Despite the beauty and importance of rainforests, they are being rapidly destroyed or altered. Analogies can help people understand the rates of loss. Between 1981 and 1990, tropical forest loss was 40 million acres a year. Within 75 years, all the rainforests could be gone. Analysis of data is another way for students to learn about rainforest loss and integrate mathematics into their science learning.
Scientific papers can be a good source of data for analysis.
The number of species in tropical rainforests is astonishing. One pond in the Amazon can contain more species of fish than all the rivers in Europe. One 25 acre plot of land in Borneo has almost 700 types of trees. This is more species than in all the six billion acres of North America. One rainforest park in Costa Rica has more species of butterflies than all of North America.