapples, several foods, and supply massive amounts of oxygen. Rainforests help keep our nature alive.
Tropical rainforests get 1 ½ inches of rain a day. That is 10x more rain than San Francisco gets! One year a rainforest in Cherrapunji India got 1,042 inches of rain! It is extremely humid in the tropical rainforests. Because of all of the rain forest fires are extremely rare. The temperature stays almost the same every day. It doesn’t have the season winter, it is always summer in the tropical rainforests. Temperate rainforests don’t only have summer, they have all four seasons. They have very warm summers, but also very cold winters. Deforestation is a very severe problems for rainforests. 50 football fields of rainforest disappears every minute. It is estimated that 25 million acres of rainforests are cleared every year. Since 1940 most of the rainforests in southeast Asia have been destroyed. Lots of people like to log in rainforests, which is a massive problem. Clear cutting is a farming practice where land is cleared completely. Clear cutting loosens carbon dioxide in the soil releasing it into the air, and it can contribute to climate change. Clear cutting is a tremendous problem to rainforests. Contents of the Rainforest Unlike temperate rainforests tropical rainforests have a layered ecosystem.
The layered ecosystem is an extremely big contributor to how many animals the rainforest can house. The top layer is the emergent layer. It is the windiest layer and it has most of the monkeys. Next is the second layer, the canopy. The canopy has thick branches, tons of trees, and is the most popular place to live. The canopy is the most lively layer of all! The 3rd layer is the understory. The understory has leafy bushes, it is dark and hot, and doesn’t get any sunlight. Lastly, the 4th layer is the forest floor. The forest floor has tons of insects, and doesn’t get any sunlight either so it is tremendously dark
also. The rainforest has tons of water features. There is an immense amount of tiny streams, creeks, and rivers caused by the rainfall but there are also major rivers also. The largest rivers are the Amazon river, the Madeira river, the Mekong river, the Negro river, the Orinoco river and the Congo river. The rainforest also has Oxbow lakes. There are approximately 50,000,000 different tribes of rainforest people. The Pygmies, the Mbuti and the Baka Pygmies live in the rainforests of Central America. They are hunters and gatherers. The Huli live in the highland forests of Papua New Guinea, hunting, gathering, and growing crops. THe men decorated themselves with colored clay and they wore headdresses. The Yanomami, one of the largest Amerindian people in South America. Their village life is centered around the yano, or communal house. The yano is a large, circular building constructed of vine and leaf thatch, which has a living space in the middle. The Living Things of the Rainforest There are over 30 million plants and animals in the rainforests. More than half of the world’s animal and plant population live in the rainforest. Many species of animal life can be found in the rain forest. Common characteristics found among mammals and birds include adaptations to a life in the trees, such as the prehensile tails of New World monkeys. Other characteristics are bright colors and sharp patterns, loud vocalizations, and diets heavy on fruits. Insects make up the largest single group of animals that live in tropical forests. They include brightly colored butterflies, mosquitoes, camouflaged stick insects, and huge colonies of ants.There may be 40 to 100 different species in 2.5 acres of a tropical rain forest. Rainforests home approximately ⅔ of the world’s plant life. The trees can grow 200 feet tall. Plants have made adaptations that helps them shed water off their leaves quickly so the branches don't get weighed down and break. Leaves in the upper canopy are dark green, small and leathery to reduce water loss in the strong sunlight. Some trees have leaf stalks that turn with the movement of the sun so they always absorb the maximum amount of light. The rainforests have an extremely complex food chain that will go on for a very long time, but you can simplify it. For example figs-sloth-jaguar-bacteria. The producers jobs are to produce food a nutrients to its predator. The primary consumer eats the producer, but still has a predator. The secondary consumer is the consumer of the primary consumer. Bacteria eats the secondary consumer or its prey, once dead. Conclusion The rainforest is a phenomenal area of the world. It is in many different areas around the world, it even has two totally different types of rainforests. Rainforests rain an incredible amount each year. The rainforest deforestation is a very sad topic. Tropical and temperate rainforests both house an immense amount of animals, plants, insects, and even people. Rainforests have beautiful lush forests and rivers. They provide so much for our world. They offer us chocolate, sugar, cinnamon, rubber, medicine, pineapples, several foods, and supply massive amounts of oxygen. Rainforests help keep our nature alive.