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Rain Forest
Why are rainforests so important?
We rely on rainforests in ways that we are only just beginning to understand. We do know that rainforests play a significant role in maintaining weather patterns and the Earth's limited supply of fresh water. We also know that natural elements and species from the rainforest are the basis of countless consumer, agricultural, medical, and industrial products. Rainforests are home to more species of plants and animals than any other ecosystem on Earth.
About rainforests:
The world's rainforests represent 3.4 million square miles of tropical forest that encircle the equator.
Land half the size of San Francisco contains 545 kinds of birds, 100 species of dragon flies, and 729 types of butterflies.
Two hundred and five kinds of mammals, 845 types of birds, and 10,000 different varieties of plants inhabit the Costa Rican rainforests.
In one hectare of mountain habitat, over 100 different species of trees may exist.
The Amazon Basin stores two-thirds of all the earth's fresh water.
The rainforest contains such a plethora of life that humans have been unable to classify and name all of it.
Many species are becoming extinct without their existence ever being recorded.
Tropical rainforests provide between 25% and 40% of all pharmaceutical products.
Three thousand plants have anticancer properties; of these, 70% inhabit the rainforests.