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What lives in the rainforest? |
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by Dharmendra Kapri | 02-08-2015 15:19
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Rainforests are amazingly diverse stores of animal and plant life. A third of the world’s plant life grows in the rainforest and each square metre can support up to 80kg of living material (biomass). Incredibly, more than half of the world’s animal and plant species live in the rainforest, and a single hectare (an area of land measuring 100 metres by 100 metres) can contain 200 different tree species and over 40,000 species of insect. In ten hectares (0.1 square kilometres) of Malaysian rainforest, 780 different species of tree were discovered. That’s more than the total number of tree species that are native to the whole of the USA and Canada! The plants of the rainforest are well adapted to their environment. Trees often grow to 60m tall (the tallest ever recorded grew to 83m). Their leaves are concentrated high up in the canopy. Many have huge ?buttress? roots to help anchor them to the ground and soak up nutrients. Below them, there are other plants adapted to living in the shrub and floor layers of the forest. Amazingly, given the vast number of species rainforests support, their soils are shallow and acidic. In fact, they are among the poorest in the world, and heavy rainfall quickly washes away any nutrients that are not taken up by the trees. Rainforests are able to thrive because they feed on themselves – dead plant and animal matter rots quickly on the forest floor and the shallow rooted trees quickly absorb the nutrients.
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Former E-gen Ambassador
Dharmendra Kapri
Previous : Clearing the rainforest for co...
6 Comments
Rainforests are truly amazing and very selfless. Despite the destruction of trees by humans, rainforests continue to be a home for not only animals but also people.
I agree with Bindu, the pictures are surely lovely:)
Posted 04-08-2015 03:44
Wow! the pictures are too lovely. For sure Rain forests are enriched with innumerable species of flora and fauna, a rich source of bio diversity. I wish I can visit rain forest soon :)
Posted 03-08-2015 12:29
We need to combat deforestation. Trees are essential for the planet sustainability. Thanks for the report, Dharmendra! =)
Posted 03-08-2015 09:34
A good piece of article put up!!! Yes, Rain forests serve as a home to a huge variety of flora and fauna. But we human beings will not understand their importance until we completely believe that any ecological unbalance can lead to our death and destruction.Moreover, people these days consider money over everything.
We need to understand this. It will not get solved in a day or a year but it will take some more time. The idea of environment protection and the consequences that we might face, if the present condition prevails, should be grass-rooted in our heads because we will be the world leaders tomorrow. We need to act and play our respective roles. And,I firmly believe that the day is no far when things would be perfectly alright and the world would be greener and better than ever before.
Posted 02-08-2015 20:40
You rightly said , Dharmendra , that rainforests are home to many animals and plants. Cutting or burning rainforests is depriving these species of their habitat and threatening the biodiversity. Thanks for an informative report . Layered structure diagram is interesting.
Posted 02-08-2015 17:56
the sad part is that these rain forests are also facing the deforestation . These forests are the homes of many living things , but the greedy humans dont care about it . but we dont realize that our survival is also dependent on the other living things on this earth.
we need to think about it and stop the deforestation .
Posted 02-08-2015 16:55