a trip to a rainforest essay

Amazon Rainforest Expedition: A Journal by Molly Welsh

Below is Molly Welsh’s account of her trip to the Amazon Rainforest with Dr. Lowman while conducting a herbivory study for her Independent Study Project at New College of Florida:

Amazon Rainforest Expedition: A Journal Molly Welsh, New College of Florida

I traveled to the Amazon Rainforest with Dr. Meg Lowman (www.canopymeg.com) near Iquitos, Peru from January 20-29, 2010 to conduct an herbivory study for my Independent Study Project at New College of Florida. The following is an account of my adventures, experiences, and thoughts concerning this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Part One: Personal Reflective Essay

I was rendered speechless as I traversed the canopy walkway, enveloped in the vibrant emerald green of the majestic treetops of the Peruvian Amazon. Mere words could not do the stunning landscape justice, and I lapsed into a deep silence as I contemplated the power and importance of the natural world. The treetops seemed to stretch for miles, creating a vast expanse of thriving life. Though I was humbled into silence at the magnitude of the rainforest, the atmosphere hummed with life. I was immersed in the unfaltering buzz of the cicadas, the crisp rapid clicks of the tree frogs, and the various melodic bird calls. The silhouette of a hawk swooped down and caught a bat in mid-air as the sun set slowly and delicately painted the sky with pastel yellow, purple, and orange hues. The fog rolled in and settled over the treetops, and the scene epitomized perfection.

During the Amazon Expedition Independent Study Project, I got to fulfill a dream that I’ve had since I was a little girl: to hike through the rainforest. I got to observe the purity of undeveloped land and the widest array of biodiversity I have ever borne witness to. Visiting precious and beautiful ecosystems like the Amazon Rainforest fuels my passion for science as well as instills a drive within me to preserve fragile ecosystems. Cultural awareness and preservation was also an important aspect of the trip. Learning about the Yagua tribe provided a window into a lifestyle that is much different than the life I lead in the United States. I developed respect for how the Yagua live in harmony with the land and communally with each other, and it was with sadness I learned that more and more indigenous tribes are disappearing, for it means the world is losing the knowledge inherent in their customs and societies. We must strive to learn from these societies while they are still around.

While in the Amazon, I also gained invaluable research experience. I gained exposure to viable methodology for conducting a study of herbivory on plants. I was able to get an idea of the ideal leaf sampling size, the type of data to collect regarding the niches the trees were growing in, and a system for graphing, calculating, and analyzing the results. My study on the herbivory of medicinal plants as related to their chemical composition was made possible through numerous medicinal plant walks, ReNuPeRu Ethnobotanical Garden visits, and conversations with the local shaman. My interest in ethnobotany is renewed; I want to research medicinal properties of Amazonian plants and I believe that the key to discovering cures for devastating diseases lies in the Amazon.

Also, through conducting the herbivory study alongside Dr. Meg Lowman, I was able to gain an appreciation for all of the arduous work that scientists put into their research. I was able to learn about limitations to human research in forests and projects scientists have undertaken to overcome these limitations. A prime example of this is canopy access; before the implementation of cranes, hot air balloons, and canopy walkways, canopy access was often difficult and dangerous, rendering scientific research on the canopy largely impossible. Now, the field of tropical canopy ecology is growing because of increased canopy access, and I’m so fortunate that I was given the privilege of working on the longest canopy walkway in the world with an expert canopy biologist.

Going on this expedition only further fueled my interest in rainforest ecology and strengthened my desire to go into field biology as a career. Field biology appeals to my sense of curiosity about the natural world, my sense of adventure, my spirit of conservation, and my respect for the environment. I’m incredibly grateful to have gotten the opportunity to travel to this natural wonder with an amazing selection of scientists, specialists, and guides.

Seeing so many organisms in symbiotic relationships with one another in the rainforest drove home the biological concept that every component of an ecosystem is important, and altering even a tiny piece could cause great disruption. I understand so clearly now the immediacy of preserving this precious habitat before it is too late. To do this, we must engage the indigenous people of the Amazon in dialogue, for the locals possess impressive knowledge about the land. This, coupled with an increase in public awareness throughout the world about the causes of deforestation of the Amazon, will be a great start in accomplishing this goal. I’m going to continue to brainstorm and implement ways to do my part in sharing my stories and spreading the message of conservation about this beautiful, unique, and vital place.

Part Two: My Travel Log

Day One: Airport and Initial Accommodations Stepping out into the night air of Lima, charged with excitement, we walked from the Lima airport to the shuttle, awash in a sea of street lights and vivid billboards. The driver narrated the way to the hotel, telling us vital facts about Peru, the country that we would be immersed in for the next nine days. Bleary eyed and weary from traveling, we stumbled into the Miraflores Hotel at 2:30 in the morning. We bought some bottled water to brush our teeth with, then ascended the short staircase to our rooms. The sheets were crisp and the pure white stood out starkly against the decorative red bed shams. Exhausted, my roommate Marilyn and I fell into bed and our subconscious minds slipped into blissful reveries of the possibilities of things to come.

Day Two: Market, Beach, Another Flight, Boat Ride Recharged and raring to explore, we woke up at 8:30 and showered quickly, eager for our adventures to commence. There was an impressive spread of food for the continental breakfast, consisting of tamales, fresh fruit, yogurt, cereal, granola, meats, juice, and cheeses. After devouring the fresh food, we crossed the street to go to the market. We were greeted with a wash of colors–scarves, wraps, sweaters, and blankets were piled high in every hue imaginable. There were little trinkets–key chains, bowls, dolls, stuffed animals, jewelry, and cards adorning the counters and walls of each stand. The vendors were very persistent, with their shouts of “mira! mira! (look! look!).” We stayed for one and a half hours, trying to haggle with the vendors while rapidly converting soles (the Peruvian currency) to dollars in our heads. The exchange rate, though it varies throughout Peru, is generally 2.8 soles to 1 United States dollar.

After a brief return to the hotel to load up our luggage, we departed in the shuttle. We drove through a town and around some winding roads atop rocky cliffs. It was interesting to see that the roads had been re-built a few feet away from their original location due to the frequent erosion–there have been problems with rocks striking people and cars traveling below. We soon arrived at our destination: a beach. Yet, it was unlike any beach I have ever been to before because it was completely composed of fist-sized rocks; there was no sand. Yet, like most other beaches, it was dotted with sunbathers in bathing suits and small children delighting in the waves. We shakily walked the length of the beach, carefully minding the holes between the rocks. We sat in silence for a few moments. I was fascinated by the way the waves swept up the shore and caught in the crevices between the rocks as they receded. I then talked to a few of the fellow students on the trip, Clare and Marilyn, about our home states and different schools. As we talked, we watched surfers and parasailers taking advantage of the pleasant weather. There was a nice resort across the street, with people playing tennis and others sitting at the tiki bar. The backdrop to this resort was the looming dirt cliffs that stretched in the distance, sprinkled with palm trees and other small flora.

After everyone had taken pictures and relished the sunshine, we piled back into the shuttle. As we sped down the street, I noticed car horns honking and a lot of movement as small cars weaved in and out of the lanes, narrowly avoiding each other. The bus looped around and drove up a cliff. Instantly, I had a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean; the vast expanse of blue was seemingly endless and shimmered magically as it reflected sunlight. It reminded me a little bit of the views I encountered while in the Azores, a small island chain off the coast of Portugal. I chuckled to myself as we passed a billboard for Twilight, a movie that was insanely popular in America and evidently other parts of the world as well. The shuttle brought us through Lima to the airport, where we were going to catch a flight on the airline LAN to Iquitos. In the airport, we checked our bags and then got lunch from Papa Johns. I paid for my vegetarian pizza in American dollars but received change in soles. On the way to the gate, we stopped at a small restaurant to try the enticing gelato. They had interesting flavors such as passionfruit, date, guava and pineapple. After our dessert, we arrived at the gate and waited for our flight to Iquitos to board. It was a short flight, and I mostly slept.

We arrived at the Iquitos airport at sunset. The sight of the beautiful sky awash in glowing colors with the silhouette of an airplane and palm tree in front of it was one I won’t forget. A surge of excitement swept through my body as I realized I was finally in Iquitos. Our crew walked out to the parking lot and piled into the open-air bus and small van. The Explorama guides, Ricardo and Willy, welcomed us to Iquitos with big bottles of refreshing cold water. Willy spoke to us in Spanish for the duration of the ride through Iquitos, to acclimate us to our South American surroundings.

In the ride through Iquitos, we passed a town square, schools, a military base, and numerous dilapidated bars and stores. I noticed that the air was thick with pollution and a gasoline smell hang heavily in the air. There were a lot of people riding motorcycles as their primary mode of transportation, not cars. The road was also full of taxis, which were motorized carts that could seat two passengers. Willy explained that the wealthiest people purchase taxis for the equivalent of five thousand dollars and then run a taxi service to make their money back and hopefully make a profit one day. We also passed a lot of Chifas, or Chinese restaurants. Willy explained that Peru has a large Chinese and Japanese population. It’s funny–many Chinese people residing in Peru grow up learning only Spanish and not their native language. The streets bustled as we winded our way through them, for it was rush hour. At one stop sign, there were four boys on the street in ethnic tribal dress–grass skirts and painted chests and faces–playing flutes, drums and maracas and asking for donations. Our guide dropped a few coins in their wooden bowls as we drove by. Our group remarked that we felt like obvious tourists, for everyone was snapping pictures and bright flashes kept exploding from the van. The people on motorcycles peered at us through the windows as they whizzed by, curious to see who was taking legions of snapshots.

We soon arrived at the boat dock and piled out of the bus. With anticipation building, we sat in a small room and discussed the coming boat ride. The sun had set and we walked down the dock and boarded the boat, enveloped in darkness. Half of the group ventured up to the top deck, and it immediately started to rain heavily. As we were getting completely soaked, I mused that the rain marked the start of our journey into the rainforest, a forbearer of the elements we would face in the coming days. We soggy students were then re-directed to the middle deck, which was fully enclosed and had many tables, benches and chairs. We devoured our boxed dinners as we curiously examined the pictures of the Explorama lodges that were printed on the outside of each box. I slipped the colorful box into my backpack as a small memento. The box dinner consisted of eggs, tropical fruits, orange crackers, an apple and plantains. I was surprised at how salty and crisp the plantains were–they didn’t taste like bananas at all, but rather like potato chips. There was also delicious coffee on the boat, which I made a mental note to tell my dad, a coffee aficionado, about. The ride lasted two and a half hours and the group passed the time by playing a variety of card games. Upon arrival at the bank of the Amazon in the dead of night, we took out our flashlights and headlamps as we nervously ventured onto the side deck, taking care not to fall in the slippery puddles.

We stood shoulder-to-shoulder on the deck, jittery and excited. With our small flashlight beams, we could only discern high muddy banks. Our beams could not penetrate the vegetation. I was consumed with a deep sense of wonder–I felt like I was about to enter, in the words of Joseph Conrad, the “heart of darkness” and I was exhilarated at the mysterious adventures that awaited me. We left the boat in single file and crossed a muddy bank and a narrow plank to enter a much smaller boat, in which the seats were one foot above the water and a few feet under an aluminum roof. The sides of the boat were completely open. I peered out into the limited beam of light, and my eyes were greeted with only pale brown water as far as I could see. Because of the limitations of the light source, I felt like I was venturing blindly into the Amazon, which only increased my yearning to see what was there. I flicked my light to one side and briefly saw a bird flying low across the water. I switched my flashlight off and enjoyed the boat ride in the dark, blindly entering unknown terrain. I was overcome with a sense of no turning back, which I didn’t mind because I had fully committed to this adventure.

After about ten minutes, I switched my light on again and saw muddy riverbanks, silver fish jumping, canoes, ladders, and palm thatched roofs peeking out from the vegetation. We hit the dock with a bump as we arrived at our destination, the Explorama lodge. Wooden stairs jutted out of the dirt and snaked up a hill; we climbed them and entered the lodge. We entered the bar area and sat at the tables, looking around at the handmade goods for sale that lined the walls. We received our room assignments and wandered through the lodge, which was much larger than I thought it was going to be. Each set of rooms was connected by an outdoor walkway with a thatched roof covering. Once my roommate and I arrived in our room, we organized all of our things, packed our day packs for the next day, brushed our teeth with clean water, peeled back the mosquito netting, and fell into bed. The kerosene lamps gently flickered throughout the night.

Day Three: Morning Bird Watching by Boat, Rainforest Hike, Learning about Yagua Tribe, Dancing and Music, Night Stargazing by Boat Our wake-up call came at 5:45. We scrambled to get dressed and ready by six o clock and hurried down to the docks and piled into two large canoes for a sunrise bird-watching expedition. We meandered down a tributary to the Amazon, observing a variety of birds along the way. Huts dotted the landscape. Villagers washed clothes in the river, bailed canoes, and looked at us quizzically as we passed by. I was amazed by the sheer size of the Amazon when we got out onto it. The banks were massive and appeared to be constantly undergoing erosion. There were many tropical species of trees that I had never seen before, and the vegetation was rich and varied.

With the help of binoculars, we saw a Greater Ani perched high in a treetop, its distinctive bluish-black coat shining in the morning sunlight. Anis are commonly found on river sides. Though they usually live in groups and can become quite animated, we saw only a single, silent bird. Willy told us that Anis are from the cuckoo family. We saw a Wattled Jacana, which had black feathers and rich swathes of brown on its wings. The bird we saw was an adult, due to the absence of white feathers on its belly that are characteristic of a juvenile. It also has bright red wattles around its yellow beak and large, spindly feet for walking across marshy areas with efficiency. Willy was telling us that the females mate with many different males (they are polyandrous), and the males watch over the nests and care for the young. We also observed a Black-Billed thrush, which was a tiny bird with light brown feathers. We also saw a White-Winged becard, which had a grayish green body with pronounced white stripes on its wings. The Kingfisher we spotted next was unique looking, with its black stripes and mohawk. We heard a woodpecker, though he moved before I could spot him. After spotting many more colorful birds and identifying them with our guide books, we traveled back to the lodge, where we enjoyed a breakfast of eggs, potatoes and onions, pancakes with molasses syrup, yuca, and passionfruit juice.

After breakfast, we had our first lecture on biodiversity. The Amazon region has such high diversity due to its complex architecture, which provides a variety of ecological niches. The rainforest consists of the forest floor, understory, canopy and emergent layer, each with different organisms. There are shady and sunny areas alike, and vines and epiphytes provide increased access to the canopy for small creatures. The Amazon also has high diversity due to its climate, which remains pretty homogeneous in that it never fluctuates more than 20 degrees per year, has continuous sunlight, and consistently receives an average of over sixty inches of rainfall per year. Also contributing to the biodiversity is the continuous nutrient cycling and long-term evolutionary age, which stands to reason, for the longer a genetic pool is in an area, the more diverse life can be due to processes of adaptation and evolution of species over time. It was believed that Ardi, one of the first hominids, lived in a rainforest.

We also talked about the intermediate disturbance hypothesis, for if some small disturbance happens in a section of the rainforest, such as a tree falling, a pocket of sunlight is opened up, which brings in pioneer plants, new insects and birds that take advantage of the sunlight. We also discussed the difficulties of mapping biodiversity in a region so rich with life and the reality that we don’t know how many species live in the world and that many are probably still undiscovered. We touched on the surprising fact that there are actually pockets of the rain forest that are experiencing low diversity, for some species of trees prefer to live in mono-dominant clusters. Over 50% of the world’s species are found in the tropics, and over 40% of species are in the rainforest canopy. One problem that Dr. Meg Lowman has been working arduously at for a number of years is canopy access, so that we can better study the biotic processes and cycles occurring in this vital habitat. Canopy access is relatively new, so the research possibilities in rainforest canopies are virtually endless, it is just a matter of preserving the rainforests so that these long-term studies will be possible.

The “plant of the day” was cecropia, nicknamed the “sloth tree,” for sloths love to hang out in it and try to feast on its leaves. Cecropia is a classic pioneer colonizing species, found all along the edge of the Amazon River. This species is extremely fast-growing, which is one reason it dominates the river side. It is not viable commercially for it has substandard, tacky timber–it is simply not a good hardwood. Immature cecropias have lime green main stems, while mature cecropias develop dark green axillary stems. Thirty to forty feet is the standard cecropia height. It has large leaves for high photosynthesis rates and it has spiny stems to deter insects, such as katydids, caterpillars, and leaf-cutter ants from eating the foliage. However, the Azteca ant actually lives in a symbiotic relationship with the tree. Cecropia plants provide the ants with a place to live inside their hollow stems and food in the form of Mullerian bodies which are rich in glycogen and lipids. In return, the ants provide nitrogen to the plant, which is contained in their excrement. Also, the ants provide protection by swarming and killing anything that touches the plant.

However, the leaves that we had picked as samples had a variety of holes in them, indicating that the Azteca ants were not adequately protecting the plant. One question for future research would be why are the ants not effectively protecting the cecropia and has any specific factor thrown off the symbiotic relationship? As a small test, a person in the group pressed her finger firmly against the stem of a living cecropia, taking care to avoid the spines. No ants came to the plant’s defense. It would be worth investigating why this is occurring. A lot of cecropia on the banks of the Amazon River have dead leaves, which hang in the trees and birds come and eat the insects out of the leaves.

