Rainforests
Tropical rainforests are located in a narrow region near the equator.
Forty percent of the world's free oxygen comes from this area. A typical
four-square mile patch of rainforest contains up to 1,500 species of
flowering plants, 750 species of trees, 125 species of mammals, 400
species of birds, 100 species of reptiles, 60 species of amphibians and
150 species of butterflies.
Inscents are so abundant that it is difficult to establish an average
density. Many of the species are only found in one area of the forest and
nowhere else in the world. Many animals found at Marine World Africa USA,
such as the orangutans, chimpanzees and the Giant Indian fruit bat, still
have wild cousins left in their rainforest habitats.
Of the millions of species that call the rainforests home, only about
one percent has been studied. Many food items, drugs and other products
that we use daily have their origins in tropical rainforests. One oout of
four pharmaceuticals comes from a tropical plant. Other products we use
are rattans, rresins, latex, flavorings, perfumes, gums, essential oils,
nuts, spices, fruits and wood products such as teak and mahogany. As the
rainforests disappear, the diversity of life on this earth decreases and
so does the quality of our own lives.
The rainforests play a strong role in regulating the water flow on earth.
They soak up the tropical rainfall like a giant sponge and release it to
people living hundreds of miles away. Rainforests help regulate the
climate on both regional and global levels. As rainforests disappear, our
own climate changes.
Rainforest exploitation is due mainly to commercial logging, cattle
ranching, building dams, inefficient farming practices and harvesting for
fuel wood.
Commercial loggers clear-cut entire forests, although only 10% of the
trees have any commercial value. It takes too much time and money to
selectively log the valuable trees.
Beef cattle ranching is another reason the rainforests are disappearing.
Due to the increasing demand for cheap beef by fast-food restaurants in
the United States and other countries, rainforest land is being cleared
and turned into pasture land. Rainforest soil is very poor; in fact, all
the nutrients are in the top two inches. It only takes about two years
before the land is no longer valuable for grazing, and the ranchers must
move on to a new site, destroying even more rainforest.
Large areas of rainforest are destroyed to build new hydroelectric power
plants. Usually the trees aren't even removed before the flooding of the
dam. By-products from the decomposing forest cause massive fish kills,
infestations of aquatic weeds and the productiion of hydrogen sulfide and
other toxic substances that threaten the turbines and other machinery and
also impose serious health risks.
Tribal people who have been living on the land for hundreds of years must
be relocated to new areas. Usually the people that benefit the most from
the construction of these dams are the owners and investors.
Catherine Caufield, author of In the Rainforest, visited the site
chosen for the Cachoeira Porteira Dam along a beautiful streatch of river.
"We all stood in silence looking at the river, admiring the view, when one
of the men turned to me and smiled. "We're going to save all this for
posterity", he said. "We're going to cover it up with water so that no
one can disturb it."
We would like to know your feelings
about that quote. How do you feel about saving the Rainforest and how do
you feel about what the gentleman said while looking at the river?Leave your message here
Check
out some links to other web sites to learn more
Return to
Classroom Rainforest
Return to Camp Internet