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46-519: Intag is approximately 1800 meters above sea level. Parts of the Intag region are sub-tropical rainforests in the Andes . The Andes there are steep and rugged. Including the Intag river, there are other rivers and streams in the mountains. Intag includes or used to include one of the areas with the highest biodiversity on earth. It harbors numerous endangered species, including the spectacled bear ,

92-629: A large loss of Amazonian rainforest around 2050 due to drought , forest dieback and the subsequent release of more carbon dioxide. Tropical rainforests provide timber as well as animal products such as meat and hides. Rainforests also have value as tourism destinations and for the ecosystem services provided. Many foods originally came from tropical forests, and are still mostly grown on plantations in regions that were formerly primary forest. Also, plant-derived medicines are commonly used for fever, fungal infections, burns, gastrointestinal problems, pain, respiratory problems, and wound treatment. At

138-423: A more open canopy layer than other rainforests, and are found in areas of lower rainfall (630–1,100 mm (25–43 in)). They generally have two layers of trees. A tropical rainforest typically has a number of layers, each with different plants and animals adapted for life in that particular area. Examples include the emergent, canopy , understory and forest floor layers. The emergent layer contains

184-458: A national emergency. Amazon deforestation jumped by 69% in 2008 compared to 2007's twelve months, according to official government data. However, a January 30, 2009 New York Times article stated, "By one estimate, for every acre of rainforest cut down each year, more than 50 acres of new forest are growing in the tropics." The new forest includes secondary forest on former farmland and so-called degraded forest . Liana A liana

230-587: A plan to buy land. The Inter-American Human Rights Commission Organization was informed. With support of Canadian organizations Friends of Nature and MiningWatch Canada , a claim against Ascendant Copper for having violated safeguards established in standards for multinational companies was filed with the OECD. In 2005, three months before Copper Mesa (then Ascendant Copper) was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange , County Mayor Auki Tituaña wrote to

276-513: A small net impact on atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, though they may have other climatic effects (on cloud formation, for example, by recycling water vapour ). No rainforest today can be considered to be undisturbed. Human-induced deforestation plays a significant role in causing rainforests to release carbon dioxide, as do other factors, whether human-induced or natural, which result in tree death, such as burning and drought. Some climate models operating with interactive vegetation predict

322-407: 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. 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. The canopy layer contains

368-828: A study by Colin Turnbull , The Forest People , in 1962. Pygmies who live in Southeast Asia are, amongst others, referred to as " Negrito ". There are many tribes in the rainforests of the Malaysian state of Sarawak. Sarawak is part of Borneo, the third largest island in the world. Some of the other tribes in Sarawak are: the Kayan, Kenyah, Kejaman, Kelabit, Punan Bah, Tanjong, Sekapan, and the Lahanan. Collectively, they are referred to as Dayaks or Orangulu which means "people of

414-437: A trend towards declining populations in rainforests, for example, reptiles that feed on amphibians and reptiles. This trend requires close monitoring. The seasonality of rainforests affects the reproductive patterns of amphibians, and this in turn can directly affect the species of reptiles that feed on these groups, particularly species with specialized feeding, since these are less likely to use alternative resources. Despite

460-436: A very broad array of fauna , including mammals , reptiles , amphibians , birds and invertebrates . Mammals may include primates , felids 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

506-423: A warm and wet climate with no substantial dry season: typically found within 10 degrees north and south of the equator . Mean monthly temperatures exceed 18 °C (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

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552-639: Is Calamus manan (or Calamus ornatus ) at exactly 240 meters (787'). Dr. Francis E. Putz states that lianas (species not indicated) have weighed "hundreds of tons" and been a half mile (0.8 km) in length. One way of distinguishing lianas from trees and shrubs is based on the stiffness , specifically, the Young's modulus of various parts of the stem. Trees and shrubs have young twigs and smaller branches which are quite flexible and older growth such as trunks and large branches which are stiffer. A liana often has stiff young growths and older, more flexible growth at

598-654: Is a long- stemmed woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy in search of direct sunlight. The word liana does not refer to a taxonomic grouping, but rather a habit of plant growth – much like tree or shrub . It comes from standard French liane , itself from an Antilles French dialect word meaning to sheave . Lianas are characteristic of tropical moist broadleaf forests (especially seasonal forests ), but may be found in temperate rainforests and temperate deciduous forests. There are also temperate lianas, for example

644-503: Is 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. 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

690-419: 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. More than half of the world's species of plants and animals are found in rainforests. Rainforests support

