Amazon+Rainforest



The Amazon Rainforest
The Amazon Rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world, covering more than 1.2 billion acres (Taylor, 1996) or 2.5 million square miles across nine countries in South America. Sixty percent of the Amazon rainforest is located in Brazil. The remaining countries housing the rainforest are Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, French Guiana and Suriname (Save the Amazon rainforest, 2004, paras. 1-2). Tropical rainforests have two seasons, the wet season and the dry season. A rainforest is defined as “a tropical forest comprised of tall, densely growing, broad-leaved trees in an area of high annual rainfall” (“Rainforest,” n.d.). There is an average rainfall of 50 to 260 inches of rain per year in a rainforest (Tropical rainforest, n.d., para. 1). The average temperature in a rainforest is between 68 and 93 degrees Fahrenheit (Tropical rainforest, n.d., para. 2). A tropical rainforest is comprised of four distinct layers of trees: the emergent, upper canopy, understory, and forest floor (Tropical rainforest, n.d., para. 8).

Emergent trees are 100 to 240 feet tall with “umbrella-shaped canopies that grow above the forest” (Tropical rainforest, n.d., para. 8). They are spaced wide apart. The “ upper canopy of 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” (Tropical rainforest, n.d., para 8). The understory consists of 60 foot trees and “is comprised of the trunks of canopy trees, shrubs, plants and small trees” (Tropical rainforest, n.d., para. 8). This level is constantly shaded (Tropical rainforest, n.d., para. 8). The forest floor is “usually completely shaded, except where a canopy tree has fallen and created an opening. Most areas of the forest floor receive so little light that few bushes or herbs can grow there” (Tropical rainforest, n.d., para. 8). The top soil is thin and of poor quality (Tropical rainforest, n.d., para. 8).

Thousands of different animal species live in the rainforest. The single largest animal group is insects, including butterflies, mosquitoes, stick insects and ants (Tropical rainforest, n.d., para. 15). Other animals residing in the rainforest include jaguars, birds, monkeys and frogs, and other amphibians, mammals and reptiles.

In addition to animals, the rainforest contains at least 3000 fruits, including avocados, coconuts, figs, oranges, lemons, bananas, guavas, pineapples, mangos and tomatoes. Of the 3000 fruits found in the rainforest, “only 200 are now in use in the Western World. The Indians of the rainforest use over 2,000” (The wealth of the rainforests, 1996, pars. 5-6). The rainforest contains vegetables including corn, potatoes, rice, squash and yams. The rainforest also contains spices such as black pepper, cinnamon, gloves, ginger and sugar cane (The wealth of the rainforests, 1996, pars. 5-6).

__Destruction of the rainforest __

Rainforests used to cover “14% of the earth’s land surface; now they cover a mere 6% and experts estimate that the last remaining rainforests could be consumed in less than 40 years” (The wealth of the rainforests, 1996, para. 1). The Amazon rainforest is being destroyed at an alarming rate. In Brazil alone, more than 2.7 million acres of rainforest is destroyed each year. More than 20% of the Amazon rainforest has been razed. Industries responsible for the deforestation of the rainforest include agriculture, cattle and the wood sector (Taylor, 1996). The forests are burned for farming, they are grazed, and they are harvested for wood at an unsustainable rate. The Amazon is logged for wood for exportation. Rainforest wood is also used for fuel and for charcoal. There is also illegal trade/sale of biological species native to the Amazon, including sale of the Capuchin Monkey. It is estimated that we are losing 137 plant, animal and insect species every day due to deforestation of the rainforest (The disappearing rainforests, 1996, para. 5). Along with the destruction of the rainforest, consequences of deforestation include air and water pollution, soil erosion, malaria epidemics and the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (The wealth of the rainforests, 1996, para. 2).

Deforestation is also destroying people. European colonists have destroyed more than 90 indigenous tribes in Brazil since the 1900s. There are currently less than 200,000 Indians living in the Amazon Rainforest (The disappearing rainforests, 1996, pars. 7-8) The medicine men and shamans of the Indian tribes residing in the Rainforest have knowledge of the properties of plants found in the rain forest. The destruction of these native tribes destroys a valuable resource (the disappearing rainforests, 1996, para. 10).

__Environmental threat __  The Amazon Rainforest has been described as the “Lungs of our Planet” (The wealth of the rainforests, para. 2). The rainforest continuously turns carbon dioxide to oxygen. Fewer rainforests mean less oxygen to breathe and an increased threat from global warming.

A quarter of modern medicines are made from sources found in the rainforest. The National Cancer Institute has “identified 3000 plants that are active against cancer cells. 70% of these plants are found in the rainforest. Twenty-five percent of the active ingredients in today's cancer-fighting drugs come from organisms found only in the rainforest.” (The wealth of the rainforests, para. 9). Experts believe that if there are cures for cancer and for AIDS, those cures will be found using plants found in the rainforest.



References The disappearing rainforests. (1996). Welcome to the rainforest (pars. 1-10). Retrieved June 28, 2009, from http://rain-tree.com/.htm

Rainforest. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Science Dictionary. Retrieved July 05, 2009, from\ Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rainforest

Save the Amazon rainforest. (2004). Amazon rainforest (pars. 1-2). Retrieved June 28, 2009, from http://www.amazon-rainforest.org

Taylor, L. (1996). The Healing Power of Rainforest Herbs. In Welcome to the rainforest. Retrieved June 28, 2009, from http://rain-tree.com/.htm

Tropical rainforest. (n.d.). Blue planet biomes (pars. 1-2, 8, 15). Retrieved June 28, 2009, from http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/.htm

The wealth of the rainforests. (1996). Welcome to the rainforest (pars. 1-2, 5-6, 9). Retrieved June 28, 2009, from http://www.rain-tree.com/