RAINFORESTS
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm .
Around 40% to 75% of all species are located in the rainforest. Tropical rainforests have been called the "Jewels of the Earth" and the "World's largest pharmacy", because over one quarter of natural medicines have been discovered there. Rainforests are also responsible for 28% of the world's oxygen.
The undergrowth in a rainforest is restricted in many areas by the poor amounts of sunlight to ground level. This makes it easy to walk through undisturbed. If the leaf canopy is destroyed or thinned, the ground beneath is soon colonized by a dense, tangled growth of vines, shrubs and small trees called a jungle.
The Tropical rainforest.
By Arron Taylor for the geography project
click on satalite view!
Around 40% to 75% of all species are located in the rainforest. Tropical rainforests have been called the "Jewels of the Earth" and the "World's largest pharmacy", because over one quarter of natural medicines have been discovered there. Rainforests are also responsible for 28% of the world's oxygen.
The undergrowth in a rainforest is restricted in many areas by the poor amounts of sunlight to ground level. This makes it easy to walk through undisturbed. If the leaf canopy is destroyed or thinned, the ground beneath is soon colonized by a dense, tangled growth of vines, shrubs and small trees called a jungle.
The Tropical rainforest.
By Arron Taylor for the geography project
click on satalite view!