How is the rainforest developed?

Answer 1

THE AMAZON RAINFOREST Where is it? The Amazon Rainforest encompasses seven million square acres, covering a large part of South America, as shown on the map. Most of the land is in Brazil, but there are also small patches in Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, Suriname, and Guyana. What is it like there? It is a diverse ecoreigon, and is home to thousands of species of plants and animals. A single pond in Brazil can sustain a greater variety of fish than is found in all of Europe's rivers. These animals and plants have adapted to suit the temperate, humid, sticky climate. The leaves of some plants have adapted special ‘drip tips’ to allow the water to run off them and prevent the plant from rotting. Others have had to grow tall very quickly to cope with competition for light, as the trees are in such close proximity with each other. DEFORESTATION What is it? Deforestation is logging or burning of trees in a forest. Rainforests once covered 14% of the earth's land surface; now they cover a mere 6% and experts estimate that the last remaining rainforests could be consumed in less than 40 years. In the Amazon rainforest, they are cut down either to be sold as lumber, or more often for the land to be cleared and used as development of the land, farming and human settlement. Is this development positive or negative? You may have heard about the negative effects of Rainforest deforestation in the media, but we rarely think about the positives. Deforestation is an important part the economy of LEDCs like Brazil, and allows families, that otherwise might not, to earn a living.

Answer 2

Rainforests develop over thousands of years through a process called succession, where plants and animals gradually colonize an area and create a complex ecosystem. The high levels of rainfall and warm temperatures in tropical regions also contribute to the growth and biodiversity of rainforests.