736-432: Is of indigenous or African origin. In the 2001 census, malnutrition and poverty exceeded 60% of the population. Its natural environment mainly is its livelihood. Many residents of Intag make their living by subsistence farming or cattle raising. Numerous Intag people grow coffee on their farms, many of whom participating in a fairetrade-growers' association. Intag has numerous hydrologic reserves. The people from Intag see

782-559: The Cameroon to the Congo ( Congo Rainforest ), South America (e.g. the Amazon rainforest ), Central America (e.g. Bosawás , the southern Yucatán Peninsula - El Peten - Belize - Calakmul ), Australia , and on Pacific Islands (such as Hawaiʻi ). Tropical forests have been called the "Earth's lungs ", although it is now known that rainforests contribute little net oxygen addition to

828-756: The Ministry of Energy and Mines auctioned off 7,000 hectares of subsoil rights in Junín. The following year, Cotacachi Municipality, six parishes, communities and NGOs requested a restraining order from the courts. Under Rich Earth is a film covering this inter alia and was debuted at Toronto International Film Festival . Intag had a population of 14,000 people in 2000. Its parishes in Cotacachi Canton were Apuela , García Moreno , Vacas Galindo , Peñaherrera , Cuellaje and Plaza Gutiérrez . Intag has more than 90 hamlets. The population of Intag partly

874-710: The atmosphere through photosynthesis . Tropical 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 in Alaska , British Columbia , Washington , Oregon and California ), in Europe (parts of the British Isles such as

920-444: The harlequin frog , and the jaguar . The region faces various environmental concerns. Reforestation takes place in Intag. A Mitsubishi subsidiary, which had contaminated Junín river and caused deforestation, was expelled in 1997. DECOIN (Defensa y Conservación Ecológica de Intag) an environmental organization, has been founded in 1995 and has created a sensitivity concerning a possible destruction of this environment. In 2002,

966-400: The 20th century and the area covered by rainforests around the world is shrinking. Biologists have estimated that large numbers of species are being driven to extinction (possibly more than 50,000 a year; at that rate, says E. O. Wilson of Harvard University , a quarter or more of all species on Earth could be exterminated within 50 years) due to the removal of habitat with destruction of

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1012-469: 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

1058-659: The Finance and Audit Committee of the Toronto Stock Exchange: "We consider it to be appropriate and fair that before accepting open "trade" of Ascendant Copper Corporation's stocks in the Stock Market, you evaluate in depth the "new" company's merits..." The government of Ecuador has since prohibited any activity of Ascendant Copper in Ecuador. ODELCO of Chile and ENAMI are exploring the area. In 2002,

1104-464: 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 . The understory or understorey layer lies between the canopy and the forest floor. It 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 and insect life

1150-836: The coastal areas of Ireland and Scotland , southern Norway , parts of the western Balkans along the Adriatic coast, as well as in Galicia and coastal areas of the eastern Black Sea , including Georgia and coastal Turkey ), in East Asia (in southern China , Highlands of 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 . Dry rainforests have

1196-528: The connections made by the lianas may cause many other trees to fall. Because of these negative effects, trees which remain free of lianas are at an advantage; some species have evolved characteristics which help them avoid or shed lianas. Some lianas attain to great length, such as Bauhinia sp. in Surinam which has grown as long as 600 meters (2000'). Hawkins has accepted a length of 1.5 km (1 mile) for an Entada phaseoloides . The longest monocot liana

1242-417: The decomposing remains of plants and animals. The great diversity in rainforest species is in large part the result of diverse and numerous physical refuges , i.e. places in which plants are inaccessible to many herbivores, or in which animals can hide from predators. Having numerous refuges available also results in much higher total biomass than would otherwise be possible. Some species of fauna show

1288-520: The forests as their core source of water. There is a hydropower project, which faces resistance. Rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy , moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropical rainforests or temperate rainforests , but other types have been described. Estimates vary from 40% to 75% of all biotic species being indigenous to

1334-422: 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 aluminium oxides by the laterization process gives the oxisols a bright red colour and sometimes produces mineral deposits such as bauxite . Most trees have roots near the surface because there are insufficient nutrients below

1380-473: The increasing deforestation rate, especially in Indonesia, is the expansion of oil palm plantations to meet growing demand for cheap vegetable fats and biofuels . In Indonesia, palm oil is already cultivated on nine million hectares and, together with Malaysia , the island nation produces about 85 percent of the world's palm oil. Several countries, notably Brazil , have declared their deforestation

1426-477: The interior". About half of Sarawak's 1.5 million people are Dayaks. Most Dayaks, it is believed by anthropologists, came originally from the South-East Asian mainland. Their mythologies support this. Tropical and temperate rainforests have been subjected to heavy legal and illegal logging for their valuable hardwoods and agricultural clearance ( slash-and-burn , clearcutting ) throughout

