The Amazon

What is a Rainforest?  A tropical rainforest is a forest that has many trees, a very warm climate and plenty of different wild life!  Rainforests can be found in many places on the globe, most located near the equator. The largest rainforest of them all is the Amazon Rainforest!

Here is a map of the world. The orange areas are where rainforests can be located. The red line is the equator. Which continent has the most area covered with rainforests?

 Most animals live in the Canopy of the rainforest.  About 70%-90% of all the living species in the rainforest live in this one area!

Importance of the Rainforest  1 football field can contain 900 tons (1,800,000 lbs) of living plants, including more than 750 species of trees and 1500 other species of plants.  There are less than 750 species of trees in all North America.  One tree in Peru was found to have 43 different species of ants – a total that equals the number of ant species of the U.K.

 Scientists have a better understanding of the number of stars than they have of the number of species there are on Earth.  Estimates vary from million species with the best estimate of 10 million. 1.4 million have been named.  1/5 of all birds are found in the Amazon.

Food  80% of the developed world’s diet originated in the tropical rainforest  avocados, coconuts, figs, oranges, lemons, grapefruit, bananas, guavas, pineapples, mangos and tomatoes; vegetables including corn, potatoes, rice, winter squash and yams; spices like black pepper, cayenne, chocolate, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, sugar cane, tumeric, coffee and vanilla and nuts including Brazil nuts and cashews.

Major Problem  Deforestation is the clearing of trees from a given area.

 The Amazon rainforests have the highest rate of deforestation  It’s home to 60% of the world’s remaining tropical rainforest  In these regions deforestation is mostly caused by cattle ranching and agriculture  The Amazon rainforests have the highest rate of deforestation  It’s home to 60% of the world’s remaining tropical rainforest  In these regions deforestation is mostly caused by cattle ranching and agriculture

Rainforest loss  Massive deforestation causes - air and water pollution - air and water pollution - soil erosion - soil erosion - release of carbon dioxide - release of carbon dioxide - loss of indigenous cultures - loss of indigenous cultures - loss of biodiversity and species - loss of biodiversity and species