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Of all the ecological areas on earth, the tropical rainforests hold the greatest diversity of flora and fauna alike. WIthin one hectare (2.47 acres) of rainforest, there can be more than 750 types of trees and 1500 species of plants. Furthermore, there are many species of insects and plants that thrive only on a certain type of tree. However, according to World Wildlife Fund, 54 acres per minute are lost to deforestation (that's one football field every two seconds!). In one day, an estimated 137 plant, animal and insect species are lost every single day due to rainforest deforestation.
To grasp an idea of the vastness of biological diversity that is at the brink of extinction, consider the following facts and figures from Leslie Taylor's Herbal Secrets of the Rainforest:
- A single pond in Brazil can sustain a greater variety of fish than are found in all of Europe's rivers
- A twenty-five acre plot of rainforest in Borneo may contain over seven hundred species of trees - a number equal to the total tree diversity of North America
- A single rainforest reserve in Peru is home to more species of birds than the entire United States
- One single tree in Peru was found to harbor forty-three different species of ants - a total that approximates the entire ant species in the British Isles
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