Role of Zoos in Conservation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Role of Zoos in Conservation - Essay Example Role of Zoos in Conservation The tropical rainforests have high humidity owing to excess moisture from rainfall, heavy cloud cover and transpiration due to loss of water from leaves. Rainforests are known to generate a majority of their own rain and precipitation. For instance, the Amazon generates almost half of its own rain. Rainforests have a characteristic vegetative structure with several layers named overstory canopy, understory, shrub layer, and ground level (Butler). The canopy is the dense part of the forest consisting of a ceiling of leaves and branches of closely spaced trees. The overstory is the upper canopy about 100-130 above the floor of the forest. The understory occurs below the canopy. The shrub layer is about 5-20 feet above the forest floor and mostly consists of shrubs and tree saplings (Butler). The wildlife varies based on which level of the forest it inhabits. Tropical rainforests have extremely high biological diversity. They are extremely important, complex yet fragile ecosystems. They , especially the Amazon rainforests, are considered the lungs of the planet because they recycle most of the carbon dioxide to oxygen. A vast majority, i.e. more than half of the world’s plant, animal and insect species live in tropical rainforests. At least 80% of human’s original diet came from tropical rainforests. They provide a large number of food and medicinal products. They are extremely vital for the maintenance of normal climate as well as the biological diversity of the planet. Tropical rainforests cover only about 6% of the earth’s surface.