The goal of this research paper is to describe rain forests, demonstrate some of the causes and effects of deforestation, and explain what is already being done to prevent it.

Leslie Taylor, the author of Herbal Secrets from the Rain Forest and the Raintree Nutrition Inc website, says that "rain forests are the world's greatest natural resources and the most powerful and bio-actively diverse natural phenomenon on the planet." In spite of this, they are being destroyed every day. The goal of this research paper is to describe rain forests, demonstrate some of the causes and effects of deforestation, and explain what is already being done to prevent it.

Rain forests are characterized by warm temperatures year-round, abundant rainfall, and tall trees. They are the world's most biologically diverse ecosystems (Peters, 126a). Although they account for less than seven percent of the land surface on Earth, they contain more than fifty percent of its plant and animal species. When first discovered, many creatures of rain forests were feared, and many myths emerged as a result, but now scientists know better than that.

English: View of the upland tropical rain forests ...

Rainforest Gully

Kodiak Rain Forest

The largest rain forests are located in the tropical regions of the Americas, Asia, and Africa, but there are also smaller ones in northeastern Australia and on Pacific islands.

Rain forests have a very diverse, but distinguishing, environment. They are typically hot and steamy. The average annual temperature is 25° C (77° F), varying little over the course of a year, and precipitation ranges between 1.8 and 9.0 meters annually, usually without predictable dry periods. In fact, over 200 days per year have thundershowers (Taylor). Because nutritious minerals have been washed out of the soils by heavy rainfall and high temperatures over thousands of years, the soil is poor in nutrients that can be absorbed by plant roots. Most tropical trees absorb the nutrients they can find and hold them in their living tissue.

The rain forest grows in four layers - the canopy, sub-canopy, under story, and...