The Rainforest is large amounts of trees which are very dense growing in wet climates. It is usually warm and rainy in a Rainforest. An average Rainforest receives and annual rain fall amount of about 60-100 inches. There has been some Rainforest that have received as much as 100 inches of rain per year. The average temperature of a rain forest is usually about 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The reason why the temperature is 80 degrees Fahrenheit is most of the Rainforest are located right near the equator.
The Rainforest only covers 2% of the entire earth`s surface, and they are the home to many different types of plants and animals. Rainforest contain more plant and animal species then any other habitat on the entire earth. One part of a Rainforest that is about four square miles usually contains around 125 different mammal species, 400 species of birds, 100 different species of reptiles, 60 amphibian species, and 150 different kinds of butterflies.
In most Rainforest there are many tree`s that act as a giant umbrella which shades the forest floor. This umbrella is made up of branches, leaves, treetops which are found in a Rainforest. All tropical rainforest resemble each other in many ways. Tree`s grow close together which provides a lot of shade and prevents the sun from reaching the forest floor. In most forests there are three to four different levels which comprise the Rainforest. These layers are from top to bottom; the emergent layer, the canopy, the under story, and the forest floor.
The first layer of the rain forest is called the emergent layer. This is the top-most part of the forests. This level can be as tall as 150 feet. The emergent layer is made up of the tops of the tall trees. These trees are scattered and are very straight. Few branches on these trees help to stop the sunlight from reaching the bottom of the forest. The next level down is the canopy. These trees are 60-90 feet tall. The trees are very straight and the tops of those trees are hit by almost constant sunlight. The branches help in blocking sunlight from getting to the bottom. The under story is the third level down. These trees reach a height of about fifty feet. This level contains trunks of the canopy trees and new trees that are beginning to grow. At this level there is not much light. Much photosynthesis takes place here, without sunlight. The forest floor is the very last level of the forest, which is full of branches, roots, and leaves from the trees of the rainforest. Vegetation is very little here and the soil is not very thick at all.
The problem of the Rainforest is so enormous and it`s causes are so many and complex, the solutions can seem far beyond the reach of the average person-particularly for the people who live far from the tropics in the industrialized world. In fact there is a great deal that every individual in every country can do to help. The citizens of industrialized nations, which control so much of the worlds finances and natural resources, have a particular role to play, no action no matter how small. Some things people can do to help. - Learn all you can about the Rainforests and deforestation. - organize lectures, movies, slide shows, poster exhibits and other activities to get people educated about the Rainforest. -Contact public officials let them no your concern and ask them what there doing to help the rainforest. -Be careful consumers, ask retailers if ther furniture and tropical timber produvts they see have come from plantations or carefully managed natural forest. -obtain tropical wood products. These are just some things you can do to help the Rainforest.