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BushmenThe Bushmen are the indigenous people of southern Africa. They have experienced a genocide which has been almost completely ignored; having once occupied the whole of southern Africa, just 100,000 remain today. Most have lost their land to white or Bantu colonists. Dongria KondhVedanta, a British mining company, is intent on open-cast mining for aluminium ore on Niyamgiri mountain, which the Dongria Kondh worship as a living god. Mining the mountain will destroy the forests on which they depend. GuaraniFor the Guarani, land is the origin of all life. But violent invasions by ranchers have devastated their territory and nearly all of their land has been stolen. Guarani children starve and their leaders have been assassinated.

BushmenThe Bushmen are the indigenous people of southern Africa. They have experienced a genocide which has been almost completely ignored; having once occupied the whole of southern Africa, just 100,000 remain today. Most have lost their land to white or Bantu colonists. Dongria KondhVedanta, a British mining company, is intent on open-cast mining for aluminium ore on Niyamgiri mountain, which the Dongria Kondh worship as a living god. Mining the mountain will destroy the forests on which they depend. GuaraniFor the Guarani, land is the origin of all life. But violent invasions by ranchers have devastated their territory and nearly all of their land has been stolen. Guarani children starve and their leaders have been assassinated.

BushmenThe Bushmen are the indigenous people of southern Africa. They have experienced a genocide which has been almost completely ignored; having once occupied the whole of southern Africa, just 100,000 remain today. Most have lost their land to white or Bantu colonists. Dongria KondhVedanta, a British mining company, is intent on open-cast mining for aluminium ore on Niyamgiri mountain, which the Dongria Kondh worship as a living god. Mining the mountain will destroy the forests on which they depend. GuaraniFor the Guarani, land is the origin of all life. But violent invasions by ranchers have devastated their territory and nearly all of their land has been stolen. Guarani children starve and their leaders have been assassinated.   Explore the world's tribes The Americas Akuntsu BrazilArhuaco ColombiaAwá BrazilAyoreo ParaguayBrazilian Indians BrazilEnawene Nawe BrazilEnxet ParaguayGuarani BrazilIndians of Raposa–Serra do Sol BrazilInnu CanadaNukak ColombiaUncontacted Indians PeruWichí ArgentinaYanomami Brazil Africa Bushmen BotswanaMaasai KenyaMursi, Bodi & Konso EthiopiaNuba SudanOgiek KenyaPygmies Central Africa Asia & Australasia Aborigines AustraliaBatak PhilippinesDongria Kondh IndiaJarawa IndiaJummas BangladeshKhanty RussiaPalawan PhilippinesPapuan Tribes IndonesiaPenan MalaysiaSiberian Tribes RussiaWanniyala-Aetto Sri Lanka  

Many animals wake up to full activity in the night and can be seen and heard throughout the rainforests if you are walking through at night. Bats generally fly far around the rainforests at night searching for food.

Monkeys and Apes can be found on various continents. Monkeys live in Asia, Africa and South America. Gorillas and chimps live in Africa, and orangutans and gibbons live in Southeast Asia.

Many animals wake up to full activity in the night and can be seen and heard throughout the rainforests if you are walking through at night. Bats generally fly far around the rainforests at night searching for food.

tropical rainforests are considered a type of tropical wet forest (or tropical moist broadleaf forest) and may also be referred to as lowland equatorial evergreen rainforest

and may also be referred to as lowland equatorial evergreen rainforest

Rainforests are home to half of all the living animal and plant species on the planet.[2] Tropical rain forests are called the "world's largest pharmacy" because over one-quarter of modern medicines originate from its plants.

