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Tropical Rain Forests

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Tropical Rain Forests By Jessica Olsen Tropica Rain forests are located close to the equator. Near the equator, the sun shines directly on the earth. Most tropical rain forests are located between tropics, which are the areas above and below the equator. For the most part, they are located on the continents of Central and South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. The largest tropical rain forest in the world is the Amazon Rain Forest in South America. Rain forests get rain at least once a day. They can receive between 80 and 400 inches of rain annually. The climate is like summer twelve months out of the year. It is muggy and humid with very little wind. The average temperature is 80 degrees. Due to the moisture, plants grow year round. The rain forest is divided into four main layers. The top layer or Emergent layer consists of huge trees that rise above all the other trees. They can grow up to 150 feet tall. The next layer or the canopy is made up of very tall trees who's treetops or crowns grow so close together that they form a lush, green garden in the air. The canopy contains many plants, animals, and insects. The Understory, or the middle layer consists of smaller trees, bushes, and plants such as ferns. The canopy does not allow much sunlight to come through, yet many birds and animals dwell here. The last layer, Forest Floor, provides food and shelter for those animals and insects that live there. Not much will grow here due to the lack of sunlight. Billions of animals, birds and insects live in tropical rain forests. They are able to find all the food that they need. They also can find safe dwellings where they can raise their young. Mammals such as chimpanzees, gorillas, jaguars, leopards, monkeys, mice, wild boars, bats and squirrels make the rain forest their home. Lizards, snakes, turtles, frogs, and salamanders also find all the food they need in the rain forest. There are many differennt species of birds that live in the rain forest. Cockatoos, eagles, hornbills, parrots, toucans, and peacocks are just a few of them. There are by far more insects than any other kind of animl in the rain forest. Ants, beetles, butterflies, snails, spiders, and termites don't even begin to scratch the surface. There are thousands of plants that inhabit the tropical rain forests. Some canopy trees grow to be 120 feet tall. Their leaves are large and waxy which allows water to drip off of them. There are also many flowering plants. Many plants produce fruit such as avocados, bananas, coffee, lemons, oranges, pine- apples, peppers and peanuts. Mushrooms and herbs also inhabit the forest floor. The tropical rain forest is the most important ecolog- ical system on this earth. It gives us 60% of the species and population. It absorbs 1/6th of the carbon- dioxide produced from burning fuels. The Amazon contains 60% of the world's fresh water. It provides 32% of the raw materials needed for pharmaceuticals, and it has 1400 plants that are active against cancer. Tropical rain forests supply us with an abundance of industrial goods. Some of these include jogging shoes, nail polish, dynamite, cellophane, deoderant, lotion, and, lipstick. There is a little more than 25% of the rain forest left and 25% of this represents biological reserves. The third world countries, with help from Japan, the U.S. and Europe, are using the rain forests for lumber, agriculture, mining, and cattle. These services represent quick capital with permanent negative effects. The rain forests are so fragile that they will never recover in areas of this destruction. There are many products naturally produced in the forest that could be cultivated without destroing it. Current medical riches discovered represents a $20 billion industry. There are many groups trying to help save the rain forests from total destruction. We need to help supposrt these organ- izations . We could also write to the government encouraging greatere donations to research and development of tropical rain forests. At current destruction rates, the rain forests could be gone by the year 2002. Then the rate of global warming will increase. The countries will see poverty conditions like they've never seen them before. These rain forests are everyone's responsibility and we must do our part to preserve this ecosystem.

Email: jolsen@osage.k12.ia.us