Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Sounds of the Rainforest!
Audio :http://youtu.be/mv-XuVpkPbM
Here is the beautiful sound of the Australian Tropical Rainforest. Click the link above to get a sense of what you are about to enter into!
As you can tell the above photo shows you australia as a whole and indicates the Tropical rainforest in Australia. The dark green shown on the map above indicates the tropical rainforest.
As you can tell, the tropical rainforest spans out across the nothern area of the continent which covers about 90,000 hectares(2). Throughout this blog we will be discussing all 900,000, hectors of the Australian rainforest however we may occasionally get specific and refer to specifically the northeastern region known as Queensland.
Orgin of the Australian Tropical Rainforest
Way back long ago a super continent known as Pagaea split up
into two different continents, one named Laurasia and the other Gondwana. The
continent of Laurasia was later transformed into what we now call Europe, and
North America, while Gondwana took over the southern states such as South
America, Africa, Australia, New Guinea, Antarctica, as well as India (3). As time
passed Godwana broke up int multiple pieces and Australia drifted in isolation
towards Southeast Asaia, it eventually evolved it’s on nature and different kinds
of flora and fauna bean to come into existence. Furthermore animal began to
develop such as the kangaroo and koala. As time passed scientist discovered
that the present flora and fauna in the woodlands of Australia had essentially
evolved from an original rainforest stock (3). The tropical rainforest are believed
to be the oldest in the world. According to scientific evidence the tropical rainforest
of Australia had survived in “refugia" for millions of years, somehow escaping
ice ages, sea level rises, and demolition by volcanic activity (3).
Anthropologist have also recorded a group of people living
around the rainforest in ancient times. They were known as the aboriginal
rainforest people. The aborginals not only had language differences but also
had distinct physical differences (3). Although the abiorgianls settled in the Australian rainforest first it
was not them who explored the jungle but the European settlers. They discovered
sugar cane and timber. The excitement
and curiosity of finding new timber lead the settlers to start cutting down
trees through the rainforest and logging began to a popular practice for the
settlers. in the 1960's and 1970's that biologists began to realize that the
area was fairly significant, and the region began to draw groups of
conservation minded people living on the land.
Possible future Human impacts:
Current Human impacts
Humans play a major role in protecting and maintaining the Tropical Rainforest, however there are those out there who are not so environmental friendly.
They chopped down the trees that block the sunlight, therefore increasing temperature they take minerals and flowers,and make beverages and medicine they kill animals in order to get food and when they do this,they throw the food chain off (4).
of (4).Government officials and many other interest groups have made a decision to try and reverse these practices. They issued many protective policies over the Australian Tropical Rainforest. The Illegal Logging Prohibition act was passed by the senate. This Act prohibits the import of illegal logged timber. It is important to the Australians to preserve their rainforest they therefore took a further step to eliminate logging all together . The International Tropical Agreement. This is the current guiding document that manages the rainforest as well as implement strategies for sustainable development (6) . Because of the peoples persistence to save the rainforest, the Australian rainforest has been at the top of the list for the most well preserved tropical rainforest left in the world. If there are no plants, there will be no animals either.
Other Human threats include: Mining, which destroys the rainforest to get minerals from under it; Logging, Tourism, there are hundreds of thousands of people who visit the rainforest each year, which means cars and busses in the rainforest disturbing animals and destroying habitats; and also development, which covers everything from division of land to building roads and fences which disturb and uproot rainforest habitats (6). ONCE RUINED, THERE IS NO WAY TO REBUILD A RAINFOREST.
They chopped down the trees that block the sunlight, therefore increasing temperature they take minerals and flowers,and make beverages and medicine they kill animals in order to get food and when they do this,they throw the food chain off (4).
of (4).Government officials and many other interest groups have made a decision to try and reverse these practices. They issued many protective policies over the Australian Tropical Rainforest. The Illegal Logging Prohibition act was passed by the senate. This Act prohibits the import of illegal logged timber. It is important to the Australians to preserve their rainforest they therefore took a further step to eliminate logging all together . The International Tropical Agreement. This is the current guiding document that manages the rainforest as well as implement strategies for sustainable development (6) . Because of the peoples persistence to save the rainforest, the Australian rainforest has been at the top of the list for the most well preserved tropical rainforest left in the world. If there are no plants, there will be no animals either.
Other Human threats include: Mining, which destroys the rainforest to get minerals from under it; Logging, Tourism, there are hundreds of thousands of people who visit the rainforest each year, which means cars and busses in the rainforest disturbing animals and destroying habitats; and also development, which covers everything from division of land to building roads and fences which disturb and uproot rainforest habitats (6). ONCE RUINED, THERE IS NO WAY TO REBUILD A RAINFOREST.
Maintaing the ecosystem
Australia
is home to one of the most well maintained tropical rainforest in the world. As
we mentioned earlier there are many groups and laws out there that are in
progresse to help restore the rainforest, however the current destruction can
be slowed, stopped, and in many cases reversed (5). Making efforts
to rehabilitate and restore degraded forest lands along with the establishment
of protected areas are important to securing rainforests for the long term
benefits they can provide to mankind.
Through the multiple Acts and laws that have been in place to slowly but surely
save the rainforest Australia is certainly on its way to a happier and
healthier environment. Her are some quick and easy ways to Save the Rainforest!
- Teach others about the importance of the environment and how they can help save rainforests.
- Restore damaged ecosystems by planting trees on land where forests have been cut down.
- Encourage people to live in a way that doesn't hurt the environment.
- Establish parks to protect rainforests and wildlife.
- Support companies that operate in ways that minimize damage to the environment.
Reference List:
1. "Home-Encyclopedia of Australian Science." Home Encyclopedia of Australian Science. Np.,n.d. Web.26 Nov. 2012.
2. http://www.holidaynq.com.au/rainforests.html
3. Ramsey, Damien."Evolutionary History: The Evolution of the Tropical Rainforest: http://rainforestaustralia.com/Evolutionary_History.htm
4. Chazdon, Robin. "Tropical forest Legacies of Human impact and natural disturbances". Urban&Fischer Velag, 2003.
5. http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/education/Resources/rainforests/Australian_Rainforests/Humans_and_rainforests
6. Eitman, Diana. Maintaining Sovereignty and the Tropical Rainforest.Vol. 24.
7. "The Causes of Rainforest destruction" The rainforest Information Centre. Web.26 Nov. 2012.
<http:www.rainforestinfo.org.au/background>.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)