the story of "Tropical Rainforest"
Fun Facts :
* Tropical rainforests are the species-richest ecosystems on the Earth.
* They cover only 5% of the Earth's surface, but are home to more than 50% of plant and animal species in the world.
* Amazon rainforests produce about 40% of the world's oxygen
* 1400 rainforest plants are believed to offer cures for cancer
* 40% of tropical rainforests have already been lost in Latin America and Southeast Asia
CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION
Tropical rainforests are forests with tall trees, warm climates, and lots of rain.
The tropical rain forest is a forest of tall trees in a region of year-round warmth. An average of 50 to 260 inches (125 to 660 cm.) of rain falls yearly.
Rain forests belong to the tropical wet climate group. The temperature in a rain forest rarely gets higher than 93 °F (34 °C) or drops below 68 °F (20 °C); average humidity is between 77 and 88%; rainfall is often more than 100 inches a year. There is usually a brief season of less rain. In monsoonal areas, there is a real dry season. Almost all rain forests lie near the equator.
Rainforests are found in Africa, Asia, Australia, and Central and South America. The largest rainforest in the world is the Amazon rainforest in South America.
A tropical rain forest has more kinds of trees than any other area in the world. Scientists have counted about 100 to 300 species in one 2 1/2-acre (1-hectare) area in South America. Seventy percent of the plants in the rainforest are trees.
All tropical rain forests resemble one another in some ways. Many of the trees have straight trunks that don't branch out for 100 feet or more. There is no sense in growing branches below the canopy where there is little light. The majority of the trees have smooth, thin bark because there is no need to protect the them from water loss and freezing temperatures. It also makes it difficult for epiphytes and plant parasites to get a hold on the trunks. The bark of different species is so similar that it is difficult to identify a tree by its bark. Many trees can only be identified by their flowers.
Rainmakers
Rainforest trees are always “sweating” water. One tree might release over 755 L of water every year. This makes rainforestclimates very different from other environments. In other climates, the water vapor blows away and later falls as rain in far off areas. But in rainforests half the precipitation comes from the forests’ ownevaporation. Much of the rain that falls on the rainforest never reaches the ground. It stays on the trees because the leaves act as umbrellas.
MOVING ON TO CHAPTER II
CHAPTER II : DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS AND ADAPTATIONS TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Rainforest Structure
WHAT IS THE CANOPY?
4 layers you need to know :
1. Emergent Layer : Trees are 100 to 240 feet tall with umbrella-shaped canopies.
In the race for sunlight, some trees stick out of the top of the canopy layer. Emergents usually have flowers and fruits that make them very attractive to birds, bats and insects. They rely on animals to pollinate their flowers and carry their seeds away so they can go elsewhere.
2. Canopy Layer : Trees are 60 to 130 foot trees allows light to be easily available at the top of this layer, but greatly reduced any light below it. Most of the rainforest's animals live in the upper canopy. There is so much food available at this level that some animals never go down to the forest floor. The leaves have "drip spouts" that allows rain to run off. This keeps them dry and prevents mold and mildew from forming in the humid environment.
3. Understory Layer : It consists of 60 foot trees. Most of the light here is only dark shadows from the canopy above. The plants and animals must survive living in a shady world. Many animals in the understory layer such as snakes, lizards and spiders are camouflaged to look like tree bark, vines and dead leaves.
4. The Forest Floor : With the shades of the leaves of the canopy, the ground layer of the forest is often a dark and humid place. The forest floor is where decomposition takes place. Decomposition is the process by which fungi and microorganisms break down dead plants and animals and recycle essential materials and nutrients.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Plant Life
Rainforest plants have special adaptations. These adaptations help them survive in the special climate of a tropical rainforest. For example, many trees have buttress and prop roots for extra support in the thin rainforest soil.
Waterways to the Roots
Plant leaves have drip tips and grooves or waxy coatings to shed water. This allows the water to fall straight down to the plant’s own roots.
Soaking Up the Sun
To absorb as much sunlight as possible in the shady understory, most leaves are very large. Some trees have flexible leaf stalks that rotate to follow the sun. This helps them get the maximum amount of light. Some trees grow larger leaves in the lower canopy level and smaller leaves in the upper canopy. Other plants grow in the upper canopy on larger trees. This helps them get closer to the sunlight. These types of plants are called epiphytes. Orchids and bromeliads are epiphytes.
refer to this video for audiovisual story --->
Moving on to CHAPTER III
CHAPTER III : DEFORESTATIONS
Conservation of tropical rainforests should be easy. They have survived for millions of years. The trick to keeping them healthy is to not take too much too fast. This gives the rainforests time to recover from human activities like logging. But many countries that have tropical rainforests are poor. They can make money by cutting down and developing the rainforests. But uncontrolled development results in deforestation, erosion, and loss of biodiversity.
Carving up the Forests
One of the most damaging effects of development has been dividing the rainforest habitat into little patches of forest. This is called fragmentation. Today, many species are isolated in these small areas of forest because they will not or cannot enter open habitats. The result is that species such as orangutans cannot connect with one another to mate and have babies.
Conservations Efforts
More research and strong conservation are the best tools for protecting the tropical rainforest. Instead of cutting the forests, some people take visitors on hikes in the forests, which is part of a conservation effort known as ecotourism. People also are trying to help wildlife survive by creating protected areas and rehabilitation centers.
My Thoughts on deforestation :
deforestation in Brazil
Rainforest is the habitat of plethora of biotic. The living things there play big role to our lives such as medicines, shelters and food. This is why humans have developed the process of deforestation. They are competing against each other on possessing the best quality and quantity of the forest resources to make large profits. Nowadays, they have misused the resources which then lead to uncontrollable deforestation. This affects the percentage of the number of rainforest available on earth. Without bothering to look at the deteriorating situation, we might have drown in the realm of the enhanced qualities of clothes, papers, etc. If this happens and is unstoppable, the world might lose the properties of housing in the future's generation. Regardless of the number of trees still standing, however, those which are being cut down create a serious health hazard to the population. During summer, countries like Indonesia and Malaysia give out smoke from their rainforest. This could possibly because of the forest that caught fire. Unfortunately, some people deliberately ignite fire in the forest. We should know that after deforestation takes place, it takes years to recover. So it is important to be responsible. There are many ways to stop. One of them are reforestation which is replanting trees.
__________________________________________________________________________
References :
http://www.rainforest-facts.com/tropical-rainforest-facts.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/11353/trforest.htm
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/rainforest.htm
http://kids.mongabay.com/
http://www.globio.org/glossopedia/article.aspx?art_id=6