There were two “insects of the day.” The first was a harvestmen. It is not a true spider because it only has one body part. A spider has two body parts, an abdomen and a cephalothorax. Harvestmen live at the bases of big trees and are active mainly at night. They belong to the order Opiliones. The second was an amplypigid, or a tailless whip scorpion. It belongs to the order Amblypigi. It is unique in that it doesn’t have the characteristic eight working legs typical of arachnids, but rather has six. It can still be classified as an arachnid, however, because the other two legs were present at one time but have been modified to function as antennae. They have prominent and menacing-looking pedipalps, which are used in capturing their prey. This organism can be found at the bases of big trees or under the leaf litter. The students in the group all took turns handling the amblypigid and taking pictures of this interesting creature.

After the lecture, we all changed into long pants and applied deet-laden bug spray to our clothes in preparation for our first hike through the Amazon Rainforest. Upon entering the forest, we were greeted by an intense earthy smell. Our feet got suctioned to the mucky floor with each step. We entered on a downward slope, and had to hang on to handrails made of branches and step gingerly on the makeshift wooden steps. The trees stretched high above our heads, and were densely packed together in all directions around us. Mosses were abundant, and there was a lot of new growth of things such as fungi and mushrooms springing out of rotting logs on the forest floor. A few minutes into the hike, we observed our first creature–a yellow-striped poison dart frog! Its back was a midnight black color with two lightning-yellow stripes running down each side. The guide caught the frog and flipped it over for us to see. To my surprise, the frog had a light blue underside! An interesting fact that Ricardo told us was that frogs are very competitive for mates and work hard to ensure their offspring survive, to the point where females will stake out other nests and eat the unhatched eggs.

Next we encountered a massive ceiba tree. The guide stood beside it and whacked one of its giant buttress roots. A loud, hollow sound boomed out, like a drum. The guide explained that natives drum on the tree to let others know of their locations, which works great if someone is lost in the rainforest or if people are trying to organize a gathering. We continued on, walking on slippery log bridges over small streams. We smelled a medicinal ginger plant along the way. The guide, Ricardo, explained that ginger functions as the equivalent to our aspirin. We saw many walking palms, which are also called cashapona or socratea exorrhiza. The base consists of numerous stilt roots. It is called the walking palm because it reorients itself to maximize its light exposure by growing new roots on the side closest to the light source and letting the others die off, so that it essentially “walks” toward a light source. Sometimes the fronds of the walking palm are used in thatching roofs. There were many epiphytes twined around the tree trunk.

Someone on the hike picked up an interesting deep brownish black seed and inquired about its origin. Ricardo told us it was from a rubber tree, and proceeded to point one out. Latex can be extracted from the bark of these trees and used to manufacture rubber, making these trees commercially valuable. Rubber trees are easy to identify because their leaves grow in clusters of three. Next to the rubber tree was an astrocaryum pine, which had large spikes on the trunk. The natives use the trunks to build houses. We also observed armadillo trails in the undergrowth. I saw my first bromeliad on the ground–it might have gotten there when a large tree fell. The bromeliad had green spiny leaves that gradually turned pink as they spiraled toward the middle tank. It seemed to be a species of Neoregelia. We also saw a ficus. Ricardo told us that the roots of the ficus can be used in treating stomach parasites.

As we walked along, we encountered a large ant hill with army ants swarming around it busily. We also observed a trail of leaf-cutter ants, who marched alongside us. Ricardo told us that there is a problem with people catching female ants to sell because they are considered a delicacy! We hiked past a cedar tree, which Ricardo said was approximately 250 years old. Trees in the rainforest do not have rings to determine the age by because the climate, temperature and sunlight stays consistent year-round; there is no change in seasons like in North America. The cedar tree is used by the natives in making canoes, which typically last about five years. A small black snake slithered on the base of a tree trunk and coiled up in a crevice under one of the roots. We identified it as a yellow-bellied whip-snake.

There was a loud rustling in the trees farther down along the path, and our guide started moving rapidly toward it–monkeys! The monkeys moved along quickly as we tried to get glimpses of them and we soon lost them. As we traversed the trail we noticed it was covered in giant seed cases and fruits. Our guide pointed out a passionfruit, which was green with white stripes. So many varieties of mushrooms were present; white flower-like ones, small red spiny ones, orange cupped ones, and black tiny ones. We also saw helosis, a parasitic plant that is reddish orange that mimics a mushroom. Epiphytes snaked up tree trunks and lianas frequently hung over the path. We saw another huge hill full of army ants, and we followed the path of ants through the forest, being careful not to step on them. On many trees we observed massive buttress roots, of proportions I have only seen in textbooks.

We hiked back to the lodge, where we had a few minutes to relax. My camera was already dying and I was able to charge it on a generator. I sat in a chair to do some journaling while others relaxed in the hammocks. The resident scarlet macaw had built its nest next to the dining room, and was getting rather territorial. As people walked by, the macaw would chase after them and try to nip their feet. There was a green mealy parrot at the lodge as well, and the two birds groomed and nipped each other. The lodge itself was beautiful, surrounded by the forest on three sides and the river on one side. We could observe plants and life as we walked along the open room connectors.

Lunch was served at 12:30, and consisted of red peppers, tomatoes, rice and beans, yuca, banana pudding, and seeded watermelon. During lunch Clare talked about her previous travels in the Brazilian Amazon. After lunch, Dr. Linnea Smith, a doctor originally from Wisconsin who had taken a short trip to the Amazon and decided to stay indefinitely, spoke about her tasks in the Yanamono health clinic that she started. She said that nutrition in the Amazon region was poor due to the lack of leafy greens in their diets. Leafy greens do not grow well in the nutrient-poor soil of the Amazon. The natives in the Amazon never grow to be very tall and they have low life expectancies. The people of the Peruvian Amazon region are limited by the terrain and can’t just ship things in from other parts of the country. Also, small things that aren’t big problems if they occur in children in the US, such as diarrhea, can be life-threatening in the Amazon because they don’t have access to adequate healthcare. Also, many medical problems go undiagnosed because families don’t have the money to travel to the city of Iquitos to get testing at the hospital. Dr. Linnea’s speech was eye-opening and made me very grateful to have grown up with nutritious food and access to health services. I’m going to read Dr. Linnea’s book La Doctora: An American Doctor in the Amazon because I’m sure it is filled with fascinating and important accounts of her experiences.

After lunch, we learned about the Yagua tribe from the Yaguas themselves as we traveled through a series of stations. The first station involved blowguns; we learned all about construction materials, tribal set-up technique, the animal parts used for poison and typical animals killed with blowguns. Guns and darts are made of hardwood and palms. The cotton on the ends of the darts is obtained from the kapok tree. They often use piranha teeth to sharpen their darts. Plant-based curare is typically used to supply the poison for the darts, although poison is also obtained from fire ants, frogs, and snakes. The natives test the effectiveness of the poison on toucans and sloths before hunting because these organisms have very strong nervous systems. They typically use blowguns to kill jaguars, deer, monkeys, and tapirs. Upon shooting an animal, the tip of the dart breaks off and the curare is embedded in the body. The poison paralyzes the animal as it asphyxiates it. While eating these animals, they simply cut off the part where the poison was. We each got to try blowing the blowgun to hit a target with a dart. The tribe leader led this demonstration, and was dressed in ethnic attire–a grass skirt, a palm headdress, and a tobacco pouch. He demonstrated the Yagua dialect by speaking several sentences in it. Using Willy as a translator, we asked the leader about gender roles in the Yagua society. Generally, the men hunt and build the huts while the women take care of the children, cook, and make things like bowls and bags. Couples get married at about 15 or 16 years of age, and soon thereafter live together and have children. When they get married, they crush chicken eggs on their heads for good luck–it is supposed to bring them happiness in their wedded life forever.

Next we learned about palm weaving. The Yagua weave the leaves of palms together to make roofs for small, temporary shelters and also to create makeshift backpacks. Some of the weaving patterns were very intricate, yet the Yagua did them with ease, like weaving was second nature to them. We were given a small demonstration and then a few from our group got to try it. Next we learned about pottery from the women. They created bowls and pots and demonstrated their techniques. One girl on our trip, Sam, got to create a bowl with them. Next, we learned about dyes. The dyes we saw were pink, green and blue and are all derived from plants. The pink was derived from the bark of a tree, that, when stripped away, releases a pinkish hue. The dyes are semi-permanent and used to dye string, clothing, jewelry and people’s faces for their yearly celebration carnival. Guisador, or turmeric, makes a yellow dye. Arnatto, or bixa orellana, creates a reddish hue. Genipa americana, or jagua, creates a green color. Bixaceae is used as a dye as well. Next, we learned about crafts: bag and jewelry making. The Yagua use the palm astrocaryum in all of their crafts: the fibers from it are durable and strong. They fibers are even used to extract teeth. To increase the strength, they roll the fibers together on their legs to create cords.

We then went to a grassy area for the machete demonstration by three older men who were brothers. Yagua obtain machetes from local markets for 15 soles and use them to clear the land for planting. Every family owns a machete so they are able to farm. Sandstone is used to keep the blade sharp. The Yagua used to be fruit collectors and just ate things such as insects and mushrooms; they have only fairly recently started farming. We also learned about another tool prevalent in the everyday lives of the Yagua: a paddle. Their paddles have a thin handle and a broad leaf-shaped structure at the end. The end is pointed and can serve as an anchor or can be used to spear fish.

We then went into the dining area to sample some traditional Peruvian appetizers. Unfortunately, I was too busy sampling the food to write down the names of the things we were eating. One curious piece of food we ate dries out all the saliva in your mouth, so you must eat it with a full glass of juice nearby.

As we finished eating, the faint, pretty sounds of guitars and maracas drifted through the air. We walked outside, looking for the sound source and discovered it was coming from another enclosed area. Several people were playing Andean and Peruvian traditional songs. Some of the songs were in Quechua, the second official language of Peru. The ensemble consisted of two guitars, one box drum, and one maraca player. We learned traditional dances that are done in celebration at carnival and danced and clapped for a while.

Sweaty and still humming the sonorous melodies to ourselves, we moved outside again to learn about palm thatching. We watched as a Yagua thatched a roof, and got to observe how much work actually goes into creating the roofs that are present on all of their huts. The roofs last for ten years before they start to leak and decay and have to be replaced. Next, we learned about basket weaving. We got to see how a basket was started–it takes concentration to align 5 different pieces of palm in just the right way. The weaver was very quick at finishing baskets. We also learned about one of their primary crops–sugarcane. They passed around samples of pure sugar cane for us to chew on. Some also tried fire water, which was grain alcohol made out of sugar cane. They also passed around rum and molasses made out of sugarcane for us to sample.

Excitedly, we made our way down to the riverbank to do some canoeing. Four people went in the canoe with the front and back people paddling. After canoeing, we sat on the dock and talked about how the people hold superstitions about eating anaconda and dolphins, so they shy away from those foods. The last thing we learned about was fishing net repair. The person tied small knots and patched a hole in less than 3 minutes, and the net looked good as new. Then we had some downtime, during which I talked to Dr. Lowman about a few of the research questions that were simmering in my mind. I spoke to her about herbivory, coning to measure leaf density, bromeliad pH, lichens and mosses, and making comparisons between temperate and tropical forests.

Then, we went to the bar area to enjoy some music before dinner. There were two guitarists and one maraca player performing ethnic songs. One boy from our group, Bryant, hopped on the box drum and began to play along. People from the group were dancing and drinking pisco sours, an authentic Peruvian drink. Professor Lowman pulled me out of my seat to dance. Dr. Linnea came over and we all danced and twirled together. Aiden even remarked, “It’s like a Wall (a dance party hosted weekly by our school, New College)–but in the Amazon!” After a few numbers, we were summoned to dinner by the frantic beating of drums. Dinner consisted of fried cauliflower, cole slaw with interesting spices in it, rice, and lentils. There were two kinds of papaya for dessert.

After dinner, we went on a night boat ride without any motor. We positioned the boat toward the middle of the Amazon and just let ourselves drift, gently moving with the water. The water was still and the sky was breathtaking. More stars than I have ever seen sprinkled the night sky, and we could clearly see the Milky Way and Mars. The guide identified a lot of constellations for us, and then we sat in silence, savoring the view. Meg implored us to reflect on what we are thankful for. The lack of light pollution, for there was no electricity around, was a beautiful thing. After a still, silent time we ventured back to the lodge. We flicked our flashlights on and eagerly scoured the banks of the river with our eyes. We saw a movement in some tiny branches and upon further scrutiny realized it was a baby rainbow tree boa. We also observed a Hyla tree frog, a yellow finch, and a blue morpho butterfly. For camouflage, one side of the butterfly looks like a pair of golden owl eyes amongst brown feathers and the other side is a brilliant iridescent blue. As we looked along the bank, the guide informed us that the red and green dots illuminated by our flashlights were the eyes of spiders and small animals. Back at the lodge, we noticed a glowing speck on one of the steps. Upon picking it up, we realized that it was a beetle that lit up like a firefly–just another magical thing with which to end the day.

Day Four: Dancing and Trading with the Yagua, Visit with the Shaman, Night Hike We woke up at 6:45 and scurried to breakfast. For breakfast, we were served an egg omelette with red peppers, watermelon, pineapples and toast with guava jam and peanut butter. During breakfast, the scarlet macaw climbed onto one of the kerosene lamps that hung over our heads. He grabbed onto the glass from one of the lamps and pulled it off. It shattered loudly behind Gina’s head, and glass shards showered the floor, her back, and some even got on the table. Immediately, the bird quietly slinked away and hid in the corner, as if to avoid detection.

After breakfast, it was again lecture time. The “plant of the day” was a philodendron, an unusual plant in that its leaves are large on top and small near the bottom of the plant. Usually, leaves at the top of a rainforest tree have a small surface area because they are fully exposed to sunlight and leaves at the bottom are larger so that they have a better chance of capturing the filtered sunlight. Philodendrons are sun-loving. The leaves of the philodendron possess a drip tip, a smooth pointed structure on the end of the leaf used to drain excess water off and funnel it back to the roots. The young leaves of the philodendron are red or pink to deter herbivores, who only view the color green as a sign of a healthy food source. Also, chlorophyll is an expensive pigment to produce for leaves that young.

We then discussed shade versus sun as related to herbivory. One of the questions that Dr. Lowman tackles in her research is if herbivores prefer shade or sun for eating and hanging out on leaves. Oftentimes, insects leave specific damage patterns and you can figure out the specific herbivore attacking a plant simply by scrutinizing the arrangement of holes on the leaf. The maximum age of a leaf that has been recorded is twenty years in Australia. Generally, leaf age is extremely difficult to measure and scientists don’t really know how old most of the leaves in the rainforest actually are. We also learned about hemi-epiphytes, which start out growing in the air and gradually put down roots. We then discussed differences between Old World and New World Rainforests. Old World Rainforests consist of those in Asia, Australia, Africa and New Zealand. We were currently working in the New World Rainforest, which is composed of South American countries.

The “insects of the day” were walking sticks and katydids. Walking sticks are from the order Fasmatodia. Their hind legs have giant muscles for jumping. Katydids have spines on their legs and ridges on their wings. The spacing between the ridges and the speed at which they are rubbed together determines the sound the katydid emits. The katydid we were observing possessed a prominent ovipositor, which is a knife-like structure used to lay eggs, indicating she was a female. Katydids are mostly active at night, and Dr. Whitman remarked that we would soon see many on our night hikes.

After the lecture, we took a short hike through the forest to trade with the Yagua tribe. We entered a large hut with a thatched roof. Fans made from palms lined the side of the hut, and they provided some welcome natural air conditioning. The guides talked to us for a bit about Yagua culture, like how the boys all learned from a young age how to hunt and build huts for the villages. There was a giant pot in the middle of the hut that they fill with alcohol when they have festivals, which last for a few days. Then the Yagua demonstrated dances for us. They do spirit dances after hunting, and the women and men each have distinct voices and steps that they perform. As they gracefully circled the hut, they invited us to do a friendship dance with them. A little girl came over to me and held out her hand, and I danced round and round the hut with my hand interwoven with hers as we smiled at each other–it was awesome that dance can transcend cultural and lingual barriers.

After the dance ended, we went outside, sweaty and smiling, for another blowgun demonstration. Five tribesmen stood next to each other and blew at the same time, trying to hit a target on a wooden post. They all came very close. People from our group tried as well. Then, we traded with the villagers. I traded my shirts and hats for several seed necklaces and an emerald green shoulder bag. They had necklaces with things like anaconda bones and piranha teeth on them, and all the fibers for the bags and bracelets were dyed with plant parts. They also had knives made out of piranha teeth. I gravitated towards the musical instruments: small pan flutes, quenas, and decorative maracas. Some maracas were carved to resemble turtles. A young girl was walking around carrying her pet three-toed sloth, Luisa. We asked if we could hold Luisa and the girl happily agreed. The sloth had such a small body and strong claws with which she gripped my shirt to pull herself up. The face was adorable and she looked at everyone with an expression of pure love. She opened her mouth in contentment a few times and was throughly enjoying our cuddling. When we gave her back to the girls she belonged to, they started kissing her: it was clear the feelings of affection run both ways. Another boy in the village had a smaller sloth as a pet, and they said that the two sloths were friends. The sloths were so gentle and docile. We asked our guide Willy how the children obtained the sloths as pets, and he told us that oftentimes a mother abandons her female offspring, which villagers then find alone in the woods. However, sometimes people kill the mothers and take their babies as pets. We had hoped that the former had happened in this situation.

