Knowra Rainforest Rainforest A forest ecosystem with high annual rainfall and dense, layered vegetation. Rainforests occur in tropical and temperate regions and support distinctive communities of plants, animals, and fungi.
Tropical rainforest : A rainforest in the tropics, usually warm year-round and exceptionally rich in species. The best-known rainforest type, shaped by consistently warm temperatures and seasonal or year-round rain.
Interception (hydrology) : The capture of precipitation by vegetation before it reaches the ground. Rainforest foliage redirects rainfall into evaporation, stemflow, and gradual throughfall.
Biodiversity conservation : The protection and sustainable management of variation among genes, species, and ecosystems. Rainforests contain many restricted-range species threatened by habitat loss.
Habitat fragmentation : The division of continuous habitat into smaller, more isolated patches. Roads and clearing can isolate rainforest populations even where some forest remains.
Amazon rainforest : The vast tropical rainforest of the Amazon Basin in South America. It illustrates the scale, ecological richness, and regional influence of tropical rainforest.
Temperate rainforest : A rainforest outside the tropics, typically cool and sustained by frequent rain or fog. It shows that rainforest conditions do not require a tropical climate.
Transpiration : The release of water vapor from plants, mainly through pores in their leaves. It links rainforest plant growth to atmospheric moisture and rainfall recycling.
Carbon sink : A reservoir that absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases over a defined period. Living rainforest biomass stores carbon, though disturbance can turn forests into carbon sources.
Edge effect : Changes in environmental conditions and species interactions near the boundary of a habitat patch. Fragmented rainforest edges become hotter, drier, and more exposed than interior forest.
Congo rainforest : The tropical rainforest region of the Congo Basin in Central Africa. It is a major rainforest system with extensive peatlands and high conservation value.
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