A 4-square-mile patch can contain as many as 1, flowering plants, species of trees, species of birds, and species of butterflies. The Amazon rainforest itself is home to around 40, plant species, nearly 1, bird species, 3, types of fish, species of mammals, and 2. A new plant or animal species is found in the rainforest approximately every two days. They also absorb lots of solar radiation, helping to stabilize temperatures around the world. August 20, This means they have gardens on arable land that has been cleared of vegetation.
A portion of the plot may be left fallow for months or years. The plots are never abandoned and are passed on within the family. Crops harvest ed in Chimbu garden plots include sweet potatoes, bananas, and beans. The Chimbu also maintain livestock , particularly pigs. In addition to their own diet, pigs are valuable economic commodities for trade and sale. The temperate rainforest of the northwest coast of North America is the home of the Tlingit.
The Tlingit enjoy a diverse diet, relying on both marine and freshwater species, as well as game from inland forests. Due to bountiful Pacific inlets, rivers, and streams, the traditional Tlingit diet consists of a wide variety of aquatic life: crab, shrimp, clams, oysters, seals, and fish such as herring, halibut, and, crucially, salmon. Kelps and other seaweed s can be harvested and eaten in soups or dried.
In more inland areas, historic Tlingit hunters may have targeted deer, elk, rabbit, and mountain goats. Plants gathered or harvested include berries, nuts, and wild celery. The Yanomami are a people and culture native to the northern Amazon rainforest, spanning the border between Venezuela and Brazil. Like the Chimbu, the Yanomami practice both hunting and shifting-cultivation agriculture. Game hunted by the Yanomami include deer, tapirs an animal similar to a pig , monkeys, birds, and armadillos.
The Yanomami have hunting dogs to help them search the understory and forest floor for game. The Yanomami practice slash-and-burn agriculture to clear the land of vegetation prior to farming.
Crop s grown include cassava, banana, and corn. In addition to food crops, the Yanomami also cultivate cotton, which is used for hammocks, nets, and clothing. Rainforests are critically important to the well-being of our planet. Tropical rainforests encompass approximately 1. Massive amounts of solar radiation are absorbed, helping regulate temperatures around the globe.
Rainforests provide us with many products that we use every day. Tropical woods such as teak, balsa, rosewood, and mahogany are used in flooring, doors, windows, boatbuilding, and cabinetry. Fibers such as raffia, bamboo, kapok, and rattan are used to make furniture, baskets, insulation , and cord. Cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg, and ginger are just a few spices of the rainforest. The ecosystem supports fruits including bananas, papayas, mangos, cocoa and coffee beans. Rainforests also provide us with many medicinal products.
According to the U. Rainforest plants are also used in the creation of muscle relaxants, steroid s, and insecticide s. They are used to treat asthma , arthritis , malaria , heart disease, and pneumonia. The importance of rainforest species in public health is even more incredible considering that less than one percent of rainforest species have been analyze d for their medicinal value. A mushroom discovered in the tropical rainforest of Ecuador, for example, is capable of consuming polyurethane —a hard, durable type of plastic used in everything from garden hoses to carpets to shoes.
The fungi can even consume the plastic in an oxygen-free environment, leading many environmentalists and businesses to invest in research to investigate if the fungi can help reduce waste in urban landfill s. Rainforests are disappearing at an alarmingly fast pace, largely due to human development over the past few centuries. Since , the total area of tropical rainforests has probably been reduced by more than half, to about 6. Rampant deforestation could cause many important rainforest habitats to disappear completely within the next hundred years.
Such rapid habitat loss is due to the fact that 40 hectares acres of rainforest are cleared every minute for agricultural and industrial development.
In the Amazon rainforest, large-scale agricultural industries, such as cattle ranching , clear huge tract s of forests for arable land. In the Congo rainforest, roads and other infrastructure development have reduced habitat and cut off migration corridor s for many rainforest species.
