Editing Rainforest (section)

{{short description|Type of forest with high rainfall}}
{{Other uses}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}

{{multiple image
| border = thumb
| perrow = 1/2/2
| total_width = 320
| image1 = Chiapas Rainforest crop.jpg
| alt1 =
| image2 = Olympic Rainforest Hiker.jpg
| alt2 =
| image3 = Gunung Palung Jungle.jpg
| alt3 =
| image4 = Khao Sok primary tropical rainforest, southern Thailand.jpg
| alt4 =
| image5 = Lowland rainforest, Masoala National Park, Madagascar (4026784053).jpg
| alt5 =
| image6 = Palawan, Tropical jungle rainforest.jpg|alt6
| image7 = Borneo rainforest.jpg
| alt7 =
| align = <center>'''Clockwise from top''':</center>
| direction =
| caption1 = A thick rainforest in [[Chiapas]], [[Mexico]]
| caption2 = [[Olympic rain forest|Olympic rainforest]] located at [[Olympic Peninsula]], [[Washington state]]
| caption3 = Rainforest at [[Mount Palung National Park]], [[Borneo]]
| caption4 = [[Canopy (biology)|Canopy]] of [[Khao Sok National Park|Khao Sok]] tropical rainforest
| caption5 = [[Stream]] in rainforests at [[Masoala National Park]] in [[Madagascar]]
| caption6 = Primitive tropical rainforest in [[Palawan]]
| caption7 = Rainforests in [[Kinabalu Park]], [[Borneo]]
}}

'''Rainforests''' are [[forest]]s characterized by a closed and continuous tree [[Canopy (biology)|canopy]], moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of [[epiphyte]]s and [[liana]]s and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as [[tropical rainforest]]s or [[temperate rainforest]]s, but other types have been described.

Estimates vary from 40% to 75% of all [[biotic community|biotic]] [[species]] being [[Indigenous (ecology)|indigenous]] to the rainforests.<ref name=Variables>{{cite web|url=http://www.rainforests.net/variables.htm |title=Rainforests.net – Variables and Math |access-date=4 January 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205135329/http://www.rainforests.net/variables.htm |archive-date=5 December 2008 }}</ref> There may be many millions of species of plants, insects and [[microorganism]]s still undiscovered in tropical rainforests. Tropical rainforests have been called the "jewels of the Earth" and the "[[medicine chest (idiom)|world's largest pharmacy]]", because over one quarter of natural [[medicine]]s have been discovered there.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.animalcorner.co.uk/rainforests/rainforests.html |title=Rainforests at Animal Center |publisher=Animalcorner.co.uk |date=1 January 2004 |access-date=26 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120708045901/http://www.animalcorner.co.uk/rainforests/rainforests.html |archive-date=8 July 2012 }}</ref>

Rainforests as well as endemic rainforest species are rapidly disappearing due to [[#Deforestation|deforestation]], the resulting [[habitat loss]] and [[air pollution|pollution of the atmosphere]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rainforests.mongabay.com/0908.htm |title=Impact of Deforestation – Extinction |publisher=Rainforests.mongabay.com |access-date=26 August 2012}}</ref>