We then hiked back to the lodge and had a few moments to look at the crafts for sale there, which included bracelets, paintings, bowls and wooden carvings. With the wind blowing through our hair, we navigated down Amazon and onto the Napo river. We arrived at another lodge in time for a delicious lunch of palm salad, rice, beans, and Quinoa cake with watermelon for desert. As we walked up the steps to the lodge, we were greeted by two Gray-Winged Trumpeter birds as well as two capybaras! The capybaras–Charlie and Charlita–were so affectionate, nuzzling our arms and making guttural noises as we petted them. Charlita enjoyed the attention so much that she flopped over to get her stomach rubbed. Being the largest rodents in the world, they had extremely coarse fur and large teeth. After lunch and a short water break, we hiked to the shaman’s hut, trumpeters in tow. On the way, we passed a small pond full of brackish water with palm trees dispersed throughout it. A small canoe was tied up next to the bank. The guide told us that caymans had lived in the pond at one point. The trail led us over the pond and up a steep hill and we arrived at our destination–the shaman’s hut. The shaman spoke about numerous medicinal herbs and their uses. Dragon’s blood, or sangron de dragon, is a multi-use plant. It is used to relieve itching, especially of mosquito bites. It is also a coagulant, and is often applied on gashes, piranha bites, or or on women after they’ve delivered a baby.

The shaman crushed up some Ajo Sacha, or wild garlic, and made us breathe it in deeply. The scent was strong and burned the insides of my nostrils. He laughed at the expressions of astonishment on people’s faces at how overpowering the scent was. When children in the village have trouble waking up in the morning, they crush and boil garlic leaves for five minutes and then inhale the vapors to clear out their sinuses and rejuvenate them. Also, the wild garlic functions as an effective mosquito repellant as well as an excellent natural method of masking the human scent during hunting. Botonde oro, also know as golden button, comes from the same family as the marigold. It functions as an anesthesia, and is employed in teeth extractions. It is also used to treat caterpillar and scorpion bites. He then talked about what it takes to become a shaman: you must know from a very young age, it takes many years of training, you must be a specialist in everything, you have to listen to your dreams about different plants having medicinal properties, you have to be careful about your medicine preparations.

The shaman then performed some blessings on people. First, he would blow tobacco smoke on the person’s head, and then he would start chanting and brushing each person with leaves. As he performed his rituals, his seed necklaces knocked together. The blessings were supposed to invoke earth spirits and were used for relaxation. It was interesting to watch, and the chant seemed as if it could be trance-inducing. During one of the blessings, the birds started to sing and puff out their feathers; our guides said that the birds do that when they can feel strong spiritual energy. After the blessings, the shaman brought out a green tree boa for us to marvel at. It was lime green with white stripes, and had very large fangs. We thanked the shaman and hiked back to the lodge, the Gray-Winged Trumpeters in tow.

We then hiked to the canopy research station, a more rustic place where we would be spending the next three nights. During the hike, we heard the calls of toucans. Our guide Willy entertained us with his stories of jaguar sightings: he once saw a mother and a baby swimming together. We arrived at the lodge and got our room assignments and some fresh water. Upon arriving in our rooms, we laid under the mosquito nets for half an hour and just listened to all the sounds in the middle of the rainforest. We heard cicadas, frogs, and birds. I then read the laboratory report of a leaf study performed by my professor and talked to some of my fellow students. Soon, dinner was served, consisting of rice, cole slaw, lentils, and pasta. For dessert, we ate a fruit that tasted exactly like bubblegum.

After dinner, we did introductions, for some new scientists were joining us. Our guides talked about their families and growing up in the rainforest. Willy told us a story of how he was young and followed a monkey to catch it for a pet and got lost by himself in the rainforest. He spent the night in a canoe and swears he felt a spirit sit in the back. Eventually, a search party found him and, after a few lashings from his father, he was able to keep the monkey to eat the bugs that were in his hut. After dinner, we got tattoos from the whito plant. I got an ocelot and Marilyn got a capybara. Dr. Lowman got a tarantula on her arm!

Then, the insect specialist, frog specialist and guide offered up the option of going on a late night hike. I, along with a few other people, got out our flashlights and took them up on their offer. We entered the forest, and everything seemed to be pulsing with life and mysterious energy. The forest looks different at night, and a lot of the life on the floor comes out. We walked slowly and quietly, sweeping our beams over individual leaves, hoping for signs of life. We saw a wolf spider, a tarantula in its hole (that we teased out with a stick-he thought it was food!), katydids, a walking stick, tree frogs, baby tree frogs, and a lot of different cockroaches. We also got to examine some intricate huge spider webs. At times, leaf cutter ants would be walking beside us on the trail, dutifully carrying their leaf pieces.

At one point in the hike, the guide stopped us. He told us to turn off our lights, and we complied. With our vision reduced, our ears instantly snapped to attention, and we really concentrated on all the sounds of the rainforest. He instructed us to look up at the moon. The moon was full and bright. He paused for a moment and then told us to look down. We let out a collective gasp as we looked at the ground. Sprinkled all over the forest floor were glowing leaves. I turned in a circle and observed speckles in all directions. My body instantly warmed with happiness as I delighted in the beautiful sight. We were observing bioluminescent fungi, which only grows on the leaves of one certain species of tree when they are decomposing. We turned the flashlights back on. The leaves just looked like regular leaves. We turned the lights off again and instantly the forest floor became magical. The guide instructed us to not ruin the surprise for the others, who were coming out to see it on our group hike tomorrow. It was the best secret I’ve ever had to keep, and I smiled all the way back to the lodge. I went to sleep awash in rich sounds and slept soundly.

Day Five: Sunrise Canopy Hike, Medicinal Plant Hike, Data Collection and Calculation, Sunset Canopy Hike, Night Hike We woke up at 5:00 to hike to the canopy walkway to experience the canopy during sunrise. The woods were damp and soggy. We saw a lot of ant-plants, or myrmecophyte, along the way. We arrived at the canopy walkway and climbed a tower to get to the first point. The canopy walkway was constructed with a ladder laid sideways with a wooden plank on top of it, secured with netting that was tied to the trees by ropes. The walkway itself was built by three men. Only three people are allowed on each pathway at one time, so we had to get into groups of three to traverse the canopy. My first step into the canopy was exhilarating. I felt so free. The views just kept getting better as we ascended on the walkways. The tree tops were shrouded in mists, and we saw giant palms and beautiful bromeliads. I was so overwhelmed with the experience of being in the tree tops, I just kept breathing “this is amazing” to myself. The sounds were incredible–screeches and clicks and hums. From the highest observation point, which was 150 feet in the air, it seemed like the treetops stretched on endlessly. I took a lot of pictures so I would never forget the amazing views. There was vibrant green everywhere, and some reds, pinks, and yellows peeked out from behind branches. After we visited all twelve platforms, we hiked back to the lodge. The trail was slippery from all the rain, and a few people fell. We saw so many different mosses and mushrooms.

Back at the lodge, we had a breakfast of eggs, potatoes, french toast, and cocona jam. I had some mate de coca tea. After breakfast, we had a lecture and interactive activity about plant identification. The bug of the day was a leaf mimic, and I was surprised at how realistically it resembled a leaf. After the activity, I saw a bright green and yellow butterfly on the walk back to my room.

We then went on a medicinal plant hike with Willy as our guide. The walk was beautiful, and took us past a small, tranquil stream. At one point, we walked past a high wall of bamboo. We saw lianas, piper plants, fallen logs, and all sorts of colorful vines. We trekked back to the hotel for a lunch of bean salad, eggs, rice, peppers, plantains, and–my favorite–flan. After lunch, Willy went into the forest and picked more medicinal plants for us: jungle iodine, cats claw, bixcassae and dragons blood. We then did data collection, creating our leaf graphs and data tables while calculating percent herbivory.

After calculating our data, we went on a sunset canopy hike. Again, a trail of leaf cutter ants walked side-by-side with us. Ascending to the highest platform, I beheld a spectacular view. It was a little foggy, so the oranges and purples were a little subdued. We heard beautiful noises, and even saw two toucans. We enjoyed some moments of silence, where no one talked and everyone savored the feeling of just being suspended in nature. After the sunset, we hiked back to the lodge. Dinner consisted of Russian salad, which was composed of beets, potatoes and spices, beans, carrots, green peppers, rice pudding, a roll, and some small citrus fruit. After dinner, we went on another night hike. First we went back to the bioluminescent fungi patch. Willy hushed everyone and told us to turn our flashlights off. Bioluminescent leaves spread out across the ground like constellations. Willy said that it was the Amazonian’s own sky on the ground. He said if you try to feel the energy from the tree, you can sometimes channel it’s exhilarating warmth. Willy said that he feels refreshed every time that he comes to the tree, and that it is his favorite place in the forest. He picked up a leaf, and then quickly released it, saying, “it’s a shooting star!” I picked up a leaf and moved my arm all around, creating circles, spirals and patterns of glowing light. The bioluminescence really starts to intensify as your eyes get used to it. I concentrated on the specks of light, and I started to feel like I was soaring through the air. It was like having a night sky beneath my feet.

We then walked back to the lodge and went on another late night walk. We saw pink toed tarantulas, bullet ants, two poison dart frogs, katydids, cockroaches, a butterfly, and a lizard. We also stayed still as we watched Dante use time lapse photography to take pictures of the bioluminescent fungi. After he completed the process, we looked at his photograph, and the leaves were growing green. We hiked back to the lodge and I took my flashlight to the shower and showered in mostly darkness. Marilyn told me that when she had taken a shower earlier in the day, a small frog had sat on the shower head and just looked at her for the duration of her wash. We laid down in bed and were lulled to sleep by the many noises of the rainforest. It down-poured throughout the night–at one point people said the rain was falling in sheets into their rooms and soaking them. Due to the heavy rains, the sunrise canopy walk the next day was cancelled.

Day Six: Learning to Climb, Medicinal Plant Garden Visit, Sunset Canopy Walk, Night Canopy Walk Since the sunrise canopy walk was cancelled, we were able to sleep in and have breakfast at 7:30 in the morning. We had vegetable egg omelette, fruit, toast with guava and cocona jam, and fresh juice. After breakfast, we had another lecture. The insect of the day was a weevil, which is a type of beetle. We then spent all morning doing more data collection, graphing, and calculations. After lunch, we had a tree climbing demonstration. Since it was too rainy and damp to climb outside, the demonstration consisted of Dr. Whitman throwing a rope over a high beam in the ceiling and hooking a harness up to it. Those who were interested in learning got a chance to climb. I climbed to the top of the hut–climbing is a lot tougher than it looks! You have to use your arm muscles to pull yourself up and then move a clamp up the rope while moving your legs at the same time. I ascended to the top of the roof–it was high enough to see into a few rooms! I then descended, slowly and rather jerkily, because I was afraid of going too fast and injuring myself by crashing into the floor. I watched a few others climb and then bandaged up my hands before the next activity, for I had gotten some deep blisters on my palms and fingers from the rope.

In the afternoon, we had the option of sampling the pH of bromeliad tanks or going to the ReNuPeRu Medicinal Plant Garden–I chose the latter because of my interest in ethnobotany. So, we set off for our long hike back to the shaman’s hut and garden. The walk there was very relaxing and we hiked mostly in silence, just taking in the rainforest. When we arrived at the shaman’s hut, he demonstrated some more medicines. This time I was able to have a blessing, wherein the shaman asked my name, cupped his hand on my head, and blew tobacco smoke on my hair. He chanted melodiously as he lightly brushed my head and shoulders with leaves. I closed my eyes, and I began to hear the sounds of the rainforest spring to the forefront, with his chant subdued in the background. A feeling of calm and relaxation spread through my body. I felt like the leaves were mother nature’s caress: symbolic of the spirit of the rainforest touching my spirit and soul, enlivening me throughout my voyage in the Amazon.

After the blessing, I stepped out of the hut and into the sunshine of the garden. I delighted in seeing all of the medicinal plants and listening to the shaman enthusiastically explaining the uses of each. I took many pictures and tried to record the relative herbivory levels on each plant. The plants all had unique fruits and colorations: some leaves had pink and white spots, other plants had bell-shaped berries, while others had bright green burrs. All too soon, it was time to leave. We took a different trail back through the forest, and moved at a brisk pace so that we could have dinner and make it up to the canopy walkway before sunset. I hurriedly ate dinner and then joined a very small group on the optional canopy sunset walk. Being up in the canopy was so tranquil and rejuvenating, I did not want to miss any opportunity to ascend to the treetops.

As we made our way along the gently swaying walkway, we noticed beautiful mists rolling in, shrouding the lower branches in white and lacing the uppermost leaves. Amanda mused that this scene must have been absolutely stunning in prehistoric times, free from human encroachment. The sky was awash with purples, pinks and oranges peeking through the fog. Hawks were swooping down and catching bats. Again, we saw toucans. I was filled wholly with awe, for I was standing in the most beautiful place in the world. I sat down on the walkway, looking around in wonderment.

We sat in silence, listening to the noises and really feeling like a part of the environment. Pure nature sounds filled our ears–there were no motors, car horns, or blaring music. It was so relaxing just laying in the canopy, listening to the diversity of life. Sitting in the middle of the forest, you feel so tiny in the scope of the world–I was very humbled by the vast power of nature. The tree tops were sprinkled with all different hues of green–jade, emerald, forest—and the trees stood tall in quiet majesty. My curiosity was sparked by all of the different noises, for there was so much life that I could hear and sense but not see. The rainforest pulsed with life all around me. Though the forest is a place of majesty and mystery, above all else, it is a place of extreme beauty.

After enjoying the sublime tranquility of the sunset, we reluctantly headed back to the lodge. As we walked along the trail, we were accompanied by leaf-cutter ants working conscientiously. We were able to rest at the lodge for a bit, and then given the opportunity to go on a night canopy walk. We flicked on our lights and ventured into the forest. Again, we stopped at the bioluminescent fungi, a very special place. No matter how many times I saw the bioluminescence, it still retained its magical aura for me. As we walked to the canopy, we saw many poison dart frogs sitting on the leaves of the undergrowth. We kept our lights on as we climbed up to the canopy walkway. Once in the treetops, we flicked our lights off, and traversed the canopy by the light of the moon. Our eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness, and it actually became easier to spot life with our lights off–we were more in tune with the environment and more attentive to subtle sounds and movements that were occurring in the tree tops around us. Standing on the walkway by moonlight was so still and peaceful, and the dark that blanketed the forest only added to its mystery and wonder. I could still faintly see mists lingering amongst the branches and settling down among the bromeliads.

Suddenly, lightning illuminated the sky in the distance. Flashes kept illuminating the sky, and again I was in awe of the mighty power of nature. I was witnessing nature at its purest, its finest, at its element. I became overwhelmed with feelings: I felt bliss and appreciation for being able to experience this moment, suspended in the canopy in the dead of night, witnessing a powerful natural event. Alas, it was soon time to go. I walked back to the lodge in silence, awash in thoughts and feelings. On the way back to my room at the lodge, I ran into Amanda and Jeanne sitting on the walkway, talking while looking out at the forest and up at the stars, with crickets steadily pulsing a beat behind their conversation. They invited me to join them, and we had a pleasant conversation–our collective thankfulness and happiness for the opportunity really came out in our descriptions of the rainforest. It was getting late, so I reluctantly got up and trekked to the shower. I showered quickly. By the time I got back into my room, I could hardly keep my eyes open yet I couldn’t keep the smile off my face.

Day Seven: Piranha Fishing, Soccer on the Amazon Sandbar, Water Purifying Project, Soccer with Children on Land, Arrival at Luxury Lodge, Dinner Performance We arose at the crack of dawn, and murmurs of excitement could be heard from everyone’s rooms as we got dressed and ready–we were finally going piranha fishing! After breakfast we hiked to Napo and departed by canoe onto the river. We waved to locals along the river as we passed by, and the children waved back at us excitedly. We pulled into a small inlet in the river bank and Willy passed out fishing poles fashioned out of small tree branches and line. We baited the hooks with bloody raw meat and one by one dropped our lines into the water. Two muscovy ducks each stood on one leg and peered at us curiously as we splashed the water furiously with our sticks, to try to catch the piranha’s attention. An elderly Peruvian couple passed by in a canoe and looked at us bemusedly.

