Here are some facts (disturbing and informative) about the Amazon rainforest. Enjoy!
-Rainforests once covered 14% of the earth’s land surface; now they cover a mere 6% and experts estimate that the last remaining rainforests could be consumed in less than 40 years.
-One and one-half acres of rainforest are lost every second.
-Nearly half of the world’s species of plants, animals and microorganisms will be destroyed or severely threatened over the next quarter century due to rainforest deforestation.
-Experts estimates that we are losing 137 plant, animal and insect species every single day due to rainforest deforestation. That equates to 50,000 species a year. As the rainforest species disappear, so do many possible cures for life-threatening diseases.
-The Amazon Rainforest covers over a billion acres, encompassing areas in Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia and the Eastern Andean region of Ecuador and Peru. If Amazonia were a country, it would be the ninth largest in the world.
-The Amazon Rainforest has been described as the “Lungs of our Planet” because it provides the essential environmental world service of continuously recycling carbon dioxide into oxygen. More than 20 percent of the world oxygen is produced in the Amazon Rainforest.
-More than half of the world’s estimated 10 million species of plants, animals and insects live in the tropical rainforests. One-fifth of the world’s fresh water is in the Amazon Basin.
-The U.S. National Cancer Institute has identified 3000 plants that are active against cancer cells. 70% of these plants are found in the rainforest. Twenty-five percent of the active ingredients in today’s cancer-fighting drugs come from organisms found only in the rainforest.
-A single pond in Brazil can sustain a greater variety of fish than is found in all of Europe’s rivers.
-A 25-acre plot of rainforest in Borneo may contain more than 700 species of trees – a number equal to the total tree diversity of North America.
-A single rainforest reserve in Peru is home to more species of birds than are found in the entire United States.
-One single tree in Peru was found to harbor forty-three different species of ants – a total that approximates the entire number of ant species in the British Isles.
-The number of species of fish in the Amazon exceeds the number found in the entire Atlantic Ocean.
These are just some of the facts found on the following website http://deforestationintheamazon.wordpress.com/wp-admin/page-new.php?posted=20. As you can see from these facts, the Amazon is more than just a forest, it contributes 20% of the worlds oxygen. Some people even call it the “lungs of our world.” It houses more diversity of plants, animals, and insects than much of our world. It is slowly being destroyed and so are the things living within its walls. If these facts bother you, you can visit my page titled “get involved” to find ways to help out.
