Mysteries of Rainforest

The tropical rain forest is found around the equator where temperatures are about 25 degrees Celsius all year, and there is an average rainfall of 200 cm. Portions of South America, Central America, Central Asia, Australia and Africa are included in the biome.

A rainforest is a forested biome with high annual rainfall due to the Intertropical convergence zone. Some cite a minimum normal annual rainfall of 2500 mm (about 100 inches or 250 centimetres), with normal rainfall at least 60 mm during each of the twelve months of the year. Others set the minimum annual rainfall barrier as low as 1700 mm (about 67 inches). The soil can be poor because high rainfall tends to leach out soluble nutrients. This type of biome is found in both temperate and tropical climates. As well as prodigious rainfall, many rainforests are characterised by a high number of resident species and tremendous biodiversity.

Rain forests are home to two-thirds of all the living animal and plant species on the planet. It has been estimated that many hundreds of millions of new species of plants, insects, and microorganisms are still undiscovered and have no names yet. Tropical rain forests are called the "jewel of the earth", the "Earth's lungs", and the "world's largest pharmacy" because the large amount of natural medicines discovered there.

Despite the growth of flora in a rainforest, the actual quality of the soil is quite poor. Oxisols, infertile, deeply weathered and severely leached, have developed on the ancient Gondwanan shields. Rapid bacterial decay prevents the accumulation of humus. The concentration of iron and aluminium oxides by the laterization process gives the oxisols a bright red color and sometimes produces minable deposits (e.g. bauxite). On younger substrates, especially of volcanic origin, tropical soils may be quite fertile.

Tropical rain forests are called the "jewel of the earth", the "Earth's lungs", and the "world's largest pharmacy" because the large amount of natural medicines discovered there.

The undergrowth in a rainforest is restricted in many areas by the lack of sunlight at ground level. This makes it possible for people and other animals to walk through the forest. If the leaf canopy is destroyed or thinned for any reason, the ground beneath is soon colonised by a dense tangled growth of vines, shrubs and small trees called jungle.

Resources about Rainforest

The Rainforest Foundation
To support indigenous people and traditional populations of the world's rainforests in their efforts to protect their environment and fulfil their rights by assisting them in...

Forest Action Netork
FAN has traditionally relied on widely publicized nonviolent direct action to both stop destructive logging directly, and to create media opportunities to effectively articulate important ecological principles.

Wealth of the Rainforest
Raintree's extensive website on the Amazon Rainforest features 100's of pages and pictures and facts on rainforest plants, preservation and destruction.

Rainforest Action Network
Rainforest Action Network works to protect the Earth's rainforests and support the rights of their inhabitants through education, grassroots organizing, and non-violent direct action."

World Rainforest Information Portal
Your gateway to rainforest information and resources. Info and news about rain forest protection, destruction and how to help.

Save The Rainforest
Save The Rainforest - Help stop rainforest destruction. Learn ways you can help save tropical rainforests.

Forest Conservation Portal
Provides Vast Rainforest, Forest and Biodiversity Conservation News and Information.

Seacology
The world's premier nonprofit, nongovernmental organization (NGO) with the sole and unique purpose of preserving the environments and cultures of islands throughout the globe.

Tropical Rainforest
Tropical rainforests are beautiful and fascinating phenomena of nature. Two basic things are necessary for a tropical rainforest to exist: warm temperatures and plenty of rain.

An Introduction to the Ecology of the Rainforests
The rainforests are the wettest of the vegetational zones of the world. A rainfall of 100 mm in a month is considered to be dry. Rain usually falls in short downpours during mid-day, after which, the sun shines once again.

Tropical Rainforest Biomes
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.

Rainforest Impacts from Humans
The human impact on rainforests, have severely disrupted the jungles (rainforests) of the world. Between 19 and 50 million acres (7 to 20 million hectares) are lost each year to mainly farming, logging, and mining. In Central America, cattle ranching and cultivation have wiped out an estimated two thirds of the region's rain forests...

Rainforest Environment
There are few places in far north Queensland, or elsewhere in Australia, that combine the enchantment of rainforests with all the comforts of home. Chambers Wildlife Rainforest Lodge is one such place, near Lake Eacham in The Waterfalls & Crater Lakes District of the Atherton Tablelands.

Rainforest Photo Exhibit
Photos of the Centrala America. Beauty of the forest and the devastationof the deforestation.

Rainforest Alliance
To protect ecosystems and the people and wildlife that depend on them by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior.

World Rainforest Movement
An international network of citizens' groups of North and South involved in efforts to defend the world's rainforests.

Amazon Watch
Works with indigenous and environmental organizations in the Amazon Basin to defend the environment and advance indigenous peoples\' rights in the face of large-scale industrial development, oil & gas pipelines, power lines, roads, and other mega-projects.

Rainforests: Diversity and Destruction
Important Information about them and their destruction.. and how to prevent it from disappearing...

oz-Students Rainforest Topics
Rainforests are multi-storied, closed, broad leaved forest. The tree canopy of varies in height and underneath the canopy is a treasure chest of life forms.

CFACT: The rainforest issue: Myths and facts
Tropical rainforests are found within the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, in a belt that girdles the earth. Location is between 23 1/2 degrees north and 23 1/2 south of the equator...

Resources:

Rainforest Animals - Life inside the wet and bustling tropical rainforest is filled with danger. Cougars and pumas stand ready to pounce; snakes sliver unseen between feet to administer a lethal bite; while exotic birds chirp overhead.

The Fate of the Rainforests - Hundreds of years ago, tropical rainforests encircled the globe, much like long green arms, hugging the equator and covering 20% of the earth's land surface...

Glenn and Chris' Rainforest Webpage - Tropical rainforests are the richest habitats on Earth. Although rainforests only cover about 10 percent of the Earth's surface, they are home to approximately half of all Earth's species.

Rainforests of the World - An Internet Hotlist on Student Samplers on the Rainforest.

Borneo Caving Expedition Rainforests of the World - For most of us, the word "rainforest" creates images of green forests, waterfalls, beautiful birds and flowers, and stunning animals such as gorillas and elephants. Rainforests do hold those things, but they receive a great deal of attention for many other qualities as well.

Vanishing Rainforests - It is no secret that our rainforests are quickly becoming an endangered species in and of themselves. It is our commitment to do whatever possible to educate those around us to the extreme importance of the forests and how vulnerable they are to the destructive forces of man.

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