The boat driver yelled out excitedly as he felt a bite on his line and pulled up a glistening piranha. Willy grabbed the piranha underneath its mouth and pulled the hook downwards, exposing intimidating, sharp teeth. The appearance of the piranha surprised me, for it had vivid orange coloring underneath its mouth and inside of its eyes. Dr. Lowman also felt a bite, and to our surprise brought up a crab. Once off the line, the crab fell under the wooden slats at the bottom of the boat, from where it was able to make an escape. While we dangled our bait in the water, Willy told us the story of how he was bitten by a piranha whilst fishing when he was younger. He still has a large, visible scar underneath his elbow.

Since we weren’t having much luck and our lines were constantly becoming ensnared on the muddy river bottom, we decided to switch to a deeper location. We cast our lines again at the more favorable area, and sat patiently waiting for the fish to bite. Three local children sat on the embankment and watched us, captivated, for the sight of us trying to fish unsuccessfully must have been quite comical. Suddenly, Gina cried out as her stick started to bend dramatically. Willy helped her pull up the line, amid gasps and excited yelps. Gina had caught a gigantic piranha! The fish was one of the largest Willy had seen in his life. I shivered when Willy opened the mouth and I saw the sheer size of the powerful teeth. Jessa caught a fish as well!

It was sunny out, and it was pleasant relaxing in the boat and conversing with peers. After an hour or so, we headed back to the lodge. As we made our way back up the river, a child on the bank yelled “Adios, gringos!” to us. We made our way down the winding tributary and out to the Amazon river. The water had receded dramatically, exposing a vast sandbar! “Well…” said Willy, “vamos a la playa!” With that, we pulled up to the sandbar and bounded out of the boat to walk on the Amazon river bottom. The sand was smooth and burnt orange with swirls of gray. There were sections of it with deep, snaking cracks. We all frolicked around, marveling at the enormity of the Amazon river. We heard the faint chirp of children’s voices, and scanned the opposite river bank to locate the sources of the sound. Children clustered underneath a large tree, watching us and waving furiously. We yelled and whooped back at them, and so began a call-and-response game, with them mimicking the tones and rhythms of our shouts. We weren’t saying words, but we were still communicating and connecting in a playful way with each other. Finally, someone from our group yelled “Como estas?” which was met with a cheery chorus of “Bien!”

The other boatload of people arrived at the sandbar and piled out, amused at our cross-river conversation. Three boys climbed down the ladder on the side of the riverbank, ball in tow. They hastily plopped into their canoe and rowed over happily. Upon reaching the sandbar, they flipped their canoe over to make us laugh. They goofed around in the water for a few minutes more, and then brought the ball onto the sandbar. We asked them if they wanted to play soccer and they nodded enthusiastically. We all spread out in a circle and began to kick the ball around. The kids were having fun chasing and retrieving the ball, especially when it bounced into the Amazon River. The children were having such a great time splashing around in the river that a few people from our group decided to join them, and jovially ran into the Amazon, exchanging high fives and throwing the ball around with the boys. All too soon, it was time to depart. As we were leaving, the kids climbed onto the bow of our canoe, and in one last display of showmanship, fell into the water comically as the boat glided away. Their antics were greeted with hearty chuckles and smiles of appreciation by all. We decided that we wanted to get together a collection of money to buy a new soccer ball for our new “amigos.” I smiled all the way back to the lodge.

When we arrived back at the lodge, I decided I wanted to seize my last opportunity to pet a capybara, so I stood outside the lodge, caressing the cuddly rodent. It started making its signature low guttural noises and even flipped onto its back to get a belly rub. Being a very sweet and gentle animal, it kept nuzzling my hand, begging for more affection. It occasionally nibbled my fingers. For the duration of our short break, I sat outside with the capybara keeping me company, listening to the rainforest noises and scribbling furiously in my journal, eager to record every minute detail of the voyage. A flash of brilliant blue caught the corner of my eye, and I was pleased to observe a butterfly flitting between different plants. The trumpeters were out and about catching bugs. The blue macaw also bopped around, surveying the activity in the area. Soon, I had to go into the dining hall for a delicious lunch of beans, rice and fruit. During lunch, we passed around a wooden plaque for everyone from our New College group to sign. This plaque would soon join the other plaques hanging from the beams of the lodge, commemorating all the hearty visitors to the Peruvian Amazon. We drew the gray-winged trumpeters on our plaque, because we felt a special connection to them and appreciated their eagerness to go on hikes with us. We all signed our names, and some wrote short messages. During lunch, the chef brought out a tray of steaming piranha–the very fish we had caught that morning! People clustered around eagerly to try small pieces.

After lunch, we went on a long boat ride, during which I observed breathtaking scenery, towering palm trees, small huts, thriving vegetation and ladders propped up against eroding clay banks, to provide the villagers access to the river. Despite attempts to keep my eyes open to take in as much as the Amazon as possible, they kept fluttering shut and as my exhaustion started to set in.

I was awakened with a jolt by Willy’s shout of “look over there!” Two small fins broke the surface of the water, and then disappeared quickly–pink dolphins! The boat captain cut the motor, and we drifted in silence, trying to catch more glimpses of the curious creatures. We were rewarded as the backs and fins of the dolphins rose out of the water repeatedly, and it was a sight to behold. The feeling of knowing that we were mere feet away from these unique animals was amazing.

After observing the dolphins in awe, we arrived at a water purification project established at a small town. We got to tour the purification tower and learn about the filtration system. We also were able to witness a remarkable demonstration of the way the chemicals used to purify the water work. Children flocked out of the town to greet us. A group of very cute little girls clustered around Marilyn, fascinated by her camera. She took their pictures and showed them what buttons to press to see their images. One of the men from the town brought out a large boa to show us. The boa had deep cuts in its sides, for it had gotten caught in a fishing net. It was not going to survive.

Following the tour of the water purification system, we were given some time to play with the children. I tossed a New College football around with two young boys: their wide smiles and content laughter made me so happy. After they tired of playing catch, we went to watch the others in the group playing soccer against the natives. I sat down in the grass next to two cousins and shared some fruit that I had saved from breakfast with them. In Spanish, I asked them their names, ages and what they liked to do. As we talked, we watched the intense soccer game. Willy scored a goal and caused the chickens in the area to scatter in surprise. The atmosphere was one of jovial competition. We were making many new friends, young and old. All too soon, it was time to leave.

We said our good-byes and piled back into the boat. We had another long boat ride through the Amazon to Ceiba Tops Luxury Lodge. The lodge was indeed luxurious–it had hot water, private bathrooms, and a pool! We all changed into our swimsuits and eagerly raced down to the pool. The pool had an upper “jacuzzi” part that was connected to the pool, which consisted of jets but no hot water. This jacuzzi area branched off into a water slide into the pool. We all whizzed down the slide and into the cool water. Then, we sat in the jacuzzi area, relaxing and talking until the pool closed an hour later.

We all took showers and then reported to the dining hall for a fancy dinner. There was plenty of delicious food, including rice, beans, cucumbers, cole slaw, and mashed potatoes. During dinner, we enjoyed a dinner dance performance by students from the local high school. In between the movements of their dances, a group named the White-Bellied Frogs played music, using drums, guitars, mini guitar and maracas. A high school student joined them on flute. Ricardo was the Master of Ceremonies for the festivities and he joked and laughed easily with the audience. The high school students performed various dances with different themes, such as a harvest dance and festival dance. During the last song, one girl brought out a boa and danced with it. She weaved through the audience, rubbing the boa on various spectators necks and shoulders. Also, the students pulled people out of the audience to dance with them during this number. During the whole event, there was a snake slithering among the upper rafters of the lodge above our heads–we craned our necks looking upward every once in a while, wary of the snake falling onto our plates.

After dinner, we had a short “closing ceremony,” during which Dr. Lowman asked us all questions about the trip as a final exam and we received awards for our various roles on the expedition. We also presented our tour guide Ricardo with a few gifts; Willy was sick that night so we decided to give his to him the following day. After dinner, we headed back to our rooms, and I talked to my roommate for awhile about the day. Later on in the night, we ventured back to the lodge, where we sat at a table and conversed with others in the group. We went to sleep in the cool room, appreciating air conditioning more than ever before.

Day Eight: Monkey Island, Iquitos Market, Flight Home Our wake-up call came at 6:45 in the morning. We sat down to a lovely breakfast of eggs, potatoes, yogurt, toast, jams, watermelon, starfruit and passionfruit juice. After breakfast, we walked out to see the ceiba, or kapok tree. We marveled at its sheer size–it was simply enormous, the largest tree I had ever seen. We all took pictures standing amongst its roots, as a point of scale. After we stared at the tree in disbelief and took a nice group shot, we took a short boat ride to Monkey Island.

Upon our arrival, monkeys latched on to our bags and clothing and climbed up onto our heads. One monkey, Jose, determinedly latched onto my arm. “It’s ok, he doesn’t bite,” said a staff member reassuringly. Calmly, I nodded my head as I felt a sharp pain piercing my skin–Jose was biting me! I tried to shake his teeth off and unclamp his mouth, but he was holding on very tightly. Finally he let go and I was unharmed. Some of the monkeys had beautiful long reddish coats, and there was a mother walking around briskly with her baby firmly latched on to her back. The monkeys were fighting and playing together, tussling about in the dirt and ambushing each other from tree branches. Many monkeys walked around chewing furiously on pieces of banana and mango. We saw small, cute tamarins. The types of species at monkey island included marmosets, tamarins, monk sakis, red howlers, titi monkeys, woolly monkeys and spider monkeys. The owner and founder, Gilberto Guerra, gave us a talk on his monkey rehabilitation center. He said that in the rainforest, if a mother monkey dies, most of her babies will die as well. Sometimes the mothers are killed for food in the jungle. That’s why he established his orphanage for monkeys, to keep the species alive. There are twenty-four monkey species in Peru. Clearly, it’s important to strive to save every one of them.

After getting dirty at monkey island, we were all too eager to take showers at the lodge to get cleaned up for our long trip home. After our showers, we did our final packing and then ventured to the lodge for lunch. The rice, lima beans, cole slaw, peppers and wheat roll all smelled delectable, and the taste did not disappoint. After lunch, we took another boat ride, this time back to the initial boat dock, where the adventure had all started. It was interesting to clearly survey the landscape that we had not been able to see on account of nightfall last time. There was a small marina-type area with a few aluminum boats. There were also some larger establishments along the waterside as we neared Iquitos–the jungle seemed less and less wild.

We reached the boat dock and all climbed up the steep hillside to the waiting room above. We waited a few minutes and then boarded another open-air bus. Talking excitedly about our adventures, we took the bus into town to a small market in Iquitos. There, we were given an hour to peruse the items and talk to the vendors. Going to the market made me a little melancholy, for there were illegal jaguar skins in some of the shops, and I was saddened to realize that humans mercilessly take the lives of such beautiful animals in the hopes of making money. There were also a lot of mounted piranhas. There was an artist selling beautiful paintings, and though I did not purchase any, I still admired all of them and really enjoyed talking to him about his passion for art. At another stand, I spoke to some young girls as their puppy yipped and attacked my feet. Other stands had gorgeous wooden bowls and sculptures, and still other places had many bracelets and earrings to sell. I bought my brother a wooden pen with a carving of an anaconda on the outside.

Pretty soon, it was time to leave. We boarded the bus and showed each other the treasures that we had haggled for. The bus bumped along the busy road, taking us to the airport. On the trip to the airport, the contrast between the peaceful, pure jungle and the bustling, polluted city became more and more apparent–returning to society was somewhat of a culture shock. Living in the rainforest is definitely a peaceful experience, and I felt like my head was so clear and my thought processes were so fluid in the absence of all societal distractions.

Final Reflections Though I’ve written for twenty pages, I feel I have left so many descriptions out. Mere words cannot do the Amazon Rainforest justice. Part of the reason it is so hard for me to convey exactly what the experience was like is because it played so deeply on my emotions, my passion for nature, and my sense of spirituality and connection with the environment. It is hard to describe such intense feelings in words, and I fear I have fallen short in conveying the true magnitude of the experience. It was wondrous, and the whole experience was enveloped in this certain dream-like quality, for it all seemed just too perfect and beautiful. Thus, it is important to rally for conservation. Hopefully those who read my journal will gain a better sense of the true importance and value of rainforest flora, fauna and cultures and will feel the same sense of urgency I do in spreading this crucial conservation message to others.

Essay On Rainforest

Rainforests are integral to the environment, providing numerous benefits. Deforestation, or the loss of rainforests, can have disastrous consequences for both the environment and people.

Rainforests play a vital role in the global environment. They help regulate the Earth’s climate and are home to an estimated 50% of all life on Earth. Rainforests also provide a number of resources that are essential to humans, including food, medicine, and timber.

Deforestation is a major problem in many parts of the world. It is estimated that approximately 1/3 of all rainforest has been lost due to deforestation. Deforestation can have devastating effects on the environment. It contributes to climate change, increases greenhouse gas emissions, and destroys vital habitats.

Deforestation also has serious consequences for people. It can lead to soil erosion, water shortages, and loss of biodiversity. Deforestation also increases the risk of wildfires and landslides.

It is essential that we take steps to protect our rainforests. We must work to prevent deforestation and promote sustainable practices that will preserve these vital ecosystems.

The rainforests play an essential role in the world for a variety of reasons, some of which are quite basic. One major benefit is that plants in the jungle convert CO2 into clean air, allowing us to combat pollution. In addition, because the rainforests absorb carbon dioxide, they assist to prevent global warming. The trees of the rainforest store carbon dioxide in their roots, stems, branches and leaves. Rainforest animals and plants contribute food, fuel wood, shelter and employment as well as medicines to mankind.

Rainforests are home to half the world’s species of plants, animals, and insects. The Rainforest is disappearing at an alarming rate. Every day, thousands of acres of rainforest are being destroyed by loggers, miners, and farmers. The loss of the rainforest will have a devastating effect on the environment and on the people who live there.

Deforestation is the conversion of a forested area to land that is not forested. Deforestation occurs for many reasons: trees are cut down to be used as fuel or lumber, to make room for pastures or crops, or to allow for urbanization. Deforestation has many negative consequences. It contributes to global warming, destroys animal habitat, and decreases biodiversity. Additionally, deforestation can lead to soil erosion, which can cause rivers and lakes to become polluted.

Deforestation also decreases the amount of carbon dioxide that is absorbed by trees. This can lead to an increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and contribute to global warming. Rainforests are a vital part of our planet’s ecosystem, and their destruction will have devastating consequences for the environment and for humanity. We must work together to stop deforestation and protect the rainforests.

“If you clear a forest, it provides greater economic wealth in every respect than if it were unharmed. Deforestation, on the other hand, continues at an alarming rate. ‘The National Forest Association of Forest Industries (1996) notes that there are approximately 4 billion hectares of forest on Earth, with about 25% located in tropical rainforest.’

The rainforest is home to a rich variety of plants and animals, many of which are unique to the region. Many of these species have incredible medicinal properties; however, there is only one known cure for some ailments, which come from species in the rainforest.

Rainforest also play a huge role in stabilizing the climate and preventing erosion. They are an important carbon sink, soaking up billions of metric tons of carbon dioxide every year. Rainforests also produce nearly 20% of the world’s oxygen supply. Despite all these benefits, rainforest are being destroyed at a rate of about 13 million hectares per year – that is, an area the size of Costa Rica or Panama is cleared every year (Tropical Rainforest Coalition, 1996).

The main causes for this destruction are conversion to agricultural land, logging, and development. The leading countries responsible for deforestation are Brazil, Indonesia, China, India and the United States. Agricultural expansion is the primary driver of deforestation in Latin America, where more than 70 percent of the original forest has already been cleared.

In Southeast Asia, industrial logging is the main cause of deforestation. In China and India, the primary drivers are infrastructure development and energy production, respectively. And in the United States, it’s mostly due to residential and commercial development ( Rainforest Relief, n.d.).

The rainforests diversity is demonstrated by the fact that in Kenya’s Kakamega Forest, a single hectare may contain between 100 and 150 distinct tree species, whereas a hectare of North American forest might only contain 10.

Rainforests play a significant role in stabilizing the Earth’s climate. “Tropical forests are responsible for approximately 28% of the world’s carbon uptake, making them one of the most important natural mechanisms for offsetting greenhouse gas emissions from human activity.

Despite their importance, rainforests around the world are under threat from deforestation. Deforestation is defined as “the conversion of a forested area to land that is not forested. ” (Deforestation, n. d. ) Rainforest deforestation can occur through natural causes such as wildfires, but more often it is the result of human activity, such as logging, agriculture, and mining. Deforestation not only destroys the rainforest, it also releases stored carbon into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change.

The world’s rainforests are disappearing at an alarming rate. “Every year, 13 million hectares of forest – an area the size of Greece – are lost. That is equivalent to 48 football fields every minute” (Rainforest Facts, n. d. ). The loss of rainforests contributes significantly to global warming and climate change. Rainforests are one of the Earth’s most important natural resources, and it is critical that we take steps to protect them.

The bulk of the nutrients in a rainforest, which is typically 80 percent, remain in the trees and plants. The water from the forest is recirculated by evaporation. Clouds over the canopy of the forest reflect sunlight back into space, keeping temperatures inside the jungle more constant. Rainforests take a long time to grow back, but younger forests are better at removing carbon from the air than older ones. Forests that are older absorb less carbon but have larger overall quantities of carbon stored within them.

