rain forest
or rain·for·est
- a tropical forest, usually of tall, densely growing, broad-leaved evergreen trees in an area of high annual rainfall.
Origin of rain forest
Examples from the Web for rainforest
Contemporary Examples of rainforest
He could be remade into a defender of the environment, a preserver of habitats and champion of rainforest ecology.
One of their more memorable ones supported the Rainforest Action Network in 1988 at Madison Square Garden.
To make room for these plantations, vast areas of rainforest are felled, which leads to primary and secondary loss of species.
The anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss saw the Amazon rainforest, as he saw most things, as a complex structure.
In the Amazon rainforest, lemon ants are said to have a tangy flavor.
Historical Examples of rainforest
Specimens were obtained in rainforest in the immediate vicinity of the settlement.
Amphibians and Reptiles of the Rainforests of Southern El Peten, GuatemalaWilliam E. Duellman
In the dry season the river was clear; it is surrounded by rainforest.
Amphibians and Reptiles of the Rainforests of Southern El Peten, GuatemalaWilliam E. Duellman
Specimens were obtained in the rainforest and in cleared areas in the immediate vicinity of the town.
Amphibians and Reptiles of the Rainforests of Southern El Peten, GuatemalaWilliam E. Duellman
Obviously, the diversity of ecological niches in the rainforest is sufficient to support a variety of related species.
Amphibians and Reptiles of the Rainforests of Southern El Peten, GuatemalaWilliam E. Duellman
From the examples discussed above, the importance of the three dimensional aspect of the rainforest is apparent.
Amphibians and Reptiles of the Rainforests of Southern El Peten, GuatemalaWilliam E. Duellman
rainforest
- dense forest found in tropical areas of heavy rainfall. The trees are broad-leaved and evergreen, and the vegetation tends to grow in three layers (undergrowth, intermediate trees and shrubs, and very tall trees, which form a canopy)Also called: selva
Word Origin and History for rainforest
rain forest
1899, apparently a loan-translation of German Regenwald, coined by A.F.W. Schimper for his 1898 work "Pflanzengeographie."
rainforest
- A dense evergreen forest with an annual rainfall of at least 406 cm (160 inches).
A Closer Look: Most of the world's rainforests lie near the equator and have tropical climates. However, cooler rainforests exist in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and Canada. The world's largest rainforest is located in the Amazon River basin. The Amazon rainforest has been described as the lungs of our planet because it continuously recycles carbon dioxide into oxygen, with a significant percentage of the world's atmospheric oxygen being produced in this region. Besides helping to regulate the world's climate, rainforests host an extraordinary diversity of life. Scientists believe that as many as half of the Earth's different species of plants and animals are found only in the rainforests, which take up a mere 7 percent of the world's landmass. By some estimates, more than half of the Earth's original rainforests have already been burned or cut down for timber or grazing land, and more than 130 plant, animal, and insect species are thought to be going extinct daily as a result of the lost habitat. Currently 25 percent of Western pharmaceuticals are derived from tropical rainforest ingredients, and 70 percent of the plants with anticancer properties are found only in this shrinking biome.