Rainforest
hideRainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750–2000 mm (68-78 inches). The monsoon trough, alternately known as the intertropical convergence zone, plays a significant role in creating Earth's tropical rain forests.
From 40 to 75% of all species on Earth are indigenous to the rainforests. It has been estimated that many millions of species of plants, insects, and microorganisms are still undiscovered. Tropical rainforests have been called the "jewels of the Earth", and the "world's largest pharmacy", because of the large number of natural medicines discovered there. Rainforests are also responsible for 28% of the worlds oxygen turn over, often misunderstood as oxygen production, processing it through photosynthesis from carbon dioxide and through breathing to carbon dioxide.
The undergrowth in a rainforest is restricted in many areas by the lack of sunlight at ground level. This makes it possible to walk through the forest. 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. There are two types of rainforest, tropical rainforest and temperate rainforest.
For more information about Rainforest, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with rain forest
Tropical forests affected by habitat fragmentation store less biomass and carbon dioxide
Dec 09, 2009 |
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Deforestation in tropical rain forests could have an even greater impact on climate change than has previously been thought. The combined biomass of a large number of small forest fragments left over after ...
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Study finds logging effects vary based on a forest's history, climate
Dec 02, 2009 |
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A Smoky Mountain forest's woodland herb population has shown that climate may play a role in how forest understories recover from logging, according to Purdue University research.
New chameleon species discovered in East Africa (w/ Podcast)
Nov 23, 2009 |
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A new species of chameleon has been discovered in Tanzania by a team of scientists.
Breakthrough in monitoring tropical deforestation announced in Copenhagen
18 hours ago |
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Tropical forest destruction accounts for some 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions. But quantifying these emissions has not been easy, particularly for tropical nations. New technology, developed by a team ...
World forest observatory needed to monitor vital role of forests in climate deal
Nov 30, 2009 |
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A new scientific organisation is needed to monitor the commitments that will be made by developing countries at Copenhagen to cut their deforestation rates, according to research at the University of Leeds.
Researchers learn why invasive plants are spreading rapidly in forests
12 hours ago |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Invasive plants are advancing into Eastern forests at an alarming rate, and the rapid spread has been linked by researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences to forest road ...
New forest fire detection system prototype installed at Lake Tahoe
Dec 07, 2009 |
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Graham Kent, Nevada Seismological Laboratory director at the University of Nevada, Reno is leading the installation, testing and maintenance of a novel way to monitor forests fires and other environmental ...
Novel carbon-trading scheme could stop large-scale extinctions
Dec 03, 2009 |
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A new strategy for saving tropical forest species was published in the leading journal Science on the eve of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark, by a team of researchers, includ ...
Time of day matters to thirsty trees, researcher discovers
Nov 23, 2009 |
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The time of day matters to forest trees dealing with drought, according to a new paper produced by a research team led by Professor Malcolm Campbell, University of Toronto Scarborough's vice-principal for research and colleagues ...
Forest deal at Copenhagen must avoid creating 'carbon refugees'
Dec 03, 2009 |
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Forest dwellers must be included in the design of the upcoming forest deal at Copenhagen in order to avoid a humanitarian crisis, according to a scientist at the University of Leeds.
Ida now a coastal low assaulting the Mid-Atlantic
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 12, 2009 |
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Ida is one stubborn girl. Her remnants have moved out to sea and reformed as a powerful coastal low pressure system that's been raining on the mid-Atlantic since Tuesday night, November 10. The Geostationary ...
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