Rainforests are vital to the environment because they help to regulate climate, provide oxygen, and house a high level of biodiversity. Deforestation is the clear-cutting of trees in an area where forest once thrived. Deforestation can refer to the natural loss of trees, as well as the potential destruction of forests due to the practices of people. Deforestation has many severe consequences for global climate, human health, and environmental conservation.

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The Amazon Rainforest: Essay Example

The amazon rainforest: essay introduction, the importance of the amazon rainforest: essay body paragraph, the facts about the amazon rainforest: essay body paragraph.

The Amazon rainforest, the largest rainforest on Earth, encompasses an area roughly the size of the United States (the 48 contiguous states), contains most of the plant and animal species found on the planet and contributes to weather patterns on a global scale.

This natural wonder is disappearing at an alarming rate due to deforestation and with it the animals, plants and eventually humans will disappear as well. This applies to all plants, animals and humans, not just those who inhabit this region of South America.

If the Amazon rainforest disappears, the entire human race will likely suffer the same fate resulting from the climatic changes that would result. This disturbing scenario has been well documented by environmental organizations, governmental studies, independent agency reviews and scientific journals spanning the past three decades from which this discussion will draw.

The Amazon rainforest represents close to half of the world’s rainforest regions. Estimates of its size vary but the general consensus is that the Amazon rainforest covers approximately seven million square kilometers. It represents 40 per cent of the South American continent encroaching on nine of its countries including Brazil, Suriname, Bolivia, Guyana, French Guyana, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela.

The greatest portion (62 per cent) lies within the boundaries of Brazil. This massive area, if a single country, would rank sixth largest in the world and is at least half the size of the entire European continent. (Amazon Life, 1998)

The seemingly boundless rainforest is shrinking at a rapid pace due to deforestation, however, which will soon result in grave consequences for both the region and the planet. “Land-use conversion is occurring at unprecedented scales and in a complex manner.

As in other humid tropical forest regions worldwide, negative consequences include losses of biological and cultural diversity, changes in the regional and potentially global climate, and an increase in social conflicts.” (Kommers, 2007)

Deforestation describes the removal of trees along with other types of vegetation. Since 1970, at least 20 per cent of Amazon rainforest has been lost from deforestation. This figure could be under-representative because it does not include trees that have been felled by selective logging techniques which are less noticeable than clear-cutting yet causes considerable harm.

Ecologists and scientists warn that another 20 per cent will be lost within the next 20 years. If this were to occur, the ecological system that sustains the forest and thus the planet’s weather patterns will start to disintegrate. At present, the Amazon rainforest generates half of the rainfall it consumes but the removal of an additional 20 per cent will impede this phenomenon to the point where much of the remaining forest will die from lack of moisture.

The rising temperature of the Earth, due to global warming, will exacerbate the situation and cause droughts which will lead to massive wildfires in the region. Instead of life-giving oxygen which is now furnished by the lush rainforests, the fires will expel great amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Given this very real and impending scenario, it is difficult to imagine how the human race along with all other life on earth could continue to live. Today, the greenhouse gases emitted from Brazil ranks near the world’s top polluter, the U.S., because of the slash-and-burn techniques used to clear the rainforest. “The danger signs are undeniable.” (Wallace, 2006)

Simply stated, if immediate action is not taken to reverse the present trend of deforestation, the immense Amazon rainforest will soon become a desert region not unlike the Sahara in Africa. Once this process is underway, the effects are irreversible. Some scientists believe the transformation from forest to desert could begin as early as this year.

Studies have determined that the Amazon rainforest, even in its current state, could not withstand three years of drought conditions without beginning the irrevocable path to becoming the Amazon desert.

This result, in and of itself, is tragic enough but the repercussions to the rest of the world would be as catastrophic. “Scientists say that this would spread drought into the northern hemisphere, including Britain, and could massively accelerate global warming with incalculable consequences, spinning out of control, a process that might end in the world becoming uninhabitable.” (Lean, Pearce, 2006)

The Amazon rainforest has been characterized as the ‘lungs of the world.’ It is astonishing that though people know that without trees, they are without oxygen, the trees keep falling at increasingly larger rates. Trees are a resource that can be replenished if cutting is managed properly yet this has been anything but the case in the Amazon.

The collective rainforests of the world act as a climatic sponge storing much of the world’s rainwater, of which the Amazon rainforest accounts for more than half. Trees in the rainforest recycle water drawn from the forest ground.

This, combined with the moisture that evaporates from the leaves is released into the atmosphere from whence it came. If not for this enormous amount of rainwater supplied by rainforests, rivers, lakes and land masses would essentially dry-up spawning droughts of epic proportions. Irrigation farming would be greatly curtailed. Disease, starvation and famine on a worldwide scale will be the direct result of deforestation.

Trees cleanse the atmosphere by absorbing carbon dioxide and providing oxygen. Burning trees in the rainforest increases the amount of carbon in the atmosphere and at the same time reduces the amount of trees needed to absorb it. This contributes to global warming, a phenomenon which is already threatening the survival of the planet. (“Why” 2007)

There are further, often less publicized, repercussions of the Amazon rainforest’s deforestation. As trees are removed from the rainforest, soil erosion becomes an increasing concern. The nutrients needed for the tree’s roots to thrive are contained in a rainforest soil that is surprisingly lacking in nutrients.

The bulk of the nutrients are stored within the massive number of trees whose collective canopies protect the rainforest soil from the torrential downpours that would otherwise wash the soil away eventually allowing the rivers to flood low lying areas. The mass clearing of trees is the obvious threat to soil erosion but selective cutting is too.

The soil does need some nutrients in order to hold the tree’s roots firmly which it gains when trees die and decay on the ground. Fewer numbers of trees to feed the soil will lead to lower quality soil thus fewer trees still, a process that is essentially irreversible. The rain forest is also home to indigenous tribes, many who have become extinct in the past three decades.

Some have estimated that more than 100 entire tribes have been lost in recent years. After living harmoniously with nature for untold thousands of years, deforestation has deprived these indigenous peoples of the land which provided them housing, food and medications. Many were killed by the diseases brought in by the loggers or outright while attempting to protect their homes.

Medicines that originate from rainforest plants are not only important to the indigenous tribes but to the rest of the world population as well. More than a quarter of contemporary medications were derived from rainforest plants but only one percent of these plants have been tapped for their medicinal value.

Therefore, the potential for life-saving medicines yet discovered is tremendous. “Rainforests and the native populations who discovered these medicines could hold the cure of many more diseases if we would only nurture the forests and allow their people to show us.” (“Why” 2007)

Loggers do not wish for the rainforests to vanish, if for no other reason, because their livelihoods depends on it. They claim the world would have to stop using wood for the demand to diminish. The demand, not the supply is destroying the rainforest. In addition, if this unlikely scenario were to happen, commercial ranchers, tribesmen and miners would continue to clear trees at an enormous rate.

The ever-expansive soybean farms and wealth of precious metals in the region assure the continued deforestation with or without the presence of loggers. The various South American governments’ position is similar to the loggers in that they do not wish the rainforest to be destroyed because of the financial hardship it would cause.

This stance is eerily similar to the U.S. position on global warming, that to tackle the problem would not be economically feasible. Both seem to be quite content to sacrifice the future of the planet’s inhabitants for short-term political or economic gains. Environmentalists cite previously mentioned catastrophic global concerns and the tribes’ people lament the destruction of their beautiful and exotic homeland. (Taylor, 2004)

The proliferation of soy bean farming has negatively impacted the Amazon rainforest. The soy farmers hold much influence in South American countries’ governments. Beyond the massive clearing of trees to provide more farmland, the soy farmers continually persuade government officials to expand roadways which allow more of those with both legitimate and illegal commercial concerns access to increasing larger amounts of rainforest areas.

As in logging, the blame can largely be pointed at the demand-side. For example, multinational food chains Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonalds have been criticized for “underwriting deforestation in the Amazon through its purchase of soy-based animal derived from soybeans grown in the Amazon Basin.” (Deforestation rate, 2006)

Environment Secretary David Miliband proposed offering sections of the Amazon rainforest to be sold to private individuals, associations and businesses for strictly preservation purposes. This would compensate the governments and stop the deforestation, at least in those regions. The Brazilian government quickly dismissed the proposal citing the possible undermining of its autonomy.

Brazil is implementing a monitoring scheme to track illegal logging which it contends will slow the destruction of forests. However, these 150 new government employees will be greatly susceptible to corruptive tactics used by logging companies. (Kage, 2007)

Though selective logging is damaging to the rainforest, this technique is less damaging than clear-cutting. “If the forest is not too heavily disturbed during the logging, rates of re-growth and carbon accumulation can be quite rapid following a clearing.” (Wolfe, 2003) However, this can only be a temporary solution because partially cleared forests are no substitute for untouched forests, ecologically speaking.

Local governments of the Amazon region have been less than helpful in curbing the destruction of the rainforests. In fact, not only has few, if any, resolutions to the problem emanated from local authorities, many have actively thwarted attempts to save it.

Local authorities often act in conjunction with drug cartels (gangs) and ranchers who profit from the clearing of rainforests. Because of the impoverished conditions which rampant throughout the region, corruption also runs rampant. The governments of the region cannot be counted on to improve conditions now or in the future. The only viable method of preserving the rainforests is to appeal to the economic realities of the region.

More prosperous countries should, one, stop buying from companies that exploit the rainforest’s resources and two, employ Miliband’s privatization plan. Saving the Amazon rainforest is a good idea whether or not its destruction would also likely kill most everything on earth.

Even if all the scientists, environmentalists, government and scholarly studies were proved 100 percent wrong and nothing outside a few desolate tribes, some frogs, snakes and birds would notice if the rainforest was transformed into desert, it would still be worth saving at any cost due to its beauty, uniqueness and numbers of species and medicinal potential. Much as the global warming issue, whose destiny is tied to deforestation, even if climate change due to carbon monoxide emissions were proved a myth, reducing air pollution still makes sense.

“Amazon deforestation rate plunges 41 percent.” (October 26, 2006). Mongabay.com.

Kage, Ben. (January 19, 2007). “Brazilian government authorizes controlled logging in Amazon rain forest.” News Target.com.

Kommers, Nate. (2007). “Maps Show Diverse, Widespread Human Pressures on Brazilian Amazon Forests.” Press Release. World Resources Institute .

Lean, Geoffrey & Pearce, Fred. (July 23, 2006). “Amazon rainforest could become a desert.” The Independent.

Taylor, Elizabeth. (June 10, 2004). “Why are the Rainforests being destroyed? Are loggers the real problem?”

ThinkQuest Team. (1998). Amazon Life.

Wallace, Scott. (December 15, 2006). “Brazil’s Dilemma: Allow widespread – and profitable – destruction of the rain forest to continue, or intensify conservation efforts.” National Geographic.

“Why are the Rainforests Important?” (2007). R ain Forest Concern .

Wolfe, Jason. (January 21, 2003). “ The Road to Recovery .” Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

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16 Reasons Why Exploring the Amazon Rainforest Is the Trip of a Lifetime

If you’ve never thought about going to the Amazon rainforest, you should. Be it the fact that, well, it’s the Amazon, the obscene amount of biodiversity, or maybe it’s because you love animals—whatever the reason, the Amazon jungle is the trip of a lifetime. Here are 16 reasons you need to stop what you’re doing, go buy some bug spray, and book your ticket to the Amazon rainforest right now.

The Amazon rainforest accounts for more than half of the world’s remaining forests and 20 percent of the world’s oxygen—which means it’s massive and there’s a lot to explore. The bright greens of the forests can only be described as “Amazon green,” meaning that you have to see it to truly understand the color. Take out a machete and explore the most massive stretch of forest in the world.

Life in the Amazon is different from anywhere else in the world. Life moves at a different pace and so too do the people. Don’t expect for things to happen on time, but don’t worry—go with the flow and enjoy the friendliness of the people from the Amazon.

Jaguars, boars, sloths, monkeys, frogs, pink dolphins—there are countless animals that call the Amazon jungle home. The deeper you go into the jungle on guided tours the better chance you get at catching rare glimpses of remote jungle animals.

Biodiversity

One in 10 known species in the world can be found in the Amazon rainforest. The region is home to about 2.5 million insect species, tens of thousands of plants, and thousands of birds and mammals. The stats are mind blowing and you can only really get an understanding of it when you take a walk through the jungle both during the day and especially at night.

Many areas in the jungle are difficult to get to and some are still unexplored. You can take boats to remote areas in the Amazon and stay in beautiful isolated resorts and eco-reserves in the jungle. The remoteness gives you more peace and quiet and a better chance to see wildlife.

There are approximately 3,000 types of fruit that grow in the rainforest that are edible, and most of them you’ve never seen before. The fruits are odd looking—some are spiky and look like dragon eggs and others are pods in a vine—but they all taste delicious and unique.

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The little villages that you find along the river or in the jungle are mostly untouched by more modern predilections and the people there keep to traditional ways of living and doing things, unlike in the larger cities in the Amazon. In these villages you’ll find medicine men, healers, shaman, and witch doctors.

Getting around through the Amazon means that you’ll be taking boats along the river. You’ll be traveling little motorized canoes, cargo ships, luxury ships, and little speed boats. No matter which option you take, it’ll for sure be an adventure.

Flowing at a length of about 6,400 kilometers (nearly 4,000 miles), it is the second longest river in the world and the world’s largest river by volume. With such a stretch of water to explore, you’ll find pink dolphins, flesh-eating piranhas, and crocodiles.

The traditions

Around 400–500 indigenous Amerindian tribes call the Amazon rainforest home, and it’s believed that about 50 of them have never had contact with the outside world. With such remoteness and isolation, the Amazon has areas and villages that keep true to generations of tradition. The way of life and customs the people of the Amazon practice are entirely unique and special.

The sunsets

There’s nothing more beautiful than catching a setting sun on the Amazon river—you get the reflection of the sun on the water and the greens of the Amazon are enhanced and change colors as the sun disappears.

You may use the “sounds of the Amazon” to fall asleep to at night, but there’s nothing like actually hearing it live. The howls of the monkeys, the chirps and buzzing of the insects, and the singing of the birds makes any time of day or night a musical one in the Amazon.

Natural remedies

Amazon natives use rainforest plants regularly, but 90 percent of the ones they use have not been studied by modern science. And with 40,000 plant species, there’s a reason why people who have given up on modern, Western medicine are flocking to the jungle for cures.

The vine used to make ayahuasca is only found in the Amazon jungle, meaning that the only place you’ll get fresh ayahuasca and the tradition that comes along with it is in the Amazon. The traditions of shamanism and ayahuasca go hand in and are native to the Amazon jungle, where you can now stay at ayahuasca retreats, drinking the brew with a shaman.

The Amazon rainforest is home to 205 of the world’s bird species, which includes colorful parrots and toucans. Take a bird watching tour through the jungle and catch glimpses of the most colorful birds you’ll ever see.

There are 2.5 million insect species native to the Amazon rainforest and a lot of them come out at night. You won’t be able to avoid them—no matter where you stay—so the best thing to do is embrace it. Turning on any lights at night is a nice way to do a meet and greet with your nearby bug neighbors. You’ll never experience bugs like this again.

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Tropical Rain Forest Argumentative Essay

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Introduction

The tropical rain forest, the endangered species, factors threatening the tropical ecosystem, their impacts and possible solutions, works cited.

Ecology is a branch of biology that deals with the study of living things and how they relate among themselves and to the environment. An ecosystem is a natural unit that consists of biotic and abiotic factors. Biotic factors refer to biological aspects of the environment while abiotic factors refer to the physical environmental factors. This paper seeks to discuss the tropical rain forest.

The content of the paper will include: biodiversity, food chain and endangered species in the tropical rain forest and the various levels of the food chain. The content will also include the threats facing the tropical rain forest, the impacts of the threats to the ecosystem and the possible solutions to the threats and the impacts of these solutions.

The tropical rain forest is among the types of ecosystems exhibited in ecology. Other types of ecosystems include: “aquatic, arid, deciduous forests, grasslands and tundra ecosystems” (COTF 1).

The tropical rain forest is a hot and moist ecosystem that is found along the equator. This ecosystem is found in parts of Africa, South America and parts of Asia. Rainfall in this ecosystem is continuous throughout the year and ranges from 60 to 160 inches of rain gauge measurements.

The environment which consists of hot and moist conditions is supportive to a large number of plants and animals. The conditions form an optimum environment for bacteria inhabitation. The soil of the ecosystem is however not very fertile because nutrients are drained away by the rain water (COTF 1).

According to Waring and Running, tropical rainforest is inhabited by a variety of plants and animals. It has been estimated that the ecosystem is inhabited by a record of more than four hundred and seventy species of plants per hectare around the equator. There is also a variety of invertebrate species as well as micro organisms.

Also present in the tropical rainforest are the herbivores which are mainly known to feed on plant leaves and grass (Waring and Running 184). The ecosystem is also inhabited by a number of insects and birds, some of which can fly while others just climb trees. Other birds like the parrots can climb as well as fly (Darwin 1).

