Rainforests

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Rainforests are the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world with over 5 million species of different plants and animals, meaning more than half of the world’s species. They are home to all different types of animals including mammals such as primates and felids, reptiles such as snakes, lizards and chameleons, birds and invertebrates. Rainforests are also home to a large variety of plants and trees. There are two types of rainforests: tropical and temperate.

Tropical:

Tropical rainforests are warm all year round with 77-88% humidity. They are always humid, warm and wet with extreme biodiversity. They get more radiation from the sun than any other ecosystem because they are only found near the equator. You will find huge trees in tropical rainforests because there is an average of 254 cm of rain per year. Tropical rainforests cover 6% of the earth’s surface, but give 40% of the earth’s oxygen.

Temperate:

Temperate rainforests can be found at any latitude. They have slightly less rain than tropical rainforests and are cooler, but still moist. They have about 8-10 cm of soil with high nutrients. Temperate rainforests also have a wide variety of plants and animals and very tall trees.

Layers:

There are 5 layers in rainforests.

Emergent layer: The top layer is the emergent layer with the tallest trees that pass the canopy layer. The trees here are usually 45-55 m, but can grow up to 70 m. The animals that live here are eagles, butterflies, bats and some types of monkeys.

Canopy Layer: The canopy layer is below the emergent layer and the most diverse of the layers, with 40% of the 50% of plants and animals that are found in rainforests. The trees here are usually 30-45 m tall.

Understorey Layer: The understorey layer is below the canopy layer, with the smaller trees that eventually grow up to the canopy layer. Birds, snakes, lizards, leopards, jaguars, boa constrictors and insects live here.

Shrub Layer: The shrub layer is just above the forest floor with not much sunlight and is less diverse. The plants here are very big.

Forest Floor: The forest floor holds decaying matter and a lot of fungi. There is  not much sunlight on the forest floor.

Rainforest Logging and Burning:

Rainforests are huge ecosystems that are home to millions of species. However, people are constantly cutting down trees from rainforests all over the world.  This destroys huge ecosystems and animals lose their homes. As well, the huge trees in rainforests capture an amazing amount of carbon dioxide and provide us with a massive amount of oxygen. Without these trees, there would be a greatly increased amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which captures the sun’s rays and creates the greenhouse effect.

In addition, there have been many forest fires in rainforests.  When plants burn, they release all of the carbon dioxide that they have breathed in. Burning rainforests are the number 1 source of CO2 emissions causing global warming.

Rainforests are amazing ecosystems and are very important. We must protect them!!!