Veronika Wild

  -Image created by Microsoft Copilot Mesoamerica’s five forests stretch over 8 countries from Mexico to Panama. They cover over 100 million hectares – an area the size of Switzerland. As well as being an ecological bridge between North and South America, they are the  world’s third largest biodiversity hotspot, especially for birds and amphibians.  Home to jaguars, tapirs and scarlet macaws, its high diversity is due to varied microclimates and topography. The forests also provide food, water and livelihoods for approximately five million people. Between 2000 and 2020 these forests lost 1.4 million hectares or 23% of their area.  Historic forest loss  was largely due to expansion of plantations but 90% of more recent losses are due to illegal cattle ranching and infrastructure development. Roads through the region fragment habitat and facilitate illegal logging and poaching, both of which are made easier by poor oversight, conflicting laws and poor en...

The Golden Lion Tamarin - Leontopicuthus rosalia is one of the Atlantic Forest's many unique and highly endangered inhabitants  -Thank you to Guppiecat for this photo The Atlantic Forest  I must confess I hadn't even heard of the Atlantic Forest  before I started writing about rainforests. This could be because it had almost ceased to exist. After decades of logging, land clearing for agriculture and urban expansion, there was only around 12% of it left, with the remainder being highly fragmented. This is a shame because after the Amazon it is the world's second richest biodiversity hotspot. It runs along the east coast of South America from Brazil to Paraguay and Argentina and covers approximately 15 different eco -regions including tropical rainforests. Having evolved separately and earlier than the Amazon, it contains thousands of unique species - one in fourteen plants and one in twenty of our known animals, including the golden lion tamarin and the brown throate...

  -Thank you to Cluan S.for this lovely graphic Tropical Rainforests flourish around the Equator because they like high, even temperatures and abundant rainfall. When the area is large enough, some such as the Amazon, generate rainfall themselves. Large leaves on tall trees intercept the rain and allow it to percolate gently into the earth.  As the sun warms up each day, they slowly release this moisture back into the atmosphere through transpiration. The trees with their layered understoreys act like multistorey apartments for a whole range of species, some ground dwelling, some preferring the intermediate levels and others the canopy. Despite covering only 2% of the earth's surface, tropical rainforests contain around   50 - 80% of its biodiversity.   They also do a great deal for humans.  Rainforests are considered the lungs of the earth, with the Amazon alone producing around 20% of the world’s oxygen. They influence weather and climate – they buffer...