SavannaSavanna is grassland with scattered individual trees. Savannas of one sort or another cover almost half the surface of Africa (about five million square miles, generally central Africa) and large areas of Australia, South America, and India. Climate is the most important factor in creating a savanna. Savannas are always found in warm or hot climates where the annual rainfall is from about 50.8 to 127 cm (20-50 inches) per year. It is crucial that the rainfall is concentrated in six or eight months of the year, followed by a long period of drought when fires can occur. If the rain were well distributed throughout the year, many such areas would become tropical forest. Savannas which result from climatic conditions are called climatic savannas. Savannas that are caused by soil conditions and that are not entirely maintained by fire are called edaphic savannas. These can occur on hills or ridges where the soil is shallow, or in valleys where clay soils become waterlogged in wet weather. A third type of savanna, known as derived savanna, is the result of people clearing forest land for cultivation. Farmers fell a tract of forest, burn the dead trees, and plant crops in the ashes for as long as the soil remains fertile. Then, the field is abandoned and, although forest trees may recolonize, grass takes over on the bare ground (succession), becoming luxuriant enough to burn within a year or so. In Africa, a heavy concentration of elephants in protected parkland have created a savanna by eating leaves and twigs and breaking off the branches, smashing the trunks and stripping the bark of trees. Elephants can convert a dense woodland into an open grassland in a short period of time. Annual fires then maintain the area as a savanna.

Elephants are the largest land animals. They can weigh over 6,000 kg, or more than the weight of four cars! The one feature that makes an elephant unmistakable is its long trunk. A trunk is an elephant's best tool for sucking up water, digging, grabbing, lifting, sniffing, and breathing. The trunk even has a fingerlike tip that can flick dirt from an elephant’s eye or pick up a single blade of grass. There are three species of elephants. Two species live in Africa and one lives in Asia. All three species are endangered.

Asian elephants have an arched body shape. They have triangular ears that do not reach their shoulders and two bumps on their foreheads. Their trunks have a single lip on the upper tip of the trunk. Male Asian elephants are 2-3.5 m tall. Their average weight is about 5,400 kg. Females average about 2.35 m tall and weigh about 2,700 kg. Often, only males have tusk

Elephants live in social groups called herds. Herds usually have about 10 to 20 members. Sometimes many herds will meet and form “super herds” of 100 or more elephants. Herds consist mainly of females that are related to each other. A typical herd might include mothers, daughters, aunts, and grandmothers, and a few young males. The oldest female is the herd’s matriarch. She leads the herd to water and finds food and a place to rest. There are also smaller bachelor herds that are made up of adult males.

They wear little clothing because it is always warm in the rainforest. They make their clothing from leaves and things they find in the rainforest, too. Their way of life is in danger because of the destruction of the rainforest that they live in. The government has tried to teach them how to farm, but the Mbuti don't want to change the way they live.

Microfinance is the provision of financial services to low-income clients, including consumers and the self-employed, who traditionally lack access to banking and related services. More broadly, it is a movement whose object is "a world in which as many poor and near-poor households as possible have permanent access to an appropriate range of high quality financial services, including not just credit but also savings, insurance, and fund transfers."[1] Those who promote microfinance generally believe that such access will help poor people out of poverty

Traditionally, banks have not provided financial services, such as loans, to clients with little or no cash income. Banks incur substantial costs to manage a client account, regardless of how small the sums of money involved. For example, the total profit for a bank from delivering 100 loans worth $1,000 each will not differ greatly from the revenue that results from delivering one loan of $100,000. But the fixed cost of processing loans of any size is considerable as assessment of potential borrowers, their repayment prospects and security; administration of outstanding loans, collecting from delinquent borrowers, etc., has to be done in all cases. There is a break-even point in providing loans or deposits below which banks lose money on each transaction they make. Poor people usually fall below that breakeven point. In addition, most poor people have few assets that can be secured by a bank as collateral. As documented extensively by Hernando de Soto and others, even if they happen to own land in the developing world, they may not have effective title to it.[2] This means that the bank will have little recourse against defaulting borrowers. Seen from a broader perspective, the development of a healthy national financial system has long been viewed as a catalyst for the broader goal of national economic development (see for example Alexander Gerschenkron, Paul Rosenstein-Rodan, Joseph Schumpeter, Anne Krueger ). However, the efforts of national planners and experts to develop financial services for most people have often failed in developing countries, for reasons summarized well by Adams, Graham & Von Pischke in their classic analysis 'Undermining Rural Development with Cheap Credit'.[3] Because of these difficulties, when poor people borrow they often rely on relatives or a local moneylender, whose interest rates can be very high. An analysis of 28 studies of informal moneylending rates in 14 countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa concluded that 76% of moneylender rates exceed 10% per month, including 22% that exceeded 100% per month. Moneylenders usually charge higher rates to poorer borrowers than to less poor ones.[4] While moneylenders are often demonized and accused of usury, their services are convenient and fast, and they can be very flexible when borrowers run into problems. Hopes of quickly putting them out of business have proven unrealistic, even in places where microfinance institutions are active.[citation needed] Over the past centuries practical visionaries, from the Franciscan monks who founded the community-oriented pawnshops of the 15th century, to the founders of the European credit union movement in the 19th century (such as Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen) and the founders of the microcredit movement in the 1970s (such as Muhammad Yunus) have tested practices and built institutions designed to bring the kinds of opportunities and risk-management tools that financial services can provide to the doorsteps of poor people.[5] While the success of the Grameen Bank (which now serves over 7 million poor Bangladeshi women) has inspired the world, it has proved difficult to replicate this success. In nations with lower population densities, meeting the operating costs of a retail branch by serving nearby customers has proven considerably more challenging. Hans Dieter Seibel, board member of the European Microfinance Platform, is in favour of the group model. This particular model (used by many Microfinance institutions) makes financial sense, he says, because it reduces transaction costs. Microfinance programmes also need to be based on local funds. Local Roots Although much progress has been made, the problem has not been solved yet, and the overwhelming majority of people who earn less than $1 a day, especially in the rural areas, continue to have no practical access to formal sector finance. Microfinance has been growing rapidly with $25 billion currently at work in microfinance loans.[6] It is estimated that the industry needs $250 billion to get capital to all the poor people who need it.[6] The industry has been growing rapidly, and concerns have arisen that the rate of capital flowing into microfinance is a potential risk unless managed well.[7]

