Editing Tropical rainforest (section)

=== Threats ===
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==== Deforestation ====
{{further|Rainforest#Deforestation}}
[[File:Operação Hymenaea, Julho-2016 (29399454651).jpg|thumb|[[Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest]] in Brazil's [[Maranhão]] state, 2016]]

===== Mining and drilling =====
[[File:OkTediMine.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Ok Tedi Mine]] in southwestern Papua New Guinea]]
Deposits of precious metals ([[gold]], [[silver]], [[coltan]]) and fossil fuels ([[oil]] and [[natural gas]]) occur underneath rainforests globally. These resources are important to developing nations and their extraction is often given priority to encourage economic growth. [[Mining]] and [[oil and gas drilling|drilling]] can require large amounts of [[land development]], directly causing [[deforestation]]. In [[Ghana]], a West African nation, deforestation from decades of mining activity left about 12% of the country's original rainforest intact.<ref>Ismi, A. (1 October 2003), [http://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/monitor/october-2003-canadian-mining-companies-set-destroy-ghanas-forest-reserves Canadian mining companies set to destroy Ghana's forest reserves], Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Monitor, Ontario, Canada.</ref>

===== Conversion to agricultural land =====
With the [[History of agriculture|invention of agriculture]], humans were able to clear sections of rainforest to produce crops, [[Slash and burn#Historical background|converting it to open farmland]]. Such people, however, obtain their food primarily from farm plots cleared from the forest<ref name="Bailey"/><ref name="Philip L. Walker 1998">Walker, Philip L.; Sugiyama, Larry and Chacon, Richard (1998) [http://pages.uoregon.edu/sugiyama/docs/Diet%20and%20Dental%20Health.pdf "Diet, Dental Health, and Cultural Change among Recently Contacted South American Indian Hunter-Horticulturalists"], Ch. 17 in ''Human Dental Development, Morphology, and Pathology''. University of Oregon Anthropological Papers, No. 54</ref> and hunt and forage within the forest to supplement this. The issue arising is between the independent farmer providing for his family and the needs and wants of the globe as a whole. This issue has seen little improvement because no plan has been established for all parties to be aided.<ref name=Tomich/>

Agriculture on formerly forested land is not without difficulties. Rainforest soils are often thin and leached of many minerals, and the heavy rainfall can quickly leach nutrients from area cleared for cultivation. People such as the [[Yanomamo]] of the [[Amazon rainforest|Amazon]], utilize [[slash-and-burn]] agriculture to overcome these limitations and enable them to push deep into what were previously rainforest environments. However, these are not rainforest dwellers, rather they are dwellers in cleared farmland<ref name="Bailey"/><ref name="Philip L. Walker 1998"/> that make forays into the rainforest. Up to 90% of the typical Yanamomo diet comes from farmed plants.<ref name="Philip L. Walker 1998"/>

Some action has been taken by suggesting fallow periods of the land allowing secondary forest to grow and replenish the soil.<ref name=Jong/> Beneficial practices like soil restoration and conservation can benefit the small farmer and allow better production on smaller parcels of land.

==== Climate change ====
{{Main|Climate change}}
{{See also|Effects of climate change on the tropics}}
The tropics take a major role in reducing atmospheric [[carbon dioxide]]. The tropics (most notably the [[Amazon rainforest]]) are called [[carbon sink]]s.{{citation needed|date=August 2013}} As major carbon reducers and carbon and soil methane storages, their destruction contributes to increasing [[Radiative forcing|global energy trapping]], atmospheric gases.{{citation needed|date=August 2013}} Climate change has been significantly contributed to by the destruction of the rainforests. A simulation was performed in which all rainforest in Africa were removed. The simulation showed an increase in atmospheric temperature by 2.5 to 5 degrees Celsius.<ref name=Semazzi/>

==== Declining populations ====
Some species of fauna show a trend towards declining populations in rainforests, for example, reptiles that feed on amphibians and reptiles. This trend requires close monitoring.<ref>Barquero-González, J.P., Stice, T.L., Gómez, G., & [[Julian Monge Najera|Monge- Nájera, J.]] (2020). Are tropical reptiles really declining? A six-year survey of snakes in a tropical coastal rainforest: role of prey and environment. ''[[Revista de Biología Tropical]]'', 68(1), 336–343.</ref> The seasonality of rainforests affects the reproductive patterns of amphibians, and this in turn can directly affect the species of reptiles that feed on these groups,<ref>Oliveira, M.E., & Martins, M. (2001). When and where to find a pitviper: activity patterns and habitat use of the lancehead, ''Bothrops atrox'', in central Amazonia, Brazil. ''Herpetological Natural History, 8''(2), 101'''''-'''''110. </ref> particularly species with specialized feeding, since these are less likely to use alternative resources.<ref>Terborgh, J., & Winter, B. (1980). Some causes of extinction. ''Conservation Biology, 2'', 119'''''-'''''133.</ref>