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The Amazon rainforest, [a] also called Amazon jungle or Amazonia, is a moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin encompasses 7,000,000 km 2 (2,700,000 sq mi), [ 2 ] of which 6,000,000 km 2 (2,300,000 sq mi) are covered by the rainforest . [ 3 ]
Tropical rainforests have been called the "jewels of the Earth" and the "world's largest pharmacy", because over one quarter of natural medicines have been discovered there. [2] Rainforests as well as endemic rainforest species are rapidly disappearing due to deforestation, the resulting habitat loss and pollution of the atmosphere. [3]
A single hectare of rainforest may contain 42,000 different species of insect, up to 807 trees of 313 species and 1,500 species of higher plants. [5] Tropical rainforests have been called the "world's largest pharmacy", because over one quarter of natural medicines have been discovered within them.
The Amazon biome has an area of 6,700,000 square kilometres (2,600,000 sq mi). [2] [a] The biome roughly corresponds to the Amazon basin, but excludes areas of the Andes to the west and cerrado (savannah) to the south, and includes lands to the northeast extending to the Atlantic ocean with similar vegetation to the Amazon basin. [2]
The fifth and final layer is the herb layer which is the forest floor. The forest floor is mainly bare except for various plants, mosses, and ferns. The forest floor is much more dense than above because of little sunlight and air movement. [2] Plant species native to the tropics found in tropical ecosystems are known as
Many desert ecosystems are limited by available water levels, rather than rates of radiation or temperature. Water flow in these ecosystems can be thought of as similar to energy flow; in fact, it is often useful to look at water and energy flow together when studying desert ecosystems and ecology. [3]
Increasingly frequent and severe heat waves in the Southwest are damaging some desert plants known for thriving in harsh conditions. Saguaro cacti and agave have both suffered in sweltering ...
However, its plant and animal life is still more rich and varied than most other places on Earth. The Congolian Forests are a global 200 ecoregion . There are over 400 species of mammals in the rainforest, including African forest elephants , African bush elephants , leopards , bongos , red river hogs , chimpanzees , bonobos , mountain gorillas ...