Deserts take up about one third (33 percent) of the Earth's land surface.

Deserts are often composed of sand and rocky surfaces.

In hot deserts the temperature in the daytime can reach 45 °C/113 °F or higher in the summer, and dip to 0 °C/32°F or lower in the winter.

Desert biomes can be classified according to several characteristics. There are four major types of deserts: Hot and dry Semiarid Coastal Cold

Deserts cover about one fifth of the Earth's surface and occur where rainfall is less than 50 cm/year.

The animals include small nocturnal (active at night) carnivores. The dominant animals are burrowers and kangaroo rats. There are also insects, arachnids, reptiles and birds. The animals stay inactive in protected hideaways during the hot day and come out to forage at dusk, dawn or at night, when the desert is cooler.

Biomes are the major regional groupings of plants and animals discernible at a global scale. Their distribution patterns are strongly correlated with regional climate patterns and identified according to the climax vegetation type. However, a biome is composed not only of the climax vegetation, but also of associated successional communities, persistent subclimax communities, fauna, and soils.

The global distribution pattern: Where each biome is found and how each varies geographically. A given biome may be composed of different taxa on different continents. Continent-specific associations of species within a given biome are known as formations and often are known by different local names. For example,the temperate grassland biome is variously called prairie, steppe, pampa, or veld, depending on where it occurs (North America, Eurasia, South America, and southern Africa, respectively). The general characteristics of the regional climate and the limitations or requirements imposed upon life by specific temperature and/or precipitation patterns. Aspects of the physical environment that may exert a stronger influence than climate in determining common plant growthforms and/or subclimax vegetation. Usually these factors are conditions of the substrate (e.g., waterlogged; excessively droughty, nutrient-poor) or of disturbance (e.g., periodic flooding or burning). The soil order(s) that characterize the biome and those processes involved in soil development. The dominant, characteristic, and unique growthforms; vertical stratification; leaf shape, size, and habit; and special adaptations of the vegetation. Examples of the last are peculiar life histories or reproductive strategies, dispersal mechanisms, root structure, and so forth. The types of animals (especially vertebrates) characteristic of the biome and their typical morphological, physiological, and/or behavioral adaptations to the environment.

