What is a
rainforest?
Rainforests are warm, wet, dense
forests. They contain millions of
animal and plant life. These forests
are important to the earth. They
provide many resources for
medicines and are a great supply of
oxygen.
There are two different types of
rainforests; temperate and
tropical.
Temperate rainforests have wet
and dry seasons. The soil is
richer in nutrients, younger and
less prone to damage.
Tropical rainforests do not really
have seasons. The soil is thick
and ancient. Clay lies under the
surface. Once the soil is
damaged it may take years to
recover.
Rainforests are found near the equator.
South and Central America, Africa,
Australia and Asia all contain rainforests.
The largest rainforest is located in the
Amazon River Basin, the Congo River
Basin and throughout much of southern
Asia.
It is almost always raining in the
rainforest, hence the name
rainforest. Each year rainforests
get over 80 inches of rain a
year. This is about 1 ½ inches of
a rain a week. In a tropical
rainforest the rain is evenly
distributed during the year. In a
temperate rainforest there are
wet and dry seasons. During
the dry season there is fog that
gives the rainforest its moisture.
Rainforests are very important
to the earth. They recycle and
provide clean water. The trees
and plants that grow in the
rainforest remove carbon
dioxide from the air. The store it
in their roots, stems, leaves and
branches. They also provide
many cures for our common
sicknesses and diseases.
Rainforests are sometimes called “The World’s
Largest Pharmacy” because more than half of
our medicines today have originated from the
rainforest. Some of these medicines have been
treatments for…
•Asthma
•Childhood leukemia
•Cancer
Currently there are 121 prescription drugs sold
worldwide from plant derived sources. Even so,
only 1% of the plants have been tested.
Some plants like the trumpet flower,
contain atropine and scopolamine
compounds, long known to open
airways during asthma –These are
also know to induce hallucinations
and possible death. The jimsonweed,
is known to help asthma when it was
thrown into a fire and the smoke
inhaled, so it was made into
cigarettes which could be smoked to
treat asthma attacks.
•Rosy periwinkle was discovered to
kill caner cells.
•The plant Vinca provided the
chemicals needed for two successful
cancer drugs; vincristine and
viblastine.
•Opium came from the poppy
plant and was used as a
painkiller.
•Quinine was used to prevent
malaria and came from the
quina tree.
•Steroid hormones came from
yams.
The rainforest has given us all
of these amazing things we
can use. But these resources
are being destroyed daily.
Rainforests used to cover 14%
of the earth, and now they
only cover 7%. Experts
estimate that in the rest of the
rainforests could be
destroyed in less than 40
years. If all of these rainforests
are destroyed we may lose
many important cures and
treatment for illnesses and
diseases.
Some people believe that leaving
the rainforests intact and
harvesting its many goods, would
turn a greater profit than just
cutting them down for timber or
cattle grazing land.
Bibliography:
http://www.rain-tree.com/facts.htm
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/ra
inforest/
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/rainforest.htm
http://www.rainforesteducation.com/medicines/
RFMedicines/medicines2.htm
http://www.uic.edu/classes/osci/osci590/12_3%
20Earthly%20Goods%20Rain%20Forest%20Medic
ine.htm