Food chain is a map representation showing what given species of an ecosystem feed on. It is a representation of energy flow among the biotic factors in the system.

Every element in the ecosystem is therefore significant as the energy flow passes through it. This implies that given species of plants and animals derive food from other species. The energy flow could mean death of members of a given species or just a mere consumption of a part of a member of the given species. The energy flow however aids the survival of some species in the ecosystem.

At the top of the food chain are the primary producers. This level consists of green plants which utilizes sunlight to synthesize their food. Bellow the green plants are the class of primary consumers which consists of herbivores. The herbivores feed on the plants’ leaves. After the primary consumers there is the level known as secondary consumers. This level consists of carnivores which feed on the herbivores.

The secondary consumers are food providers to the tertiary consumers. The last level of the food chain is the class of decomposers which degenerate decaying matter to the form that can be absorbed by plants as nutrients. This completes the chain cycle which then begin again with the plants (Aloian and Kalman 8)

A species is said to be endangered if its existence is threatened by either human actions or by a natural cause. The study of food chain reveals that members of the ecosystem feed on one another in a given direction. This has the effect of relatively reducing the number of the species. Feldhamer claimed that almost 45 percent of the global tropical rain forest has been destroyed over time. This includes alarming destructions of up to 85% in Ivory Coast.

Forest destruction occurs due to a number of reasons. The major reason for the deforestation in tropical rainforests in Africa and parts of America is the expansion of agricultural land. The process often include clearing and burning of the vegetation which as a result kills the soil microorganisms whose role of decomposing matter provides nutrients for plants. There are however many other species which are endangered as their habitat is either destroyed or disturbed.

The extent to which the species are endangered will vary from one rainforest to another as well as from one point to another within a rainforest depending on the factors that affects the lives of the different species in the tropical ecosystems. The forest itself, being a sole primary producer for the ecosystem and its susceptibility to destruction by human, makes it a critically endangered.

Human activities together with the global climate change have resulted in drastic reduction of the forest cover and even extinction of some plants species (Feldhamer, 531; Endangered 1). It has been argued that only 14% out of the original tropical forest is currently in existence. It can therefore be concluded that the forest is in itself the most endangered as it is faced with both natural and adverse human destruction (Species 1).

Threats facing the tropical rain forests include the clearance of the forests by humans to create agricultural land and to use trees as industrial raw materials. Another threat is the change in climate. Deforestation has a great impact on the ecosystem as it destroys part of the organisms in the system thus causing chain gaps in the food webs (Marietta n.d.).

Lindsey explained that deforestation can be a source of conflict between the people living in or depending on the forest and the ones causing deforestation. In attempting to solve such conflicts government agencies have established policies to create a balance among all the dependants of the forests. Environmental impacts of deforestation are the effects on biodiversity and climate change.

Again policies are put in place to preserve the habitats and the environment in general. An example is reduced agricultural productivity due to low rainfall and degraded soil. A possible solution would be to restore the forests (Lindsey, 2007).

The tropical rainforest is the richest ecosystem in terms of number of species. There is interdependence among the species with some feeding on others. This together with human activities has endangered some species.

The greatest threat is seen to be on plants. Plants being the primary producers in the ecosystem are likely to bring down the whole ecosystem if they are tampered with. More action is still needed to preserve the tropical rainforest and other ecosystems.

Aloian, Molly and Kalman, Ben. Rainforest Food Chains . New York, NY: Crabtree Publishing Company, 2006. Print.

COTF . Tropical rainforest . 2004. Web.

Darwin. Tropical rain forest . Darwin Museum, 1999. Web.

Endangered Species . Forest,Tropical forests . Endaangered Species, n.d. Web.

Feldhamer, Armen. Mammalogy: adaptation, diversity, ecology. New York, NY: JHU Press, 2007. Print.

Lindsey, Ryan. Tropical deforestation. Earth Observatory, 2007. Web.

Marietta. The Tropical Rain Forest . n.d. Web.

Waring, Richard and Running, Sirm. Forest ecosystems: analysis at multiple scales. London, UK :Elsevier, 2007. Print.

• Ecosystem Services and Their Main Types
• Concept of the Terrestrial Ecology
• Destruction of the Brazilian Tropical Rain Forest
• Impacts of Human Activities on the Costa Rican Rainforest Ecosystem
• Amazonian Deforestation, Its Causes and Trends
• The Concept of Green Technology in Modern World
• Tropical Rain Forest: What Threats This Ecosystem?
• Deep Ecology as Discourse on Identity
• Can Pollution Rights Trading Effectively Control Environmental Problems?
• Management Recycling of the Waste
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• Chicago (N-B)

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Home — Essay Samples — Entertainment — Documentary — National Geographic Documentary: The Amazon Rainforest

National Geographic Documentary: The Amazon Rainforest

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The Amazon is itself a place of near-mythical status. What traveler drawn to the wild places of the planet hasn't imagined a trip to the Amazon, not only to admire the towering trees, secretive wildlife and awesome river, but to enter, in a real sense, the very life spring of the planet? Expecting a Discovery Channel–like experience (jaguars in every tree, anacondas on every shore) is a recipe for disappointment. In fact, the Amazon’s quintessential experiences are more sublime than superlative: canoeing through a flooded forest, dozing in a hammock on a boat chugging upriver, waking to the otherworldly cry of howler monkeys. On a river whose size is legendary, it’s actually the little things that make it special. Give it some time, and the Amazon is all this and more.

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Reserva Extrativista Baixo Rio Branco-Jauaperi

This newly minted extractive reserve is an outstanding place to immerse yourself in the best the Amazon has to offer, with excellent wildlife-watching –…

Floresta Nacional do Tapajós

If you came to the Amazon to see primary rainforest, look no further than the Floresta Nacional do Tapajós. Wildlife is a possibility – from birds to…

Jardim Botânico Adolpho Ducke

Spanning over 100 sq km, this 'garden' is actually the world’s largest urban forest. There's a network of five short trails (guides and closed shoes…

Serra do Aracá State Park

Although this state park was established in 1990 to preserve the unique canyons carved out by the Rio Aracá, it wasn't until recently that the massive…

The floodplains east and southeast of Santarém are among the Amazon's most rewarding excursions. Flooded for much of the year, the plains are home to…

Teatro Amazonas

This gorgeous theater was built at the height of the rubber boom, using European designers, decorators and even raw materials. The original driveway was…

Mercado Ver-o-Peso

The name of this waterfront market, with its iconic four-turreted structure at its southwestern end, comes from colonial times, when the Portuguese would…

Encontro das Águas

Just beyond Manaus, the warm dark Rio Negro pours into the cool creamy Rio Solimões, but because of differences in temperature, speed and density, their…

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The Amazon and beyond

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How large is the Amazon Rainforest?

How many species does the amazon rainforest contain, how quickly is the amazon rainforest in brazil being deforested.

• Where is the Amazon River located?
• How long is the Amazon River?

Amazon Rainforest

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• World Wide Fund for Nature - Amazon rainforest
• Pennsylvania State University - College of Earth and Mineral Sciences - The Amazon Rainforest
• Nature - Pronounced loss of Amazon rainforest resilience since the early 2000s
• Amazon Rainforest - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

The Amazon Rainforest stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the tree line of the Andes in the west. The forest widens from a 200-mile (320-km) front along the Atlantic to a belt 1,200 miles (1,900 km) wide at the Andean foothills. Brazil holds approximately 60 percent of the Amazon within its borders.

The Amazon Rainforest is the world’s richest and most-varied biological reservoir, containing several million species of insects , plants , birds , and other forms of life , many still unrecorded by science . The luxuriant vegetation encompasses a wide variety of trees. Major wildlife includes jaguars , manatees , tapirs , capybaras and other rodents , and several types of monkeys .

Brazilians have settled large portions of the Amazon, clearing the land for lumbering , grazing, and agriculture . Between 1970 and 2016, Brazilian Amazon forest cover declined from some 1,583,000 square miles to about 1,283,000 square miles. However, conservation slowed forest loss to roughly 0.1–0.2 percent per year between 2008 and 2016.

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Amazon Rainforest , large tropical rainforest occupying the drainage basin of the Amazon River and its tributaries in northern South America and covering an area of 2,300,000 square miles (6,000,000 square km). Comprising about 40 percent of Brazil ’s total area, it is bounded by the Guiana Highlands to the north, the Andes Mountains to the west, the Brazilian central plateau to the south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east.

A brief treatment of the Amazon Rainforest follows. For full treatment, see South America: Amazon River basin .

Amazonia is the largest river basin in the world, and its forest stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the tree line of the Andes in the west. The forest widens from a 200-mile (320-km) front along the Atlantic to a belt 1,200 miles (1,900 km) wide where the lowlands meet the Andean foothills. The immense extent and great continuity of this rainforest is a reflection of the high rainfall , high humidity , and monotonously high temperatures that prevail in the region.

The Amazon Rainforest is the world’s richest and most-varied biological reservoir, containing several million species of insects , plants , birds , and other forms of life , many still unrecorded by science . The luxuriant vegetation encompasses a wide variety of trees , including many species of myrtle , laurel , palm , and acacia , as well as rosewood , Brazil nut , and rubber tree. Excellent timber is furnished by the mahogany and the Amazonian cedar. Major wildlife includes jaguar , manatee , tapir , red deer , capybara and many other types of rodents , and several types of monkeys .

In the 20th century, Brazil’s rapidly growing population settled major areas of the Amazon Rainforest. The size of the Amazon forest shrank dramatically as a result of settlers’ clearance of the land to obtain lumber and to create grazing pastures and farmland. Brazil holds approximately 60 percent of the Amazon basin within its borders, and some 1,583,000 square miles (4,100,000 square km) of this was covered by forests in 1970. The amount of forest cover declined to some 1,283,000 square miles (3,323,000 square km) by 2016, about 81 percent of the area that had been covered by forests in 1970. In the 1990s the Brazilian government and various international bodies began efforts to protect parts of the forest from human encroachment, exploitation, deforestation , and other forms of destruction. Although Brazil’s Amazon continues to lose forest cover, the pace of this loss declined from roughly 0.4 percent per year during the 1980s and ’90s to roughly 0.1–0.2 percent per year between 2008 and 2016. However, some 75,000 fires occurred in the Brazilian Amazon during the first half of 2019 (an increase of 85 percent over 2018), largely due to encouragement from Brazilian Pres. Jair Bolsonaro , a strong proponent of tree clearing.

In 2007 Ecuador initiated a unique plan to preserve a portion of the forest within its borders, which lies in Yasuní National Park (established 1979), one of the world’s most biodiverse regions: the Ecuadoran government agreed to forgo development of heavy oil deposits (worth an estimated $7.2 billion) beneath the Yasuní rainforest if other countries and private donors contributed half of the deposits’ value to a UN-administered trust fund for Ecuador. In 2013, however, Ecuador abandoned the plan, after only $6.5 million had been raised by the end of 2012. By 2016 the state oil company Petroecuador had begun to drill and extract petroleum from the park.

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Amazon Conservation: How to Save the Amazon Rainforest

By rhett a. butler april 1, 2019.

If you're looking for advice about traveling to the Amazon rainforest, check out tips for your first visit to the rainforest .

Welcome to the Amazon, the world's largest rainforest. Before we begin our visit, there are a few things you should know about the Amazon, which is also known as Amazonia.

About the Amazon rainforest

The Amazon rainforest is broadly defined as the tropical forest in the Amazon river basin and adjacent lowlands in the northeastern part of South America. Combined, this area amounts to roughly 8 million square kilometers (3.1 million square miles) and covers some 40% of the South American continent, making it nearly the size of the United States. The Amazon Basin Taken by Rhett A. Butler

The Amazon rainforest includes parts of eight South American countries: Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, and Suriname, as well as French Guiana, a department of France. More than three-fifths of the Amazon rainforest lies in Brazil.

The Amazon is by far the world's biggest rainforest, covering more than twice the area of the Congo rainforest, which is the second biggest rainforest on the planet.

OK, now that you have a little background on the Amazon rainforest, it's time to begin our visit.

In the Amazon rainforest

When you first enter the rainforest, one of the first things you'll notice is the humidity: the air is usually warm and sticky. There are two reasons for this. First, the Amazon lies in the tropics, meaning there is plenty of year-around sunshine. Second, the humidity is partly the result of the abundance of trees, which release water through pores in their leaves as a byproduct of photosynthesis.

Another thing you'll quickly notice during your first visit to the rainforest is the smell, which is similar to what you'd experience in a well-planted greenhouse: the combined scent of vegetation, moisture, soil, and decaying plants and wood. It's not a bad smell -- it's the smell of life!

In terms of sounds, the Amazon is highly variable depending on the time of year and your location. Generally there will be a constant buzz from millions of insects and other creatures going about their daily lives. In the evening, the cicadas may start to call, filling the forest with a continuous drone. Periodically the background noise of the forest may be pierced by parrots or other bird calls.

As you walk through the rainforest, you may be surprised by how dark it is. Because of the dense canopy of leaves and tree branches above, only a tiny amount of light actually reaches the forest floor. As a consequence, plant growth on the forest floor in undisturbed rainforest is often limited. The landscape is instead dominated by large tree trunks.

Many of the trees have "buttress roots", which help give them stability and enable them to grow to great heights.

While it's hard to distinguish between most trees because their leaves, flowers, and fruit are perhaps 30 meters (100 feet) overhead, know that there is a huge variety of trees around you. The Amazon rainforest has an incredible diversity of tree species — scientists have documented more than 600 species in an area the size of a football field. By comparison, that more species of trees than the United States and Canada combined!

All together the Amazon rainforest is estimated to have 16,000 tree species. There are thought to be 390 billion individual trees across the entire forest.

Now while the Amazon rainforest is home to more species than any ecosystem on Earth, you probably won't see a lot of animals. In fact, much of the creatures in the rainforest hide or live high in the canopy. But if you are quiet and look carefully, you might start to see some animals.

You'll probably first see insects like leaf-cutter ants, which harvest leaves and take them back to their giant underground nests where they use the bits of plants to raise the fungus they eat. You may also catch glimpses of butterflies, like the spectacular blue morpho, which is very commonly seen flitting through the rainforest understory. You may also encounter one of the least popular rainforest inhabitants: mosquitos.

If are lucky, you may see some larger rainforest animals. For example, brightly colored poison dart frogs are found widely in the Amazon basin. These tiny amphibians are highly toxic from the insects they eat, so their colors serve as a warning to potential predators: "if you eat me, you'll get very sick". These frogs aren't dangerous to humans as long as you don't handle them.

Other frogs are also very common in the leaf litter, but these can be a lot harder to see due to their camouflage. The best way to spot them is to look for movement as you walk. Out of the corner of your eye you might notice something hop. Walk slowly toward it and look carefully. Is it a frog?

Another common animal on the forest floor is the agouti, a rodent the size of a small cat that feeds on fallen seeds. Agoutis play a critical role in maintaining the health of the forest by dispersing seeds.

You'll probably also see — or at least hear — birds. The Amazon rainforest is full of birds. The biggest and most famous ones — parrots and toucans — are usually high in the canopy, so you'll probably only hear them unless you have a guide or binoculars. But you may spot some smaller, less colorful understory birds. Many of these feed on small insects, lizards, and frogs.

To get the most out of your rainforest experience, you should try to do a night walk. This should only be done with a guide since it's hard to navigate the forest at night and you don't want to get lost. Plus in some forests there is a risk of stepping on a poisonous snake.

The reason for doing a night walk is many rainforest species are nocturnal. Therefore your best chance of seeing some animals — especially mammals — is to go out after the sun goes down.

Night time is also when tree frogs and many interesting insects are most active. Keep your eyes open and don't forget a flashlight!

As you wander the rainforest it is important to keep in mind that most animals live high in the trees. Therefore if you get an opportunity to go on a canopy walkway or tower, take advantage of it. That will be your best chance to really understand the rainforest ecosystem.

Also don't pass up opportunities to see the rainforest by boat. Due to its incredible amount of rainfall, the Amazon is full of rivers, creeks, and streams, which are a great way to look for wildlife, especially monkeys, sloths, and parrots. But don't forget a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen — that tropical sun is intense! And always be prepared for rain. Tropical rainstorms can sneak up on you in a hurry.

I hope you've enjoyed your virtual visit to the Amazon rainforest. Be sure to check out other parts of the site for more information about rainforests!

Amazon rainforest section contents:

A rainforest is an area of tall trees and a high amount of rainfall.

Biology, Ecology, Geography

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A rainforest is an area of tall, mostly evergreen trees and a high amount of rainfall .

Rainforests are Earth’s oldest living ecosystems , with some surviving in their present form for at least 70 million years. They are incredibly diverse and complex , home to more than half of the world’s plant and animal species—even though they cover just six percent of Earth’s surface. This makes rainforests astoundingly dense with flora and fauna ; a 10-square-kilometer (four-square-mile) patch can contain as many as 1,500 flowering plants, 750 species of trees, 400 species of birds and 150 species of butterflies.

Rainforests thrive on every continent except Antarctica. The largest rainforests on Earth surround the Amazon River in South America and the Congo River in Africa. The tropical islands of Southeast Asia and parts of Australia support dense rainforest habitats . Even the cool evergreen forests of North America’s Pacific Northwest and Northern Europe are a type of rainforest.

