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| Precipitation |
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| The Amazon Rain Forest has lots of rain every year. They get at least 160 inches. Once in a while, they will even get 400 inches of rain. Even though that is possible, it is not an every year occurrence. All the rain that falls helps the plants and animals survive. Because of this, plants grow at a rapid speed. Most of the heavy rain comes between December and May. Some of the rain that comes down really hard erodes lots of fertile soil that could have been put to good use. Rain washes away the fertile soil, but also helps develop it. When a hard rain comes, it will cause landslides. The landslides cause lots of destruction and do not do any good. The rain also destroys plants. The plants are usually washed into rivers and are lost for good. Too much rain also results in floods. The rivers overflow and damage homes of animals and other living things. One of the most common types of floods is in the waterways. They tend to flood more often than other forms of water. So people have adapted to the floods. They have begun to build their houses on stilts. This prevents the water from going into their homes. It also keeps the houses from sweeping away and causing disaster. In the late afternoon, the heavy rain has stopped, and the air is much cooler. We have been talking mostly about the bad things that the rain does to the land. Now let us move on to the more positive things that the rain does to help the environment. First of all, rain has been responsible for putting out many forest fires. Without the rain, the forest probably would not be there today. When the rain comes, the tops of the trees get the full force of rain. In this situation the canopy trees protect the rest of the forest. Trees have now learned to adapt to this type of climate. They have a slick surface so the water will flow gently down the tree. Because of this, the fungus on the tree does not wash away, and the water can flow to the plants on the ground. The plants absorb lots of water, so the cycle helps. At least one third of the rain that is caught by the trees evaporates. When it evaporates it forms clouds and then rains all over again. Because it rains so much if this did not happen there would not be nearly enough precipitation. About half of the rain that is not caught by trees flows to the nearest river. Trees and plants use the rest of the rain. All of the above is why the climate is so important to how the rain forest survives. |
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| By: Brant |
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