Fragile Environments Report- Rain Forest

A fragile environment is the surroundings around us that are easily destroyed. The fragile environment I chose is a rain forest in Sumatra. The name of this rain forest is Sumatran Montane Rain Forest. The Sumatran Montane Rain Forest runs parallel to the west coast of Sumatra. The size of theSumatran Montane Rain Forest is 28,100 square miles. That is about half the size of Michigan in the United States!

The Sumatran Montane Forest is a fragile environment because it is sensitive to changes. For instance, many people like to cut down trees. Trees help clean the pollution and poison out of the air. When trees are cut down, the poison spreads and kills other plants. Another effect is that when trees are cut down, the forest animals loose their habitats. Also there are problems with the soil. Soil was designed for the trees. Soil and trees depend on each other. When it rains, soil erodes ruining the ecology. Many endangered animals live in this rain forest such as the Sumatran rhinoceros, Sumatran tiger, and the Sumatran rabbit. There also is a rare flower that only grows in rain forest called the Rafflesia. This flower only grows a month in a year. All of these need habitat, soil and trees to survive.

The rain in the Sumatran Montane Rain Forest has to be the right amount. Slight changes will cause the ecosystem to collapse. Temperature also has an impact. The plants in the Sumatran Montane Rain Forest need the right temperature to grow. When people burn the rain forest, it causes haze and blocks the sunshine. People have a big impact as well. People cause lots of damage to the rain forest. They cut down trees to sell burn large sections for farming and build houses. This ends up destroying the environment.

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