Rain Forests Essay ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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Rain forests have a continual abundance of rain with year-round growth. Most rain forests are tropical, but a few, such as the forest of the U.S. Pacific northwest, are temperate. Rain forests hold some of the largest trees on earth. Temperate rain forest trees often grow well over 200 feet (61 meters) in height. These rain forests occur in temperate zones where local conditions facilitate high amounts of rainfall, usually 80-120 inches or 2,000-3,000 millimeters per year. They are often near ocean breezes that deliver large quantities of moisture. Many are located on coastal mountain ranges where moisture from the ocean keeps them cool, even in the hottest months of summers, and mild in the winter.

Temperate rain forests occur in seven regions of the globe. In North America, they occur along the Pacific Coast that stretches from northern California to Kodiak Island in Alaska. In South America, they occur in the Valdivian and Magellanic temperate rain forests. The Calchian rain forests are located in the southeastern Black Sea area on the northern coast of Turkey and in Georgia. The Tasmanian temperate rain forests are in New Zealand. There is a small area of rain forest in southwestern Japan. Logging destroyed most of the temperate rain forests in northwestern Europe. Temperate rain forests may be coniferous, broadleaf, or mixed. The temperate coniferous forests of the Pacific Coast of North America include the famous giant coastal redwood trees (sequoias), Douglas fir trees, and sitka pines.

Tropical rain forests occur in the tropical zone, which lies between 1,600 miles north or south of the equator (23.5 degrees north at the Tropic of Cancer and 23.5 degrees south at the Tropic of Capricorn). Tropical rain forests occupy vast areas of South America, Central America, central Africa, and southern Asia, including the islands of the South Pacific and Indian Oceans. Tropical rain forests have an enormous biodiversity.

The trees in tropical forests also grow to 200 feet (61 meters), or more. The crowns of the trees touch each other, forming a high forest canopy that blocks much of the sunlight hitting the forest. Lower down, a second or even third canopy of trees grows. The image of a tropical rain forest as a jungle is incorrect. The canopy blocks most of the sunlight so only a few plants grow at the base of the trees. Jungles usually occur along rivers, or in areas where sunlight has been able to penetrate to lower levels on the forest floor. Tropical forests remain green, warm, and wet all year; the rain and the shade also keep temperatures on the forest floor remain relatively constant. Most of the time the temperature does not rise much above 90 degrees F (32 degrees C) or fall much below 68 degrees F (20 degrees C). Because there are no seasons in tropical rain forests, each species of plant has its own season for flowering and fruiting.

Sunlight in equatorial regions strikes from directly above. Tropical rain forests are areas where there is a constant barrage of equatorial sunlight that allows for more abundant manufacture of chlorophyll from photosynthesis. A continuous supply of food is available in tropical rain forests, while in temperate zones seasonal changes regulate the food supply. The tropical forest canopy contains an enormous variety of fauna and flora. Many canopy plants are epiphytes (air plants that grow on the branches of the trees). Enormous vines also grow on trees, sometimes killing the tree. Scientists have estimated that from one half to two-thirds of all the plant species in the world are found in tropical rain forests. These forests provide shelter and food for a still unknown number of animals, reptiles, and birds that feed on a profusion of insects, fruits, and plants. Fig trees, of which there are over 1,000 kinds in tropical rain forests, are one of the “keystone” species. Because tropical fig trees bear fruit several times a year, they provide food for a wide variety of animals, birds, and insects. Because the animals that eat figs are often the prey of other animals, the figs sustain populations that provide prey to carnivores.

Competition for sunlight has led to interesting adaptations. For example, strangler figs like India’s banyan tree begin as an epiphyte plant in the notch of a tree but then send out roots that work their way down the trunk of the host tree. After the root reaches the ground, it penetrates the soil and grows rapidly. The roots then spread around the host tree, strangling it. At the same time, the crown of the strangler fig puts out thicker and more abundant leaves than does its host. This growth soon blocks the sunlight coming to the host tree, and eventually the strangler fig kills its host.

Plants growing in tropical rain forests include an enormous variety of flowers, ferns, mosses, orchids, bromeliads, vines, and fruiting trees. Hummingbirds and sunbirds feed off of the nectar produced by the canopy flowers. Heterotrophs are plants that do not need much light and can live on the forest floor. The parasitic plant Rafflesia arnoldi has the world’s largest flower and produces a scent similar to rotting meat in order to attract pollinating insects.

Bugs-insects, spiders, bees, butterflies, moths, mosquitoes, and termites-are abundant. Many avoid predators with camouflage: The walking stick and the horned leafhopper disguise themselves to blend into their habitat. In addition to an enormous number of species of ants, in some jungles army ants move across the jungle floor, devouring everything in their path. Among the many animals of the rain forest, there are numerous poisonous insects and reptiles. Besides poisonous snakes, there are poisonous frogs such as the arrow frog. Many poisonous animals and insects use bright colors to warn potential predators away.

Until recently, humans were uncommon in tropical rain forests. In South and Central America, scattered bands of Indians have lived in them, practicing a form of swidden agriculture along with hunting and gathering. In Africa, Pygmies live in the forest. However, the world’s growing population is pressing into and clearing large areas of tropical rain forests. The tropical rain forests are under assault by loggers, poachers, hunters, miners, and agricultural interests. Vast areas have been cleared by logging and turned into grassland for cattle. The destruction is more than a local threat to the environment. The tropical rain forest holds such an enormous variety of fauna and flora that it is a potential storehouse of medicines and other chemicals that have yet to be discovered. In addition, the trees consume huge quantities of carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen; tropical rain forests are in part the earth’s respirator. The amount of carbon that they hold is enormous; if loosed into the atmosphere it would have a devastating greenhouse gas effect.

Protecting rain forests is a global priority. Until about 200 years ago, a belt of green tropical rain forests encircled the globe; now they are disappearing at an alarming rate. Overpopulation is not the main cause of forest decline. Rather, excessive exploitation by tropical forest governments and by corporations from the Northern Hemisphere is the biggest threat to the world’s rain forests.

Bibliography:

Adrian Forsyth and Kenneth Miyata, Tropical Nature: Life and Death in the Rainforests of Central and South America (Simon & Schuster, 1987);
Kathlyn Gay and Mildred Vasan, eds., Rainforests of the World: A Reference Handbook (ABC-CLIO, 2001);
Thomas Marent, Rainforest (DK Publishing, , 2006);
Mohan Munasinghe, Mary Dyson, and Kevin Cleaver, Conservation of West and Central African Rainforests (World Bank Publications, 1992);
E. Place, ed., Tropical Rainforests: Latin American Nature and Society in Transition (Scholarly Resources, Inc. 2001);
P.K. Schoonmaker, C. Wolf, and Bettina Von Hagen, eds., The Rainforests of Home: Profile of a North American Bioregion (Island Press, 1997);
D. Southgate, Tropical Forest Conservation: An Economic Assessment of the Alternative in Latin America (Oxford University Press, 1998);
Jan Vansina, Paths in the Rainforests: Toward a History of Political Tradition in Equatorial Africa (University of Wisconsin Press, 1990).