State of the Rainforest 2014

The biodiversity of the tropical rainforests is amazing. More than half of the 1.4 million species currently identified in the world are living in these ecosystems. And still, scientists are sure that the total number of different plants and animals is far more, probably 5–10 million. Every year, botanists describe and classify about 2,000 new plant species. More than 1,000 species of orchids have so far been collected in the Malaysian state of Sarawak in Borneo. But even in Borneo, where the rainforests are relatively well-studied, just Rainforest biodiversity – treasure under threat “ Modern rainforests pose riddle upon riddle: where do all these species come from, and how did they end up here? 16

somewhere between 15%and 35%of the existing species have been described by scientists. 17 different palm species were registered in Brunei in 1988 – only seven years later, the figure had risen to 140. As the most diverse ecosystem on earth, the tropical rainforest is brimming with unknown mysteries. Since 2010, 441 new animal and plant species have been discovered in the Amazon, 17 among them a growling monkey and an endangered poison dart frog in the rainforests of Guyana. In New Guinea, researchers are constantly discovering new species; more than 1000 in recent years. This includes over 100 orchids, 134 amphibians, 71 different fish (including a 2 meter long river shark) and 12 mammals.

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STATE OF THE RAINFOREST 2014