Rainforests’ rich biodiversity is incredibly important to our well-being and the well-being of our planet. Rainforests help regulate our climate and provide us with everyday products.

Unsustainable industrial and agricultural development , however, has severely degraded the health of the world’s rainforests. Citizens , governments , intergovernmental organizations, and conservation groups are working together to protect these invaluable but fragile ecosystems.

Rainforest Structure 

Most rainforests are structured in four layers: emergent, canopy , understory , and forest floor . Each layer has unique characteristics based on differing levels of water, sunlight, and air circulation . While each layer is distinct , they exist in an interdependent system: processes and species in one layer influence those in another.

Emergent Layer  

The top layer of the rainforest is the emergent layer. Here, trees as tall as 60 meters (200 feet) dominate the skyline. Foliage is often sparse on tree trunks, but spreads wide as the trees reach the sunny upper layer, where they photosynthesize the sun’s rays. Small, waxy leaves help trees in the emergent layer retain water during long droughts or dry seasons . Lightweight seeds are carried away from the parent plant by strong winds .

In the Amazon rainforest, the towering trees of the emergent layer include the Brazil nut tree ( Bertholletia excelsa ) and the kapok tree ( Ceiba pentandra ). The Brazil nut tree, a vulnerable species , can live up to 1,000 years in undisturbed rainforest habitats. Unlike many rainforest species, both the Brazil nut tree and the kapok tree are deciduous —they shed their leaves during the dry season.

Animals often maneuver through the emergent layer’s unstable topmost branches by flying or gliding. Animals that can’t fly or glide are usually quite small—they need to be light enough to be supported by a tree’s slender uppermost layers.

The animals living in the emergent layer of the Amazon rainforest include birds, bats, gliders, and butterflies. Large raptors , such as white-tailed hawks ( Geranoaetus albicaudatus ) and harpy eagles ( Harpia harpyja ), are its top predators .

In rainforests on the island of New Guinea, pygmy gliders populate the emergent layer. Pygmy gliders ( Acrobates pygmaeus ) are small rodents that get their name from the way flaps of skin between their legs allow them to glide from branch to branch.

Bats are the most diverse mammal species in most tropical rainforests, and they regularly fly throughout the emergent, canopy, and understory layers. For instance, one of the world’s largest species of bat, the Madagascan flying fox ( Pteropus rufus )—found on the African island of Madagascar—is an important pollinator that mainly feeds on juice from fruit, but will chew flowers for their nectar .

Canopy Layer 

Beneath the emergent layer is the canopy, a deep layer of vegetation roughly six meters (20 feet) thick. The canopy’s dense network of leaves and branches forms a roof over the two remaining layers.

The canopy blocks winds, rainfall, and sunlight, creating a humid , still, and dark environment below. Trees have adapted to this damp environment by producing glossy leaves with pointed tips that repel water.

While trees in the emergent layer rely on wind to scatter their seeds, many canopy plants, lacking wind, encase their seeds in fruit. Sweet fruit entices animals, which eat the fruit and deposit seeds on the forest floor as droppings . Fig trees, common throughout most of the world’s tropical rainforests, may be the most familiar fruit tree in the canopy.

With so much food available, more animals live in the canopy than any other layer in the rainforest. The dense vegetation dulls sound, so many—but not all—canopy dwellers are notable for their shrill or frequent vocalizing. In the Amazon rainforest, canopy fruit is snatched up in the large beaks of screeching scarlet macaws ( Ara macao ) and keel-billed toucans ( Ramphastos sulfuratus ), and picked by barking spider monkeys and howler monkeys. The silent two-toed sloth chews on the leaves, shoots, and fruit in the canopy.

Thousands and thousands of insect species can also be found in the canopy, from bees to beetles, borers to butterflies. Many of these insects are the principal diet of the canopy’s reptiles, including the "flying" draco lizards of Southeast Asia.

Understory Layer

Located several meters below the canopy, the understory is an even darker, stiller, and more humid environment. Plants here, such as palms and philodendrons , are much shorter and have larger leaves than plants that dominate the canopy. Understory plants’ large leaves catch the minimal sunlight reaching beyond the dense canopy.

Understory plants often produce flowers that are large and easy to see, such as Heliconia , native to the Americas and the South Pacific. Others have a strong smell, such as orchids. These features attract pollinators even in the understory’s low-light conditions.

The fruit and seeds of many understory shrubs in temperate rainforests are edible . The temperate rainforests of North America, for example, bloom with berries.

Animals call the understory home for a variety of reasons. Many take advantage of the dimly lit environment for camouflage . The spots on a jaguar ( Panthera onca ), which are found in the rainforests of Central and South America, may be mistaken for leaves or flecks of sunlight, for instance. The green mamba, one of the deadliest snakes in the world, blends in with foliage as it slithers up branches in the Congo rainforest. Many bats, birds, and insects prefer the open airspace the understory offers. Amphibians, such as dazzlingly colored tree frogs, thrive in the humidity because it keeps their skin moist.

Central Africa’s tropical rainforest canopies and understories are home to some of the most endangered and familiar rainforest animals—such as forest elephants, pythons, antelopes, and gorillas. Gorillas, a critically endangered genus of primate , are crucial for seed dispersal . Gorillas are herbivores that move throughout the dark, dense rainforest as well as more sun-dappled swamps and jungles . Their droppings disperse seeds in these sunny areas where new trees and shrubs can take root. In this way, gorillas are keystone species in many African rainforest ecosystems.

Forest Floor Layer 

The forest floor is the darkest of all rainforest layers, making it extremely difficult for plants to grow. Leaves that fall to the forest floor decay quickly.

Decomposers , such as termites, slugs, scorpions, worms, and fungi , thrive on the forest floor. Organic matter falls from trees and plants, and these organisms break down the decaying material into nutrients . The shallow roots of rainforest trees absorb these nutrients, and dozens of predators consume the decomposers!

Animals such as wild pigs ( Sus scrofa ), armadillos, and anteaters forage in the decomposing brush for these tasty insects, roots and tubers of the South American rainforest. Even larger predators, including leopards ( Panthera pardus ), skulk in the darkness to surprise their prey . Smaller rodents, such as rats and lowland pacas (a type of striped rodent indigenous to Central and South America), hide from predators beneath the shallow roots of trees that dominate the canopy and emergent layer.

Rivers that run through some tropical rainforests create unusual freshwater habitats on the forest floor. The Amazon River, for instance, is home to the boto ( Inia geoffrensis ), or pink river dolphin, one of the few freshwater dolphin species in the world. The Amazon is also home to black caimans ( Melanosuchus niger ), large reptiles related to alligators, while the Congo River is home to the caimans’ crocodilian cousin, the Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus).

Types of Rainforests  

Tropical Rainforests

Tropical rainforests are mainly located between the latitudes of 23.5°N (the Tropic of Cancer) and 23.5°S (the Tropic of Capricorn)—the tropics . Tropical rainforests are found in Central and South America, western and central Africa, western India, Southeast Asia, the island of New Guinea, and Australia.

Sunlight strikes the tropics almost straight on, producing intense solar energy that keeps temperatures high, between 21° and 30°C (70° and 85°F). High temperatures keep the air warm and wet, with an average humidity of between 77 percent and 88 percent. Such humid air produces extreme and frequent rainfall, ranging between 200-1000 centimeters (80-400 inches) per year. Tropical rainforests are so warm and moist that they produce as much as 75 percent of their own rain through evaporation and transpiration .

Such ample sunlight and moisture are the essential building blocks for tropical rainforests’ diverse flora and fauna. Roughly half of the world’s species can be found here, with an estimated 40 to 100 or more different species of trees present in each hectare.

Tropical rainforests are the most biologically diverse terrestrial ecosystems in the world. The Amazon rainforest is the world’s largest tropical rainforest. It is home to around 40,000 plant species, nearly 1,300 bird species, 3,000 types of fish, 427 species of mammals, and 2.5 million different insects. Red-bellied piranhas ( Pygocentrus nattereri ) and pink river dolphins swim its waters. Jewel-toned parrots squawk and fly through its trees. Poison dart frogs warn off predators with their bright colors. Capuchin and spider monkeys swing and scamper through the branches of the rainforest’s estimated 400 billion trees. Millions of mushrooms and other fungi decompose dead and dying plant material, recycling nutrients to the soil and organisms in the understory. The Amazon rainforest is truly an ecological kaleidoscope , full of colorful sights and sounds.

Temperate Rainforests 

Temperate rainforests are located in the mid-latitudes, where temperatures are much more mild than the tropics. Temperate rainforests are found mostly in coastal , mountainous areas. These geographic conditions help create areas of high rainfall. Temperate rainforests can be found on the coasts of the Pacific Northwest in North America, Chile, the United Kingdom, Norway, Japan, New Zealand, and southern Australia.

As their name implies, temperate rainforests are much cooler than their tropical cousins, averaging between 10° and 21°C (50° and 70°F). They are also much less sunny and rainy, receiving anywhere between 150-500 centimeters (60-200 inches) of rain per year. Rainfall in these forests is produced by warm, moist air coming in from the coast and being trapped by nearby mountains. 

Temperate rainforests are not as biologically diverse as tropical rainforests. They are, however, home to an incredible amount of biological productivity, storing up to 500-2000 metric tons of leaves, wood, and other organic matter per hectare (202-809 metric tons per acre). Cooler temperatures and a more stable climate slow down decomposition, allowing more material to accumulate . The old-growth forests of the Pacific Northwest, for example, produce three times the biomass (living or once-living material) of tropical rainforests.

This productivity allows many plant species to grow for incredibly long periods of time. Temperate rainforest trees such as the coast redwood in the U.S. state of California and the alerce in Chile are among the oldest and largest tree species in the world. 

The animals of the temperate rainforest are mostly made up of large mammals and small birds, insects, and reptiles. These species vary widely between rainforests in different world regions. Bobcats ( Lynx rufus ), mountain lions ( Puma concolor ), and black bears ( Ursus americanus ) are major predators in the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest. In Australia, ground dwellers such as wallabies, bandicoots, and potoroos (small marsupials that are among Australia’s most endangered animals) feast on the foods provided by the forest floor. Chile’s rainforests are home to a number of unique birds such as the Magellanic woodpecker and the Juan Fernández firecrown, a hummingbird species that has a crown of color-changing feathers.

People and the Rainforest

Rainforests have been home to thriving, complex communities for thousands of years. For instance, unique rainforest ecosystems have influenced the diet of cultures from Africa to the Pacific Northwest.

The Mbuti, a community indigenous to the Ituri rainforest in Central Africa, have traditionally been hunter-gatherers . Their diet consists of plants and animals from every layer of the rainforest.

From the forest floor, the Mbuti hunt fish and crabs from the Ituri River (a tributary of the Congo), as well as gather berries from low-lying shrubs. The giant forest hog, a species of wild boar, is also frequently targeted by Mbuti hunters, although this species is hunted for sale more often than food. From the understory, the Mbuti may gather honey from bee hives, or hunt monkeys. From the canopy and emergent layers, Mbuti hunters may set nets or traps for birds.

Although they are a historically nomadic society, agriculture has become a way of life for many Mbuti communities today as they trade and barter with neighboring agricultural groups such as the Bantu for crops such as manioc, nuts, rice, and plantains.

The Chimbu people live in the highland rainforest on the island of New Guinea. The Chimbu practice subsistence agriculture through shifting cultivation . This means they have gardens on arable land that has been cleared of vegetation. A portion of the plot may be left fallow for months or years. The plots are never abandoned and are passed on within the family.

Crops harvested in Chimbu garden plots include sweet potatoes, bananas, and beans. The Chimbu also maintain livestock , particularly pigs. In addition to their own diet, pigs are valuable economic commodities for trade and sale.

The temperate rainforest of the northwest coast of North America is the home of the Tlingit. The Tlingit enjoy a diverse diet, relying on both marine and freshwater species, as well as game from inland forests.

Due to bountiful Pacific inlets , rivers, and streams, the traditional Tlingit diet consists of a wide variety of aquatic life: crab, shrimp, clams, oysters, seals , and fish such as herring, halibut, and, crucially, salmon. Kelps and other seaweeds can be harvested and eaten in soups or dried. One familiar Tlingit saying is “When the tide is out, our table is set.”

In more inland areas, historic Tlingit hunters may have targeted deer, elk, rabbit, and mountain goats. Plants gathered or harvested include berries, nuts, and wild celery. 

The Yanomami are a people and culture native to the northern Amazon rainforest, spanning the border between Venezuela and Brazil. Like the Chimbu, the Yanomami practice both hunting and shifting-cultivation agriculture.

Game hunted by the Yanomami include deer, tapirs (an animal similar to a pig), monkeys, birds, and armadillos. The Yanomami have hunting dogs to help them search the understory and forest floor for game. 

The Yanomami practice slash-and-burn agriculture to clear the land of vegetation prior to farming. Crops grown include cassava, banana, and corn. In addition to food crops , the Yanomami also cultivate cotton, which is used for hammocks, nets, and clothing.

Benefits of Rainforests 

Ecological Well-Being

Rainforests are critically important to the well-being of our planet. Tropical rainforests encompass approximately 1.2 billion hectares (3 billion acres) of vegetation and are sometimes described as the Earth’s thermostat .

Rainforests produce about 20% of our oxygen and store a huge amount of carbon dioxide, drastically reducing the impact of greenhouse gas emissions. Massive amounts of solar radiation are absorbed, helping regulate temperatures around the globe. Taken together, these processes help to stabilize Earth’s climate.

Rainforests also help maintain the world’s water cycle . More than 50% of precipitation striking a rainforest is returned to the atmosphere by evapotranspiration , helping regulate healthy rainfall around the planet. Rainforests also store a considerable percentage of the world’s freshwater, with the Amazon Basin alone storing one-fifth.

Human Well-Being

Rainforests provide us with many products that we use every day. Tropical woods such as teak, balsa, rosewood, and mahogany are used in flooring, doors, windows, boatbuilding, and cabinetry. Fibers such as raffia, bamboo, kapok, and rattan are used to make furniture, baskets, insulation , and cord. Cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg, and ginger are just a few spices of the rainforest. The ecosystem supports fruits including bananas, papayas, mangos, cocoa and coffee beans.

Rainforests also provide us with many medicinal products. According to the U.S. National Cancer Institute, 70% of plants useful in the treatment of cancer are found only in rainforests. Rainforest plants are also used in the creation of muscle relaxants, steroids , and insecticides . They are used to treat asthma , arthritis , malaria , heart disease, and pneumonia . The importance of rainforest species in public health is even more incredible considering that less than one percent of rainforest species have been analyzed for their medicinal value.

Even rainforest fungi can contribute to humanity’s well-being. A mushroom discovered in the tropical rainforest of Ecuador, for example, is capable of consuming polyurethane —a hard, durable type of plastic used in everything from garden hoses to carpets to shoes. The fungi can even consume the plastic in an oxygen-free environment, leading many environmentalists and businesses to invest in research to investigate if the fungi can help reduce waste in urban landfills .

Threats to Rainforests

Rainforests are disappearing at an alarmingly fast pace, largely due to human development over the past few centuries. Once covering 14% of land on Earth, rainforests now make up only 6%. Since 1947, the total area of tropical rainforests has probably been reduced by more than half, to about 6.2 to 7.8 million square kilometers (3 million square miles).

Many biologists expect rainforests will lose 5-10% of their species each decade . Rampant deforestation could cause many important rainforest habitats to disappear completely within the next hundred years.

Such rapid habitat loss is due to the fact that 40 hectares (100 acres) of rainforest are cleared every minute for agricultural and industrial development. In the Pacific Northwest’s rainforests, logging companies cut down trees for timber while paper industries use the wood for pulp . In the Amazon rainforest, large-scale agricultural industries, such as cattle ranching , clear huge tracts of forests for arable land. In the Congo rainforest, roads and other infrastructure development have reduced habitat and cut off migration corridors for many rainforest species. Throughout both the Amazon and Congo, mining and logging operations clear-cut to build roads and dig mines. Some rainforests are threatened by massive hydroelectric power projects, where dams flood acres of land. Development is encroaching on rainforest habitats from all sides.

Economic inequalities fuel this rapid deforestation. Many rainforests are located in developing countries with economies based on natural resources . Wealthy nations drive demand for products, and economic development increases energy use. These demands encourage local governments to develop rainforest acreage at a fraction of its value. Impoverished people who live on or near these lands are also motivated to improve their lives by converting forests into subsistence farmland .

Rainforest Conservation

Many individuals, communities, governments, intergovernmental organizations, and conservation groups are taking innovative approaches to protect threatened rainforest habitats.

Many countries are supporting businesses and initiatives that promote the sustainable use of their rainforests. Costa Rica is a global pioneer in this field, investing in ecotourism projects that financially contribute to local economies and the forests they depend on. The country also signed an agreement with an American pharmaceutical company, Merck, which sets aside a portion of the proceeds from rainforest-derived pharmaceutical compounds to fund conservation projects.

