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Atlantic Rainforest

The rainforest in the Atlantic Rainforest, Brazil

TropicalforestInTheWorld

Tropical forests in the world, dark green the tropical wet monsoon forest, light green the tropical rainforest.

The Rainforest is a greenish area rich in biodiversity. In Rio, Blu and Jewel walk through the Tijuca Forest, just outside Rio de Janeiro's Favela Rocinha at night to go to sleep, and meet Rafael the next morning, who helps them in their quest to remove the chain on their legs. At the end of Rio, Blu and Jewel fly through the rainforest with their three chicks, Bia, Carla, and Tiago, and sing with their friends. In Rio 2, Blu and his family head into the Amazon Rainforest to search for more of their kind.

The Rainforest is filled with amazing creatures and plants. Despite its beauty, many animals such as birds, rainforest tigers and also insects die from plant poisoning and low habitat environmental safety. This is a big problem with extinction to animals and is one of the biggest threats to the rare Spix's Macaw, and other birds.

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm (68-78 inches). The monsoon trough, alternatively known as the intertropical convergence zone, plays a significant role in creating the climatic conditions necessary for the Earth's tropical rainforests. Around 40% to 75% of all biotic species are indigenous to the rainforests. It has been estimated that there may be many millions of species of plants, insects and microorganisms still undiscovered in tropical rainforests. 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 turnover, sometimes misnamed oxygen production, processing it through photosynthesis from carbon dioxide and consuming it through respiration. The undergrowth in a rainforest is restricted in many areas by the poor penetration of sunlight to ground level. This makes it easy to walk through undisturbed, mature rainforest. 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. 

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Amazon Rainforest

Tropical[]

Amazon rainforest

Map of Amazon Rainforest

Tropical rainforests are characterized in two words: warm and wet. Mean monthly temperatures exceed 18 °C (ca. 64 °F) during all months of the year. Average annual rainfall is no less than 168 cm (66 in) and can exceed 1,000 cm (390 in) although it typically lies between 175 cm (69 in) and 200 cm (79 in). Many of the world's rainforests are associated with the location of the monsoon trough, also known as the intertropical convergence zone. Tropical rainforests are rainforests in the tropics, found in the equatorial zone (between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn). Tropical rainforest is present in Southeast Asia (from Myanmar (Burma) to the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and northeastern Australia), Sri Lanka, sub-Saharan Africa from Cameroon to the Congo (Congo Rainforest), South America (e.g., the Amazon Rainforest), Central America (e.g., Bosawás, southern Yucatán Peninsula-El Peten-Belize-Calakmul), and on many of the Pacific Islands (such as Hawaii). Tropical rainforests have been called the "Earth's lungs", although it is now known that rainforests contribute little net oxygen addition to the atmosphere through photosynthesis. The largest being the Amazon rainforest.

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Temperate[]

Temperate forests cover a large part of the globe, but temperate rainforests only occur in a few regions around the world. Temperate rainforests are rainforests in temperate regions. They occur in North America (in the Pacific Northwest, the British Columbia Coast and in the inland rainforest of the Rocky Mountain Trench east of Prince George), in Europe (parts of the British Isles such as the coastal areas of Ireland and Scotland, southern Norway, parts of the western Balkans along the Adriatic coast, as well as in the North West of Spain and coastal areas of the eastern Black Sea, including Georgia and coastal Turkey), in East Asia (in southern China, Taiwan, much of Japan and Korea, and on Sakhalin Island and the adjacent Russian Far East coast), in South America (southern Chile) and also in Australia and New Zealand.

Layers[]

A tropical rainforest is typically divided into four main layers, each with different plants and animals adapted for life in that particular area: the emergent, canopy, understory and forest floor layers.

Strata

Emergent Layer[]

The emergent layer contains a small number of very large trees called emergents, which grow above the general canopy, reaching heights of 45–55 m, although on occasion a few species will grow to 70–80 m tall.[9][10] They need to be able to withstand the hot temperatures and strong winds that occur above the canopy in some areas. Eagles, butterflies, bats and certain monkeys inhabit this layer.