Throughout both the Amazon and Congo, mining and logging operations clear-cut to build roads and dig mines. Some rainforests are threatened by massive hydroelectric power projects, where dam s flood acres of land. Development is encroach ing on rainforest habitats from all sides. Economic inequalities fuel this rapid deforestation.
Many rainforests are located in developing countries with economies based on natural resource s. Wealthy nations drive demand for products, and economic development increases energy use. These demands encourage local governments to develop rainforest acreage at a fraction of its value. Impoverished people who live on or near these lands are also motivated to improve their lives by convert ing forests into subsistence farmland.
Many individuals, communities, governments, intergovernmental organizations, and conservation groups are taking innovative approaches to protect threatened rainforest habitats. Many countries are supporting business es and initiative s that promote the sustainable use of their rainforests. Costa Rica is a global pioneer in this field, investing in ecotourism projects that financially contribute to local economies and the forests they depend on. The country also signed an agreement with an American pharmaceutical company, Merck, which sets aside a portion of the proceeds from rainforest-derived pharmaceutical compounds to fund conservation projects.
Intergovernmental groups address rainforest conservation at a global scale. The Democratic Republic of the Congo used REDD funds to create an online National Forest Monitoring System that tracks and maps data on logging concession s, deforestation in protected areas, and national forestry sector measures. REDD funds were also used to investigate best practices in solving land dispute s in Cambodia, which lacks proper forest zoning and boundary enforcement.
Nonprofit organizations are tackling rainforest conservation through a variety of different approaches. The Rainforest Trust, for example, supports local conservation groups around the world in purchasing and managing critically important habitats.
Partnering with Burung Indonesia, the Trust created a 8,hectare 22,acre reserve on Sangihe Island to protect the highest concentration of threatened bird species in Asia. The Rainforest Alliance is a nonprofit organization that helps businesses and consumers know that their products conserve rather than degrade rainforests. Products that bear the Rainforest Alliance seal contain ingredients from farms or forests that follow strict guidelines designed to support the sustainable development of rainforests and local communities.
The Alliance also allows tourism businesses use of their seal after they complete an education program on efficiency and sustainability.
In turn, this seal allows tourists to make ecologically smart vacation plans. Kapok trees are keystone species in many rain forest ecosystems. Photograph by Steve Winter, National Geographic. Drip Tips. Many plants in the humid rain forest canopy are pointed, so that rain can run off the tips of the leaves. Trees and other plants release water into the atmosphere—something called transpiration —then the water falls back to Earth as rain.
Rainforest trees can release a lot of water, up to gallons each year. The water forms a thick cloud-cover over the rainforest, so it is always warm and humid. In some rainforests it rains more than an inch every day! Rainforests help to stabilize the climate of the world not only by making rain but also by absorbing carbon dioxide. Vampire bats and anacondas live in the rainforests of South America. Lots of smaller animals live in rainforests too, including dragonflies, tree frogs , and at least hundreds of species of ants.
All rights reserved. Personality Quizzes. Funny Fill-In. Amazing Animals. Weird But True! Party Animals. But only recently has the industrialized world realized the limits to timber extraction. Just like agriculture, logging can either nurture or destroy an ecosystem. It is up to us to support environmentally responsible logging and promote smarter wood production and consumption around the world.
Other forest products show up in your home and office, too. Tropical forest fibers are found in rugs, mattresses, ropes, strings, and fabrics. Tropical forest oils, gums, and resins are used in insecticides, rubber products, fuel, paint, varnish, and wood finishing products. And tropical oils are key ingredients in cosmetics, soaps, shampoos, perfumes, disinfectants and detergents. Perhaps one of the greatest gifts forests bestow upon us is their capacity for absorbing the monstrous amount of greenhouse gas emissions we humans generate.
As we always say: forests are our best defense against climate change. But by stopping the destruction of mature old-growth forests, we prevent a huge amount of carbon from going into the atmosphere, and by promoting Earth-friendly planting and management of young forests, we absorb large amounts of atmospheric carbon.
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