The global distribution pattern: Where each biome is found and how each varies geographically. A given biome may be composed of different taxa on different continents. Continent-specific associations of species within a given biome are known as formations and often are known by different local names. For example,the temperate grassland biome is variously called prairie, steppe, pampa, or veld, depending on where it occurs (North America, Eurasia, South America, and southern Africa, respectively). The general characteristics of the regional climate and the limitations or requirements imposed upon life by specific temperature and/or precipitation patterns. Aspects of the physical environment that may exert a stronger influence than climate in determining common plant growthforms and/or subclimax vegetation. Usually these factors are conditions of the substrate (e.g., waterlogged; excessively droughty, nutrient-poor) or of disturbance (e.g., periodic flooding or burning). The soil order(s) that characterize the biome and those processes involved in soil development. The dominant, characteristic, and unique growthforms; vertical stratification; leaf shape, size, and habit; and special adaptations of the vegetation. Examples of the last are peculiar life histories or reproductive strategies, dispersal mechanisms, root structure, and so forth. The types of animals (especially vertebrates) characteristic of the biome and their typical morphological, physiological, and/or behavioral adaptations to the environment.

The men decorate their bodies with colored clay and wear elaborate headdresses for ceremonies. 

Mbuti and Baka Pygmies live in the rainforests of Central Africa. 

Many species of animal life can be found in the rain forest. Common characteristics found among mammals and birds (and reptiles and amphibians, too) include adaptations to a life in the trees, such as the prehensile tails of New World monkeys. Other characteristics are bright colors and sharp patterns, loud vocalizations, and diets heavy on fruits. Insects make up the largest single group of animals that live in tropical forests. They include brightly colored butterflies, mosquitoes, camouflaged stick insects, and huge colonies of ants. The Amazon river basin rainforest contains a wider variety of plant and animal life than any other biome in the world. The second largest population of plant and animal life can be found in scattered locations and islands of Southeast Asia. The lowest variety can be found in Africa. There may be 40 to 100 different species in 2.5 acres ( 1 hectare) of a tropical rain forest.   When early explorers first discovered the rainforests of Africa, Southeast Asia and South America, they They were amazed by the dense growth, trees with giant buttresses, vines and epiphytes . The tropical vegetation grew so dense that it was difficult to cut one's way through it. It was thought at the time that the soil of a rainforest must be very fertile, filled with nutrients, enabling it to support the immense trees and other vegetation they found. Today we know that the soil of the tropical rainforests is shallow, very poor in nutrients and almost without soluble minerals. Thousands of years of heavy rains have washed away the nutrients in the soil obtained from weathered rocks. The rainforest has a very short nutrient cycle. Nutrients generally stay in an ecosystem by being recycled and in a rainforest are mainly found in the living plants and the layers of decomposing leaf litter. Various species of decomposers like insects, bacteria, and fungi make quick work of turning dead plant and animal matter into nutrients. Plants take up these nutrients the moment they are released. A study in the Amazon rainforest found that 99% of nutrients are held in root mats. When a rainforest is burned or cut down the nutrients are removed from the ecosystem. The soil can only be used for a very short time before it becomes completely depleted of all nutrients.

Besides these four layers, a shrub/sapling layer receives about 3 % of the light that filters in through the canopies. These stunted trees are capable of a sudden growth surge when a gap in the canopy opens above them. The air beneath the lower canopy is almost always humid. The trees themselves give off water through the pores (stomata) of their leaves. This process, called transpiration, can account for as much as half of the precipitation in the rain forest. Rainforest plants have made many adaptations to their environment. With over 80 inches of rain per year, plants have made adaptations that helps them shed water off their leaves quickly so the branches don't get weighed down and break. Many plants have drip tips and grooved leaves, and some leaves have oily coatings to shed water. To absorb as much sunlight as possible on the dark understory, leaves are very large. Some trees have leaf stalks that turn with the movement of the sun so they always absorb the maximum amount of light. Leaves in the upper canopy are dark green, small and leathery to reduce water loss in the strong sunlight. Some trees will grow large leaves at the lower canopy level and small leaves in the upper canopy. Other plants grow in the upper canopy on larger trees to get sunlight. These are the epiphytes such as orchids and bromeliads. Many trees have buttress and stilt roots for extra support in the shallow, wet soil of the rainforests. Over 2,500 species of vines grow in the rainforest. Lianas start off as small shrubs that grow on the forest floor. To reach the sunlight in the upper canopy it sends out tendrils to grab sapling trees. The liana and the tree grow towards the canopy together. The vines grow from one tree to another and make up 40% of the canopy leaves. The rattan vine has spikes on the underside of its leaves that point backwards to grab onto sapling trees. Other "strangler" vines will use trees as support and grow thicker and thicker as they reach the canopy, strangling its host tree. They look like trees whose centers have been hollowed out. Dominant species do not exist in tropical rainforests. Lowland dipterocarp forest can consist of many different species of Dipterocarpaceae, but not all of the same species. Trees of the same species are very seldom found growing close together. This bio diversity and separation of the species prevents mass contamination and die-off from disease or insect infestation. Bio diversity also insures that there will be enough pollinators to take care of each species' needs. Animals depend on the staggered blooming and fruiting of rainforest plants to supply them with a year-round source of food.

