Global Climate
photo M. Noonan
Tropical rainforests
serve as very important buffers that moderate our global climate.
They do so because their tremendous amount of plant life
continuously take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for
photosynthesis. In doing this, rainforests help prevent global
warming because a build up of carbon dioxide serves as a greenhouse
that traps in the sun's rays.
Therefore, destruction
of this ecosystem could contribute to global warming, and hence have
disastrous effects such as the melting of polar caps and flooding of
coastal areas, where most of the world's largest cities are located.