Intergovernmental groups address rainforest conservation at a global scale. The United Nations’ REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) Program, for example, offers financial incentives for reducing carbon emissions created by deforestation to 58 member countries. The Democratic Republic of the Congo used REDD funds to create an online National Forest Monitoring System that tracks and maps data on logging concessions , deforestation in protected areas, and national forestry sector measures. REDD funds were also used to investigate best practices in solving land disputes in Cambodia, which lacks proper forest zoning and boundary enforcement .

Nonprofit organizations are tackling rainforest conservation through a variety of different approaches. The Rainforest Trust, for example, supports local conservation groups around the world in purchasing and managing critically important habitats. In Ecuador, the Rainforest Trust worked with the Fundación Jocotoco to acquire 495 more hectares (1,222 more acres) for the Río Canandé Reserve, considered to have one of the highest concentrations of endemic and threatened species in the world. Partnering with Burung Indonesia, the Trust created a 8,900-hectare (22,000-acre) reserve on Sangihe Island to protect the highest concentration of threatened bird species in Asia.

The Rainforest Alliance is a nonprofit organization that helps businesses and consumers know that their products conserve rather than degrade rainforests. Products that bear the Rainforest Alliance seal contain ingredients from farms or forests that follow strict guidelines designed to support the sustainable development of rainforests and local communities. The Alliance also allows tourism businesses use of their seal after they complete an education program on efficiency and sustainability. In turn, this seal allows tourists to make ecologically smart vacation plans.

Drip Tips Many plants in the humid rainforest canopy are pointed, so that rain can run off the tips of the leaves. These “drip tips” keep the leaves dry and free of mold.

Jungles and Rainforests Jungles and rainforests are very, very similar. The main difference is that rainforests have thick canopies and taller trees. Jungles have more light and denser vegetation in the understory.

Slow Rain Rainforests are so densely packed with vegetation that a drop of rain falling from the forest’s emergent layer can take 10 minutes to reach the forest floor.

Species-Rich, Soil-Poor The soil of most tropical rainforests contains few nutrients. The rich biodiversity in the canopy and quick decomposition from fungi and bacteria prevent the accumulation of nutrient-rich humus. Nutrients are confined to the rainforest’s thin layer of topsoil. For this reason, most of the towering trees in tropical rainforests have very shallow, widespread root systems called “buttress roots.”

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Paragraph or Speech on “A Visit to a Jungle” Complete Essay, Paragraph or Speech for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

A Visit to a Jungle

Essay No. 01

A tropical jungle is an awesome place. I had the opportunity of visiting one recently. My friend Rahim. Who works as a forest ranger, took me along on one of his trips into the jungle. I wanted to experience for myself first- hand what he had always spoken about.

The moment we entered the jungle, a sort of semi – darkness enveloped us. The sky was almost completely shut out by the  canopy of leaves high above us. At ground level, thick vegetation grew in every direction. The air was damp and had a peculiar smell to it. All around us were the sounds of insects, birds and animals. The sounds echoed all over, making the jungle feel eerie and strange.

I had no idea how Rahim could find a way through the bushes and trees. He said he was just following a path used by the aborigines. I could not see any path. I realized then how easily an inexperienced person would get lost and perish in the jungle. The most uncomfortable thing about being in the jungle was the leeches. Despite thick boots and clothes, they still managed to bite me.

For the first time in my life I saw strange birds, insects, huge spiders, snakes, trees, flowers, vines as thick as a man’s hand and various animals. The experience was unforgettable. I was awestruck by the might of nature.

When we emerged from the jungle I felt as though a great weight had been lifted from me. The clear blue sky was a welcome sight. Outside, the world was definitely easier to cope with. The jungle made me feel hemmed in and helpless. It was a good experience, but I would prefer to remains outside it.  

Essay No. 02

A Visit To A Jungle 

A tropical jungle is an awesome place. One day, my uncle Rahim, who works as a forest ranger, took me along on one of his trips into the jungle.

The moment we entered the jungle, a sort of semi-darkness enveloped us. The sky was almost completely shut out by the canopy of leaves high above us. At ground level, thick vegetation grew in every direction. The air was damp and had a peculiar smell to it.

All around us were the sounds of insects, birds and animals. I had no idea how my uncle could find a way through the bushes and trees. As far as I was concerned, I could not see any path.

Nevertheless, I followed my uncle as we trudged along slowly. The most uncomfortable thing about being in the jungle was the leeches. These little bloodsuckers never gave up. Despite thick boots and clothes, they still managed to bite me.

The experience was unforgettable. I was awestruck by the might of nature.

When we emerged from the jungle I felt as though a great weight had been lifted from me. The clear blue sky was a welcome sight. Outside, the world was definitely easier to cope with. The jungle made me feel hemmed in and helpless. It was a good experience but I would never prefer to have a visit to jungle again.

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Essay on Rainforest

Students are often asked to write an essay on Rainforest in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Rainforest

What is a rainforest.

A rainforest is a thick forest that gets a lot of rain throughout the year. It is usually found near the equator. The weather is warm and it rains almost every day. A rainforest is full of many types of plants and animals.

Layers of a Rainforest

There are four layers in a rainforest. These are the forest floor, the understory, the canopy, and the emergent layer. Each layer has unique plants and animals living there. For example, the canopy layer is home to monkeys and birds.

Animals in the Rainforest

Rainforests are home to many animals. Some of them are monkeys, jaguars, parrots, snakes, and insects. These animals have special ways to survive in the rainforest. For example, some animals are good at climbing trees.

Plants in the Rainforest

There are many types of plants in a rainforest. These include trees, vines, ferns, and flowers. Some trees can grow very tall, up to 200 feet. The plants in the rainforest provide food and shelter for the animals.

Importance of Rainforests

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250 Words Essay on Rainforest

A rainforest is a type of forest that gets a lot of rain. It is usually hot all year round. Rainforests are found in many parts of the world, like South America, Africa, and Asia. They are very important to the Earth.

Why are Rainforests Important?

Rainforests are like the lungs of our planet. They take in carbon dioxide, a gas that we breathe out, and give out oxygen, a gas that we breathe in. This helps to keep the air clean. Rainforests are also home to many plants and animals. Some of these are not found anywhere else in the world.

Plants and Animals in the Rainforest

Rainforests are full of life. They have tall trees, colorful flowers, and many different kinds of animals. Some of these animals are monkeys, birds, snakes, and insects. The plants and trees in the rainforest also provide food and shelter for these animals.

Threats to the Rainforest

Rainforests are in danger. People cut down trees for wood and to make space for farms. This is called deforestation. When trees are cut down, the animals lose their homes. This also means that the rainforest can’t clean the air as well.

How Can We Help?

500 words essay on rainforest.

A rainforest is a type of forest that gets a lot of rain. It is known for its rich diversity of plants and animals. They are found in warm places, and they are very important for the health of our planet.

The Layers of a Rainforest

A rainforest is divided into four main parts, or layers. These are the emergent layer, the canopy, the understory, and the forest floor. The emergent layer is the topmost layer where the tallest trees, some reaching up to 200 feet, are found. The canopy is the layer below the emergent layer, and it is home to many birds and insects. The understory is a dark, cool environment where many animals and insects live. The forest floor is the lowest layer, and it is covered by fallen leaves, fruits, and dead plants.

Life in the Rainforest

The importance of rainforests.

Rainforests play a vital role in keeping our planet healthy. They help control the world’s weather and climate by producing large amounts of oxygen and absorbing carbon dioxide. They also provide us with many things we need, like food, medicines, and wood.

Threats to Rainforests

Sadly, rainforests are in danger. Many are being cut down to make room for farms and cities. This is called deforestation. When a rainforest is cut down, many of the animals and plants that live there can disappear forever. This also affects the world’s climate, as less carbon dioxide is absorbed.

Protecting Rainforests

In conclusion, rainforests are a vital part of our planet. They are home to many unique plants and animals, and they help control our climate. But they are in danger, and we need to do our part to protect them.

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Rainforest Fund

How to Save the Rainforest, By Our Next Generation: Part 1

October 18, 2017 By Rainforest Fund Leave a Comment

This collection of rainforest essays were written by 7th Graders at Adobe Middle School in Elko, Nevada.  Elko is a desert climate in a rural gold mining community. Students studied rainforests as part of their geography curriculum. In this assignment, students had to convince others to save the rainforest by explaining all the valuable resources that come from the area. They were surprised to find out that, even living in Nevada, how much we rely on the rainforests. Students also had to come up with ways to save rainforests. I hope you enjoy their essays and after reading, you also want to save the rainforests.  Together we all can make a difference!

-Miss Sarah Aynsley Jolley, 7th Grade Teacher at Adobe Middle School

Five Letters by Our Next Generation

The rainforest is being destroyed because people need to mine. Also animals need plants to eat so us humans can eat. Some farmers need space to grow their crops and they also need fire to keep warm. Now in days people uses roads and highways to get to the place they wanna be, people need furniture for their homes. Face it this way native tribe are losing their homes, imagine that you live out where the tribe live and some mean person comes and destroys it, now you gotta walk to find a new house. That would be trying because you have to walk. Erosion is important because we don’t want our lands to be deserts and animals wouldn’t have a home to live and no water to drink. Destroying a circle of life is bad because animals clean out bad things for example bad leaves from tree plants, weed and other things they keep our place clean.

If we cut down the trees we loss the animals. The animals wouldn’t have a home to live. The animals are very important to us because half of our food is an animal. And if we don’t have animals we might be dead, and some animals like sloth, monkeys, snakes, and bees mostly collects stuff from the flowers. I would hate to live in a state without oxygen! And medicine is important because if we get sick that’s the only thing that could heal us. Chocolate is good. It comes from a tree. Erasers come from a rubber tree, gum comes from a tree too. Pineapples and mangos are fruit it’s tasty and healthy for you.

Here are some ways to save a rainforest, people could see and explore the rainforest, some people sleep there for camping. Some little kids are still learning about the rainforest, what do you want the teachers to say to the kids “Oh soon we are not going to have rainforests because people are cutting them down.” It’s going to make the guys look bad. Now people need plants mostly farmers, animals eat plants and if we don’t have trees then we wouldn’t have had food! When you buy stuff made out of wood then you’re mostly killing the tree because you’re owning trees in your house and your house is made out of wood too. If we didn’t have trees we wouldn’t have houses and we wouldn’t have shelter. Well it would be a bad thing because people will stink and they can’t shower because we wouldn’t have a house.

From: Liliana Martinez

                Rainforests are being destroyed all over the world. People are destroying rainforests for farming land and to plant crops. People also want to mine in the rainforests so they are destroying it to mine. Roads and highways are being made. Logging is a big reason why they want to destroy the rainforests.

                Destroying the rainforest can have catastrophic affects on the environment. Animals will start going extinct and plants will go extinct too. Many people might lose their homes like native americans. The soil will start to erode without trees. Global warming will get worse and worse.

                The destruction of just a few animals can cause a huge effect on the environment. If piranha die caman won’t be able to eat them and the piranha won’t be able to eat fish then the fish could overpopulate. If sloths, monkeys, and toucans die then they won’t be able to eat fruit and spread the seeds around. Then the trees will die and no fruit will grow and even more animals will die.

                A lot of lotions and shampoo brands will go out of business because a lot of their products come from the rainforest. We will also lose some spices and this will make people have to make different foods. Tons of fruits come from the rainforest so we will lose a lot of those fruits.a lot of chocolate comes from the amazon.

                We can start a group and protest against cutting down the rain forest. Our group could start fundraiser and collect donations. We can also spread the word about not using a lot of paper, wood, and oil. We could make websites that promote not destroying the rainforest. We could go out and find other protesters and join them.

Sincerely, Cai Alvarado

           The rainforest is being cut down and these are reasons why. People need wood to build homes and other wood products. People also need space for cattle raising. One thing people need is food, so we need more space for crops. People need minerals for daily things so they build mines. People need ways to easily travel that do not cost to much. So they need space for roads and highways.

              Tribes of native people are being displaced and are losing their homes. The rainforest is poor in nutrients so when you cut down trees then your crops only grow for a few years. Without trees to hold the soil in place it washes away. Many animals live there and without the shelter and food they die off.

               50% of animals live in the rainforest. Some of the endangered animals are the boa constrictor, monkeys, toucans, jaguars, and tree frogs. All of these animals need the rainforest for food. Some need it for shelter. Others need it for protection. Those are some reasons to keep the rainforests.

                I want to share some resources you can get from the rainforest. You get oxygen. You get medicine. You also get chocolate. You get soap and sugar. You can get rubber which makes gum and erasers. You get important ingredients like lemons and ginger. Everyone cannot live without coffee, which comes from rain forests.

                To conclude I want to tell you some ways you can save the rainforest. You can encourage for people to establish national parks. You can use it to educate people. You teach people to plant trees. You can promote eco-tourism. That is all you have to do.

Thank you for reading

      Ryan Nisbet

               The rainforest is being destroyed because, people are cutting down the trees so that they can make money for their logging business and making wood products.  Also mining is another reason for cutting down the trees. People also need space for their cattle. Ranching is another reason so they need room for crops even though the soil is only good for a few years if that. Lastly, roads there has been lots of trees cut down so people can drive through to places faster.

                Lastly roads. There has been lots of trees cut down so people can drive through to places faster.

                Next, we need to save the environment because, without it we would not be able to survive. Ruining the environment kills species, erodes things that don’t need eroded. Tribes are also losing their homes. The soil isn’t even that good it can only last about 3 years at most when you could live in Idaho and have fertile soil almost always. Erosion is tearing away at the soil making it not fertile.

                 Also, 50% of the plants and animals in the world come from the rainforest. Bees keep all of the plants in the world going which helps us a lot. Snakes and jaguar’s keep the ecosystem intact so that not just one species is dominant. Monkeys help scientists to figure many things out. Birds keep plants and trees growing by carrying their seeds.

                Therefore, we will lose probably the number one ingredient in the world and that is sugar. There’s sugar in gum, chocolate, coffee, etc. Also soap will be gone so we would all end up smelling. Lastly we would lose the one thing that keeps us alive, oxygen.

                Lastly, there are many ways to save the rainforest. Some are hard some are easy. Making National Parks is a good start. Also teaching people about the dangers of what destroying the rainforest does. Lastly, not promoting rainforest products. All of these things and many more are just a small step into fixing what we have ruined.

Dawson Dumas

                The Rainforest is being destroyed because they are making paper, furniture, etc. They use the wood from the trees to make stuff to sell.  They use parts of the rainforest to build highways and roads which is destroying the rainforest.

                They Rainforests being destroyed is a problem because many animals live in the rainforest. Also the trees in the rainforests provide oxygen for us to breath.   Erosion-Without trees will be hard to hold the soil in place when it washes away.

                Destroying the rainforest leads to extinction of certain species of plants and animals. Destroying one species of plant or animal disrupts the circle of life. The rainforest should be saved so that other animals can be saved from extinction.

                I would not be able to live without oxygen because oxygen helps me breath. I also can’t live without sugar because our bodies need sugar to help function correctly. Rubber is in many things that I can’t live without.

                In conclusion, there is many ways to save the rainforest such as not buying products that promote it’s destruction. It also helps to recycle. You can not buy meat products that are from animals raised in the rainforest. Donate money to people who are trying to help protect the rainforest.

                Sincerely, Elizabeth Olsen

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Essay earns Hill trip to study rainforest

Marieana Hill is going on the trip of a lifetime. Hill, a Bennett’s Mill Middle 8th grader, is one of just 10 students heading to study the rainforest in Colombia as winners of the Frank Ski 2022 Planet Green Science Trip Essay Contest.

Hill’s winning essay focused on deforestation in the Amazon, and, during the 8-day trip this June, students will conduct assessments and study effects of deforestation in the rainforest.

The trip is an initiative of the Frank Ski Kids Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to exposing kids to their future through science, technology, athletics, and the arts. The Foundation was started by Frank Ski, a longtime radio host, journalist, and philanthropist.

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Why are rainforests important?

The rainforest is not just a pretty face.

As well as the vivid beauty that comes with great diversity in plants and animals, rainforests also play a practical role in keeping our planet healthy. By absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing the oxygen that we depend on for our survival. The absorption of this CO2 also helps to stabilize the Earth's climate.

Rainforests also help to maintain the world's water cycle by adding water to the atmosphere through the process of transpiration which creates clouds. Water generated in rainforests travel around the world; scientists think that moisture generated in the forests of Africa ends up falling as rain in the Americas!

Planning and writing the introduction to an essay

I can write an introduction to an essay, including a range of linguistic features.

Lesson details

Key learning points.

• Our essay will give one side of an argument, using a logical order and supported by evidence.
• Evidence can take many forms, including explanations, facts and statistics.
• In the introduction, we will explain how deforestation relates to the Amazon rainforest.
• We will include subject-specific vocabulary and a range of linguistic features.

Common misconception

Pupils may believe that only statistics are forms of evidence.

Explanations and facts, as well as expert views and references to official reports, can be used as forms of evidence.

Subject-specific vocabulary - vocabulary that relates to a particular subject

Evidence - information or facts to show something is true

Linguistic features - the language structures that are used within a text

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