There are four very distinct layers of trees in a tropical rain forest. These layers have been identified as the emergent, upper canopy, understory, and forest floor. Emergent trees are spaced wide apart, and are 100 to 240 feet tall with umbrella-shaped canopies that grow above the forest. Because emergent trees are exposed to drying winds, they tend to have small, pointed leaves. Some species lose their leaves during the brief dry season in monsoon rainforests. These giant trees have straight, smooth trunks with few branches. Their root system is very shallow, and to support their size they grow buttresses that can spread out to a distance of 30 feet. The upper canopy of 60 to 130 foot trees allows light to be easily available at the top of this layer, but greatly reduced any light below it. Most of the rainforest's animals live in the upper canopy. There is so much food available at this level that some animals never go down to the forest floor. The leaves have "drip spouts" that allows rain to run off. This keeps them dry and prevents mold and mildew from forming in the humid environment. The understory, or lower canopy, consists of 60 foot trees. This layer is made up of the trunks of canopy trees, shrubs, plants and small trees. There is little air movement. As a result the humidity is constantly high. This level is in constant shade. The forest floor is usually completely shaded, except where a canopy tree has fallen and created an opening. Most areas of the forest floor receive so little light that few bushes or herbs can grow there. As a result, a person can easily walk through most parts of a tropical rain forest. Less than 1 % of the light that strikes the top of the forest penetrates to the forest floor. The top soil is very thin and of poor quality. A lot of litter falls to the ground where it is quickly broken down by decomposers like termites, earthworms and fungi. The heat and humidity further help to break down the litter. This organic matter is then just as quickly absorbed by the trees' shallow roots

These ecosystems are either barren or with scanty vegetation consisting of mainly thorny bushes. Deserts are classified as warm (hot) and cold (temperate) deserts. The hot deserts are the Sahara in Northern Africa, Kalahari in Southern Africa, Thar in India, Atacama in South America, deserts of Mexico and Australia.The deserts of Iran and Turkey, Gobi desert of Mongolia, some deserts of Argentina are recognised as temperate or cold deserts. Characteristics of Desertsi) Most deserts receive some rain every year but not uniform. ii) Light green covering of annuals is seen just after rains.iii) Have scanty vegetation, clear skies, hot days and extremely cold nights. iv) Soil is rocky and encrusted with sand or salt.v) Long periods without precipitation and extreme temperature (50 - 60oC) conditions (arid lands) impose considerable restraints on the flora and fauna which inhabit there. vi) Sandy storms are very frequent.vii) Occur generally in rain shadow areas. Flora1) Includes succulents such as Cacti and Euphorbias, which can store water in their tissues. 2) Trees with long spreading roots such as Acacia, Prosopis, Phoenix (dates) are found.3) Ephemerals (short lived) such as Boerhaavia repens are seen only during rainy season. FaunaMost desert animals are nocturnal and avoid the heat of the day by burrowing into the cooler soil. Animals include ants, locusts, lizards, Gila monster, coral snake, rattle snake, burrowing owls, Gambel's quail, kangaroo rats, rabbits, camel, skunk, badger foxes, jackals and desert cats. In general, the organisms having specialised structural and physiological and behavioural adaptations to withstand the extreme temperatures only can survive in a desert.

What is Deforestation Deforestation is defined as the destruction of forested land. It has proved to be a major problem all over world. However, the rates of destruction of forests are particularly high in the tropics. Causes of Deforestation The causes of deforestation vary form place to place. The most common causes, however, are logging, agricultural expansion, wars, and mining, Effects of Deforestation Deforestation has been the cause of many problems facing the world today such as erosions, loss of biodiversity through extinction of plant and animal species, and increased atmospheric carbon dioxide. Importnace of Vegetation Deforestation consequently decrease the supply of oxygen found on earth. Oxygen is essential to the existence of all living things and without it every living creature (including humans) will not be able to sustain life. In addition, forests provide homes for many important species such as the Northern Spotted Owl which can only survive in the northwestern United States . Furthermore, forests prevent desertification by replenishing nutrients in the land. These are just a few reasons why forests are soon important.  

