Shifting cultivation: Clearance of a small patch, burning of the waste material, growth of crops, the fertility drops, move

to new patch and repeat. Plantation forestry: Whitmore states that, a high fraction of the aboveground biomass is removed as harvest at frequent intervals, (Whitmore 1998).
Microclimate -wind speed (m/s)

Selective logging: This is when known trees of high sale value are felled, the rest are left. However this can be difficult as high value trees can be hard to extract.

Their importance
There is high biodiversity for example there is estimated to be 250,000 300,000 plant species on earth, >170,000 are in the tropics. Rainforests can also contain diversity hotspots e.g. In Yanamomo, Peru there is 290 species of tree per hectare. This means every second tree is a different species. There is also large animal diversity Whitmore states that the tropics as a whole may hold a total of 2-3 million animal species, (Whitmore 1998). They are rich in natural resources e.g. wood, oil, and land for agriculture. This is a theoretical species area curve, notice there is a point at which number of species plateaus. (Figure 1)

Management

Tropical rainforests, as well as monsoon forests, savannah forests and thorn forests typically lie between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. (Figure 6)

The rainforest creates its own microclimates, which effect such things as wind speed, air temperature, relative humidity and CO2 concentration.
(Figure 3, top left, Figure 4, bottom left).

Tropical Rainforest

Typical structure of a tropical rainforest, (Figure 7). This is an actual species area curve, notice there is no point where number of species plateaus.
(Figure 2)
Reference list: Whitmore, T. C., 1998. An Introduction to Tropical Rain Forests. 2nd edition. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc. Figures 1-5 Mars, R., 2012. The international dimension: rainforest, Envs 157 Ecology and conservation. The university of Liverpool, unpublished. Figures 6 Map, 2012. Tropical rainforest distribution map. [image online] Available at: amazonecology.wordpress.com [Accessed 12/04/2012]. Figure 7 Diagram, 2012. Rainforest structure diagram. [image online] Available at: dynamicecosys1.wikispaces.com [Accessed 12/04/2012].

Yanamomo, Peru

Climbers and lianas, Skiophytes, Myrmecophy, Insectivorous, Herbs, Ferns and Fungi.

Other plant forms include Epiphytes like the strangler fig. (Figure 5)

Trees can be up to 120m tall and have a large amount of different, roots shapes, leaf shapes, barks and crowns.