rainforests.mongabay.comThe Rainforest: tropical forest facts, photos, and information

☰ Home - About - Contact ✕ Rainforests Home The Amazon rainforest The Congo rainforest Rainforest topics What is a rainforest? Rainforest characteristics Biodiversity The canopy The forest floor Rainforest rivers Rainforest peoples Deforestation Importance Saving rainforests Rainforest news All rainforests Amazon rainforest Congo rainforest Indonesian rainforest Twitter Facebook instagram email News feed (XML) Search About Contact RAINFOREST INFORMATION By Rhett A. Butler Last updated Aug 14, 2020 Rainforest information A Place Out of Time: Tropical Rainforests and the Perils They Face - information on tropical forests, deforestation, and biodiversity RAINFOREST FACTS Tropical forests presently cover about 1.84 billion hectares or about 12 percent of Earth’s land surface (3.6% of Earth’s surface). The world’s largest rainforest is the Amazon rainforest Brazil has the largest extent of rainforest cover, including nearly two-thirds of the Amazon. Rainforests also exist outside the tropics, including temperate North America, South America, Australia, and Russia. An estimated 50 percent of terrestrial biodiversity is found in rainforests Rainforests are thought to store at least 250 billion tons of carbon Deforestation and degradation of tropical forests account for roughly 10 percent of global greenhouse emissions from human activities Sections: What is a rainforest? Characteristics of a rainforest Rainforest biodiversity Rainforest canopy Rainforest floor Rainforest waters Rainforest peoples Deforestation Consequences of deforestation How to save the rainforest The Amazon The Congo Rainforest Facts For kids Rainforest photos Danum Valley rainforest in Sabah, Malaysia in 1995. Photo by Rhett A. Butler End Image with CaptionBACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE RAINFOREST Rainforests are forest ecosystems characterized by high levels of rainfall, an enclosed canopy and high species diversity. While tropical rainforests are the best-known type of rainforest and the focus of this section of the web site, rainforests are actually found widely around the world, including temperate regions in Canada, the United States, and the former Soviet Union. Tropical rainforests typically occur in the equatorial zone between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, latitudes that have warm temperatures and relatively constant year-round sunlight. Tropical rainforests merge into other types of forest depending on the altitude, latitude, and various soil, flooding, and climate conditions. These forest types form a mosaic of vegetation types which contribute to the incredible diversity of the tropics. The bulk of the world’s tropical rainforest occurs in the Amazon Basin in South America. The Congo Basin and Southeast Asia, respectively, have the second and third largest areas of tropical rainforest. Rainforests also exist on some the Caribbean islands, in Central America, in India, on scattered islands in the South Pacific, in Madagascar , in West and East Africa outside the Congo Basin, in Central America and Mexico, and in parts of South America outside the Amazon. Brazil has the largest extent of rainforest of any country on Earth. Rainforests provide important ecological services, including storing hundreds of billions of tons of carbon, buffering against flood and drought, stabilizing soils, influencing rainfall patterns, and providing a home to wildlife and Indigenous people. Rainforests are also the source of many useful products upon which local communities depend. While rainforests are critically important to humanity, they are rapidly being destroyed by human activities. The biggest cause of deforestation is conversion of forest land for agriculture. In the past subsistence agriculture was the primary driver of rainforest conversion, but today industrial agriculture — especially monoculture and livestock production — is the dominant driver of rainforest loss worldwide. Logging is the biggest cause of forest degradation and usually proceeds deforestation for agriculture. Organization of this site The rainforest section of Mongabay is divided into ten "chapters" (the original text for the site was a book, but has since been adapted for the web), with add-on content in the form of special focal sections (e.g. The Amazon, the Congo, REDD , New Guinea , Sulawesi , Forests in Brazil , etc), appendices, and other resources. There is also a version of the site geared toward younger readers at kids.mongabay.com . Tropical rainforest in Borneo. Photo by Rhett A. Butler ABOUT THE RAINFOREST (SUMMARY) Chapter 1: RAINFOREST DISTRIBUTION AND CHARACTERISTICS Each rainforest is unique, but there are certain features common to all tropical rainforests. Location: rainforests lie in the tropics. Rainfall: rainforests receive at least 80 inches (200 cm) of rain per year. Canopy: rainforests have a canopy, which is the layer of branches and leaves formed by closely spaced rainforest trees some 30 meters (100 feet) off the ground. A large proportion of the plants and animals in the rainforest live in the canopy. Biodiversity: rainforests have extraordinarily highs level of biological diversity or biodiversity”. Scientists estimate that about half of Earth’s terrestrial species live in rainforests. Ecosystem services: rainforests provide a critical ecosystem services at local, regional, and global scales, including producing oxygen (tropical forests are responsible for 25-30 percent of the world’s oxygen turnover) and storing carbon (tropical forests store an estimated 229 - 247 billion tons of carbon) through photosynthesis; influencing precipitation patterns and weather ; moderating flood and drought cycles ; and facilitating nutrient cycling ; among others. 2020 primary forest cover in tropical countries. End Image with CaptionThe global distribution of tropical rainforests can be broken up into four biogeographical realms based roughly on four forested continental regions: the Afrotropical, the Australiasian, the Indomalayan/Asian, and the Neotropical. Just over half the world’s rainforests lie in the Neotropical realm, roughly a quarter are in Africa, and a fifth in Asia. Map showing the world’s rainforests, defined as primary forests in the tropics. Click to enlarge. These realms can be further divided into major tropical forest regions based on biodiversity hotspots, including: Amazon : Includes parts of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela Congo : Includes parts of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of Congo Australiasia : Includes parts of Australia, Indonesian half of New Guinea, Papua New Guinea Sundaland : Includes parts of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore Indo-Burma : Includes parts of Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam Mesoamerica : Includes parts of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama Wallacea : Sulawesi and the Maluku islands in Indonesia West Africa : Includes parts of Benin, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo Atlantic forest : Includes parts of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay Choco : Includes parts of Colombia, Ecuador, Panama Map showing world distribution of rainforests End Image with CaptionDozens of countries have tropical forests . The countries with the largest areas of tropical forest are: Brazil Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Indonesia Peru Colombia Other countries that have large areas of rainforest include Bolivia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Ecuador, Gabon, Guyana, India, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Congo, Suriname, and Venezuela. Cover and loss by rainforest region Primary forest extent Tree cover extent Rainforest region 2001 2010 2020 2001 2010 2020 Amazon 556.7 543.5 526.2 673.4 658.6 628.9 Congo 173.7 172.2 167.6 301.2 300.3 287.7 Australiasia 61.8 65.4 64.4 76.3 91.3...