What is Deforestation Deforestation is defined as the destruction of forested land. It has proved to be a major problem all over world. However, the rates of destruction of forests are particularly high in the tropics. Causes of Deforestation The causes of deforestation vary form place to place. The most common causes, however, are logging, agricultural expansion, wars, and mining, Effects of Deforestation Deforestation has been the cause of many problems facing the world today such as erosions, loss of biodiversity through extinction of plant and animal species, and increased atmospheric carbon dioxide. Importnace of Vegetation Deforestation consequently decrease the supply of oxygen found on earth. Oxygen is essential to the existence of all living things and without it every living creature (including humans) will not be able to sustain life. In addition, forests provide homes for many important species such as the Northern Spotted Owl which can only survive in the northwestern United States . Furthermore, forests prevent desertification by replenishing nutrients in the land. These are just a few reasons why forests are soon important.   CLICK ON A REGION BELOW Africa South America North and Central America Europe Asia Oceania     Back to top | Home | Deforestation | Prevent | Interact | Bibliography | Contact ©2005 Copyright© Think Quest Team All Rights Reserved  

    Deforestation What is Deforestation Deforestation is defined as the destruction of forested land. It has proved to be a major problem all over world. However, the rates of destruction of forests are particularly high in the tropics. Causes of Deforestation The causes of deforestation vary form place to place. The most common causes, however, are logging, agricultural expansion, wars, and mining, Effects of Deforestation Deforestation has been the cause of many problems facing the world today such as erosions, loss of biodiversity through extinction of plant and animal species, and increased atmospheric carbon dioxide. Importnace of Vegetation Deforestation consequently decrease the supply of oxygen found on earth. Oxygen is essential to the existence of all living things and without it every living creature (including humans) will not be able to sustain life. In addition, forests provide homes for many important species such as the Northern Spotted Owl which can only survive in the northwestern United States . Furthermore, forests prevent desertification by replenishing nutrients in the land. These are just a few reasons why forests are soon important.

The Sumatran rhinoceros is a small, hairy rhinoceros which survives in limited numbers in pockets of Indonesian and Malaysian rain forests. In the early 1900s it ranged over most of Southeast Asia from the Himalayas in Bhutan, eastern India through Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo. Now they are only found in little forest pockets on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and the Malay peninsula.

The smallest living rhinoceros, the Sumatran rhinoceros has a gray-brown leathery hide. Its deep folds around the neck, behind the front legs, and before the hind legs give the rhinoceros an armor-plated appearance. It has a short, stocky body and stumpy legs which are covered with coarse reddish-brown hair. Its body length is from 8 to 8.5 feet and stands 4.5 feet at the shoulders. A mature rhino weighs from 2200 to 4400 pounds.

The Sumatran rhinoceros is the only Asian rhinoceros with two horns. Both sexes of rhinos have horns, the front horn being larger, averaging 15 to 20 inches. The male's horns are usually bigger than the female's, whose second, smaller horn is often absent. The upper lip curves down and can move around to grasp objects.

What is a Rainforest?

Rainforests are extremely important in the ecology of the Earth. The plants of the rainforest generate much of the Earth's oxygen. These plants are also very important to people in other ways; many are used in new drugs that fight disease and illness.

ropical rainforests are found in a belt around the equator of the Earth. There are tropical rainforests across South America, Central America, Africa, Southeast Asia and Australia (and nearby islands).

lanet Earth is part of a vast space neighborhood called the solar system. Our solar system is an amazing place. It’s ev

Tropical rainforests are warm, wet forests with many tall trees. In most tropical rainforests, it rains every day. Tropical rainforests grow in a narrow zone near the equator. They are found in Africa, Asia, Australia, and South and Central America. The largest rainforest in the world is the Amazon rainforest in South America. Tropical rainforests are home to a huge number of different plants and animals. All tropical rainforests are endangered.