When it became known that tens of thousands of fires were blazing in the Amazon rainforest, the dimension was immediately clear to most people.
The tropical forest is a remarkable ecosystem. About six percent of the world's oxygen is produced there through photosynthesis. More than half of all known land creatures are native to the area, although the forest accounts for only 12 percent of the world's forest land. If it is destroyed, all this is lost.
Now Donald Trump has announced, according to a media report, to release rainforests in Alaska for deforestation. Many are surprised by this announcement - not only because more trees are supposed to be sacrificed during the fires in the Amazon, but also because of the rainforests in Alaska.
Rainforest locate most people in the tropics. And that's right. A large part of these forests is located as well as the Amazon near the equator. Rainforests are actually available in higher latitudes. Fragments are also found in Europe. Instead of a tropical rainforest, however, there are so-called temperate rain forest (temperate rainforest).
Moist sea air makes the rainforest grow in high latitudes
The Tongass National Forest in Alaska, to which Trump's announcement refers, is the largest national forest in the United States with an area of almost 70,000 square kilometers and is considered the last intact, temperate rainforest in the world.
It is part of the WWF-defined Pacific temperate rainforests ecoregion, which extends over more than 100 kilometers across the west coast of North America - from Prince William Sound in Alaska, over the Canadian state of British Columbia to Northern California (see map below, 2011).
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Boreal and temperate rainforest in the northern and southern hemisphere (as of 2011)
It is comparatively cold there. But the region has one thing in common with the tropics: it rains a lot, in some areas more than 3000 liters per square meter per year. By comparison, in Germany, an average of 590 liters of rain per square meter fell in 2018. The high amount of precipitation is the prerequisite for the development of a rainforest; from an annual rainfall of 2000 liters per square meter on a long-term average, a forest region is considered a rainforest.
In the temperate latitudes, this only occurs in coastal regions with mountains in the hinterland. Moist sea air collects in front of the mountains and rises to colder heights. Because cold air can absorb less moisture than warm air, it starts to rain. Also fog is common.
Most species rich ecosystem of the temperate climate zone
The marine climate ensures that temperatures do not fluctuate so much over the year as they do in higher latitudes with hot summers and cold winters. For example, in the temperate rainforest of North America, temperatures are between 10 and 24 degrees throughout the year.
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Rainforest in Alaska: Before deforestation?Although the temperature fluctuates more strongly than at the equator, it nevertheless offers good conditions for the growth of plants and animals. In the temperate zone, the rainforest is the ecosystem with the greatest biodiversity. There are a variety of large predators, but also numerous insect and spider species and unique plants.
In the rainforest of Northern California, for example, the tallest tree on earth grows - the Coast redwood. In the Tongass National Forest in Alaska there are mainly conifers. Even the giant life tree, whose trunk can be up to six feet thick, can be found here. There are also black and brown bears, bald eagles and wolves. Migratory birds use the area as a resting place.
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The temperate rainforest is threatened by similar activities as its counterpart in the tropics. It is true that since the nineties parts of the Northwestern rainforest have been protected or may only be used to a limited extent. But there are also regions where trees may be felled.
Clearcutting in North America
Instead of being cleared like the Amazon, the North American rainforest is defeated there to reach old, valuable trees. Although new specimens must be planted, but they need time to grow back. In addition, less fertile humus soil, because not so much leaves and needles fall down to the ground. The quality of the floors suffers.
Trump's alleged plan to open 9.5 million acres (about 3.8 million hectares) of land in the Tongass National Forest for timber companies could add to that.
In Europe, the temperate rainforests have almost completely disappeared, also because humans have spread. They existed, for example, in northern Spain and the UK. Today, however, only fragments are left. On the west coast of Norway, there are still a few square kilometers of Scandinavian coastal rainforest.