 rattan, and vanilla.
Tropical Forests hold scores of unknown compounds that may be used in medicine, agriculture, clothing, and industry.
In Tropical Forests water vapor entering the atmosphere via evapotranspiration is retained regionally, and recycled as rainfall.
Forests act as carbon sinks storing it as biomass or in its soils.
If you are interested in reading more about tropical rain forests I suggest you get this excellent book found on Amazon. Tropical Rain Forest Ecology, Diversity, and Conservation. It gives a complete view on the state of rain forests, its values, and threats.
Tropical Forests Threats
Half of tropical forests have been destroyed. Source: UCMP.Berkley.edu
Deforestation does not only result in forest loss but in habitat fragmentation. The outcome offers an insufficient amount of habitat for larger, or wide-ranging species of animals.
There is the possibility of developing sustainable forestry combined with conservation.
In the Amazon the greatest threats are deforestation for agriculture, mining, dam construction and cattle production. In Africa it is expanding population and pressure for agriculture.
In Asia the greatest pressure is commercial logging. Science Direct
About Tropical Forest Map
A biome is a large area defined by its soil, vegetation, climate, and wildlife. These are: freshwater, marine, savanna, tropical forest, temperate forest, and taiga.
If you subdivide these biomes you will get ecoregions.
Ecoregions are "defined as relatively large units of land or water containing a distinct assemblage of natural communities sharing a large majority of species, dynamics, and environmental conditions" FAO. The boundaries of these units are approximate to the original extent before major land use change.
This map shows the tropical forest biome and its ecoregions.
Resources for Tropical Rain Forest Map
The shapefiles to create the map with ecoregions of the world were obtained from WWF. The shapefiles with the countries of the world were downloaded from Natural Earth.
Made by Luz K. Molina with D3.js.