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1472-514: The island of New Guinea is home to an estimated 44 uncontacted tribal groups. The tribes are in danger because of the deforestation, especially in Brazil. Central African rainforest is home of the Mbuti pygmies , one of the hunter-gatherer peoples living in equatorial rainforests characterised by their short height (below one and a half metres, or 59 inches, on average). They were the subject of

1518-437: The majority of the largest trees, typically 30 metres (98 ft) to 45 metres (148 ft) 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. Epiphytic plants attach to trunks and branches , and obtain water and minerals from rain and debris that collects on

1564-517: The members of the Clematis or Vitis (wild grape) genera. Lianas can form bridges amidst the forest canopy, providing arboreal animals, including ants and many other invertebrates, lizards, rodents, sloths, monkeys, and lemurs with paths across the forest. For example, in the Eastern tropical forests of Madagascar , many lemurs achieve higher mobility from the web of lianas draped amongst

1610-487: The ministry of energy and mining offered mining concessions in Intag publicly. Canadian mining corporation Ascendant Copper received those in 2004. There was resistance against by Radio Intag ., which has existed since 2007. The intention of mining is opposed by locals. Locals were threatened and beaten by security staff hired by Ascendant Copper. Not only human rights abuses by companies, but also by government have occurred. Ascendant Copper would face difficulties and created

1656-473: The poor soil quality. First is that the soil is highly acidic. The roots of plants rely on an acidity difference between the roots and the soil in order to absorb nutrients. When the soil is acidic, there is little difference, and therefore little absorption of nutrients from the soil. Second, the type of clay particles present in tropical rainforest soil has a poor ability to trap nutrients and stop them from washing away. Even if humans artificially add nutrients to

1702-515: The probability of dying. Lianas are uniquely adapted to living in such forests as they use the host tree, for stability, to reach to top of the canopy. Lianas directly damage hosts by mechanical abrasion and strangulation, render hosts more susceptible to ice and wind damage, and increase the probability that the host tree falls. Lianas also provide support for weaker trees when strong winds blow by laterally anchoring them to stronger trees. However, they may be destructive in that when one tree falls,

1748-708: The rainforests. Another factor causing the loss of rainforest is expanding urban areas . Littoral rainforest growing along coastal areas of eastern Australia is now rare due to ribbon development to accommodate the demand for seachange lifestyles. Forests are being destroyed at a rapid pace. Almost 90% of West Africa 's rainforest has been destroyed. Since the arrival of humans, Madagascar has lost two thirds of its original rainforest. At present rates, tropical rainforests in Indonesia would be logged out in 10 years and Papua New Guinea in 13 to 16 years. According to Rainforest Rescue , an important reason for

1794-420: The rainforests. 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 as well as endemic rainforest species are rapidly disappearing due to deforestation ,

1840-581: The resulting habitat loss and pollution of the atmosphere . Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, high humidity, the presence of moisture-dependent vegetation, a moist layer of leaf litter, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. The largest areas of rainforest are tropical or temperate rainforests, but other vegetation associations including subtropical rainforest , littoral rainforest , cloud forest , vine thicket and even dry rainforest have been described. Tropical rainforests are characterized by

1886-482: The same time, rainforests are usually not used sustainably by non-native peoples but are being exploited or removed for agricultural purposes . On January 18, 2007, FUNAI reported also that it had confirmed the presence of 67 different uncontacted tribes in Brazil, up from 40 in 2005. With this addition, Brazil has now overtaken the island of New Guinea as the country having the largest number of uncontacted tribes. The province of Irian Jaya or West Papua in

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1932-421: The soil, the nutrients mostly wash away and are not absorbed by the plants. Finally, these soils are poor due to the high volume of rain in tropical rainforests washes nutrients out of the soil more quickly than in other climates. 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

1978-443: 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

2024-433: 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 rainforest 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. There are several reasons for

2070-538: The vertical tree species. Many lemurs prefer trees with lianas because of their roots. Lianas do not derive nutrients directly from trees but live on and derive nutrients at the expense of trees. Specifically, they greatly reduce tree growth and tree reproduction, greatly increase tree mortality, prevent tree seedlings from establishing, alter the course of regeneration in forests, and ultimately decrease tree population growth rates. For example, forests without lianas grow 150% more fruit; trees with lianas have twice

2116-801: The world's tropical forests are associated with the location of the monsoon trough , also known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone . The broader category of tropical moist forests are located in the equatorial zone between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn . Tropical rainforests exist in Southeast Asia (from Myanmar (Burma) ) to the Philippines , Malaysia , Indonesia , Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka ; also in Sub-Saharan Africa from

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