We so often hear about saving the South American rainforests, and the Amazon, don’t we? Yet, how much do we know or understand about why, and what it offers the world?
The realities of tropical rainforests are also difficult to visualise, and properly appreciate, from the geographical contradiction of the Sultanate of Oman, with its arid landscapes; to the harsh icebound perspectives of the Arctic and Antarctic regions; from the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro to the Great Barrier Reef, or from the noise, hustle, and bustle of the famed Camden Market in London to the incessant chatter of a Delhi call centre. Yet, we should know, and we should understand that continued deforestation, mining, and urbanisation, will have consequences for us all.
Rainforests are critical to the well-being of the earth’s freshwater retention, with the Amazon rainforest alone storing nearly a quarter of the planet’s total fresh water. Their greenery produces a fifth of our planet’s oxygen output, absorb significant amounts of solar radiation, and stores massive amounts of carbon dioxide, to stabilise our climate, global warming notwithstanding, and regulate global regional temperatures, acting as the planet’s thermostat.
Ironically perhaps, given the world’s deserts are also mainly within the same global zones, tropical rainforests are located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, their flora is mostly evergreen, and they have significant high rainfall and averages 83 per cent humidity. In another irony, science tells us that 50 million tonnes of nutrient rich sand are carried from the Middle East by prevailing winds and dumped on South America and the Amazon rainforest each year. Who knew huh?
The Amazon rainforest features four distinctly different, yet vastly interdependent layers, that each contribute remarkably to the others in a textbook symbiosis. The emergent layer features trees as tall as 80 metres, with bare trunks, broad, yet sparse foliage, mainly Brazil Nut and Kapok trees which are inhabited by a diversity of exotic creatures such as eagles, macaws, and parakeets; capuchin, and squirrel monkeys.
Beneath this is the canopy, a deeper layer of leaves and branches that forms a roof over the jungle below, blocking much of the wind, rain, and sunlight, creating a humid, darker, more still environment below. With glossy leaves that repel water, these trees are largely deciduous, which means they shed their leaves each autumn, their seeds, and fruits, in the spring, mulching the lush forest floor far below. Animals inhabiting this environment are active and noisy, with monkeys chattering, macaws and toucans howling and screeching amongst the darker vegetation, where small reptiles thrive, and beetles, butterflies, and insects abound. Below the canopy, the understory is a darker still, and very much more humid. Plants like palms, heliconia, philodendrons, and fragrant exotics such as orchids, catch minimal sunlight, but thrive in their ‘hothouse’ environment. The fruits, berries, and seeds of the understory plants feed small snakes, and small rodents and reptiles, who are preyed upon by much larger snakes. Here, the mamba, anaconda, python, and boa constrictor blend in with foliage as they slither along the low branches in search of their prey.
The Amazon is a biologically diverse terrestrial ecosystem, its unique environment home to an estimated 40,000 plant species, nearly 1,300 birds, 3,000 different fish, 400 mammals, and a ridiculous 2.5 million different insects. It is nature’s playground, and for humanity, a unique scientific laboratory. We need it more than it needs us, and we should be doing more to guard against our fickle complacency. Famed biologist and naturalist Edgar Owen Wilson, is renowned, among his many achievements, for writing, “To destroy a forest for economic gain, is like burning a renaissance painting to cook a meal.” How succinct!
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