Canopy Layer[]

The canopy layer contains the majority of the largest trees, typically 30–45 m tall. The densest areas of biodiversity are found in the forest canopy, a more or less continuous cover of foliage formed by adjacent treetops. The canopy, by some estimates, is home to 50 percent of all plant species, suggesting that perhaps half of all life on Earth could be found there. Epiphytic plants attach to trunks and branches and obtain water and minerals from rain and debris that collects on the supporting plants. The fauna is similar to that found in the emergent layer but more diverse. A quarter of all insect species are believed to exist in the rainforest canopy. Scientists have long suspected the richness of the canopy as a habitat, but have only recently developed practical methods of exploring it. As long ago as 1917, naturalist William Beebe declared that "another continent of life remains to be discovered, not upon the Earth, but one to two hundred feet above it, extending over thousands of square miles." A true exploration of this habitat only began in the 1980s, when scientists developed methods to reach the canopy, such as firing ropes into the trees using crossbows. Exploration of the canopy is still in its infancy, but other methods include the use of balloons and airships to float above the highest branches and the building of cranes and walkways planted on the forest floor. The science of accessing tropical forest canopy using airships or similar aerial platforms is called dendronautics.

Understory Layer[]

The understory layer lies between the canopy and the forest floor. The understory (or understory) is home to a number of birds, snakes, and lizards, as well as predators such as jaguars, boa constrictors and leopards. The leaves are much larger at this level. Insect life is also abundant. Many seedlings that will grow to the canopy level are present in the understory. Only about 5% of the sunlight shining on the rainforest canopy reaches the understory. This layer can be called a shrub layer, although the shrub layer may also be considered a separate layer.

Forest Floor[]

The forest floor, the bottom-most layer, receives only 2% of the sunlight. Only plants adapted to low light can grow in this region. Away from riverbanks, swamps, and clearings, where dense undergrowth is found, the forest floor is relatively clear of vegetation because of the low sunlight penetration. It also contains decaying plant and animal matter, which disappears quickly, because the warm, humid conditions promote rapid decay. Many forms of fungi growing here help decay the animal and plant waste.

Flora and Fauna[]

More than half of the world's species of plants and animals are found in the rainforest. Rainforests support a very broad array of fauna, including mammals, reptiles, birds, and invertebrates. Mammals may include primates, fields and other families. Reptiles include snakes, turtles, chameleons, and other families; while birds include such families as vangidae and Cuculidae. Dozens of families of invertebrates are found in rainforests. Fungi are also very common in rainforest areas, as they can feed on the decomposing remains of plants and animals. Many rainforest species are rapidly disappearing due to deforestation, habitat loss and pollution of the atmosphere.

Soils[]

Despite the growth of vegetation in a tropical rainforest, soil quality is often quite poor. Rapid bacterial decay prevents the accumulation of humus. The concentration of iron and aluminum oxides by the lateralization process gives the oxisols a bright red color and sometimes produces mineral deposits such as bauxite. Most trees have roots near the surface because there are insufficient nutrients below the surface; most of the trees' minerals come from the top layer of decomposing leaves and animals. On younger substrates, especially of volcanic origin, tropical soils may be quite fertile. If a rainforest's trees are cleared, rain can accumulate on the exposed soil surfaces, creating run-off and beginning a process of soil erosion. Eventually, streams and rivers form and flooding becomes possible.

Effects on global climate[]

A natural rainforest emits and absorbs vast quantities of carbon dioxide. On a global scale, long-term fluxes are approximately in balance, so that an undisturbed rainforest would have a small net impact on atmospheric carbon dioxide levels,[16] though they may have other climatic effects (on cloud formation, for example, by recycling water vapor). No rainforest today can be considered to be undisturbed.[17] Human-induced deforestation plays a significant role in causing rainforests to release carbon dioxide,[18][19] as do other factors, whether human-induced or natural, which result in tree death, such as burning and drought.[20] Some climate models operating with interactive vegetation predict a large loss of Amazonian rainforest around 2050 due to drought, forest dieback and the subsequent release of more carbon dioxide.[21] Five million years from now, the Amazon rainforest may long since have dried and transformed itself into savannah, killing itself in the progress (changes such as this may happen even if all human deforestation activity ceases overnight).[22]

Conservation[]

Many forests are being cut down today. This is why so many species of animals are endangered. Many forests are being cut down today due to cattle ranching. Another small percentage is due to logging and places for people to live in. You can help by recycling paper and cardboard and buying rainforest safe products, especially wood.

In the movies[]

In Rio, Blu and Jewel escape to the Tijuca Forest and go to Vista Chinesa for the night. The next morning, they try to break the chain but fail, and meet Rafael's kids. At the end they reside in the rainforest.

In Rio 2, about 70% of the movie takes place in the Amazon Rainforest, to find more of their kind.

Gallery[]

Screenshots[]

Rio[]

Rio 2[]

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