As part of the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences’ monthly “Science Cafe,” Meg Lowman discussed the hard facts of the state of the world’s rainforests Tuesday at Tir Na Nog in Raleigh.

Lowman, director of the museum’s Nature Research Center and research professor of natural sciences at N.C. State, said the talk centered on explaining the realities of the rainforests, including their value and how to conserve them. She also used the Cafe as an opportunity to clear up common misunderstandings about rainforests.

As one of the first researchers to discover the mass amounts of plant and animal species living among the forest canopies, Lowman certainly knows the topic.

According to Lowman, the world’s rainforests do not solely provide luxuries — they also provide some of the most basic things important to human survival.

“Rainforests provide almost everything we eat — from coffee, to chocolate, to cinnamon,” Lowman said. “But the [rainforest] also provides oxygen, fresh water, medicines, foods, construction materials, homes to millions of species and climate control.”

However, Lowman said most people aren’t helping to conserve these forests, but are instead letting their destruction go unchecked.

“We are losing rainforests and there is a tipping point at some level of fragmentation — some people think that tipping point for the Amazon is 20 percent degradation, and it is estimated that we have decimated 17 percent at this point in time,” Lowman said. “In other words, the world is destroying these forests to a point where they may continue to degrade.”

This may be in part due to widely held and vastly incorrect illusions of rainforests, according to Lowman.

One of the most common fallacies about the forests is that since the trees are lush, the soil is rich.

Actually, Lowman said, this is not the case. “Soils are very poor as all the nutrients in rainforests are contained in the trees. Another [myth] is that rainforests must regenerate quickly since they live in warm, moist places. And this, too, is incorrect. I was involved in a long-term forest regeneration monitoring project. We had seedlings 5 inches tall that were 50 years old. That is not rapid growth.”

Lowman said she believes another reason for the lack of public support for the conservation of these ecosystems is a result of their distance from the public eye.

“These forests are out of sight of Americans,” Lowman said. “But we are the main consumers of products that lead to the loss of forests.”

According to Lowman, the consequences of continuing destruction of the tropical forests would be devastating — and not just for the trees and monkeys.

“Continued degradation can cause extreme climate change, including loss of seasonal rainfall patterns as we know them now, significantly more carbon in the atmosphere and many trickle-down weather patterns including storms, winds and others,” Lowman said. “It would also mean the loss of many indigenous people who make their home, [and] loss of life for millions of species, many of which provide us with essential cures to disease or important food products.”

But Lowman said this doesn’t have to happen, and there are several things students and faculty can do to prevent it.

“If you want to help, read books, buy sustainably and ask questions about products before you buy,” Lowman said. “Even better, visit the rainforest to support ecotourism. This is a great way to pay the locals to save their forests—not to cut them down.”

For Lowman, the Science Cafe discussion on tropical forest degradation and conservation was a success, and she said she has plans to continue her work with these forests.

“There is a mystique and allure, as well as a sense that they are disappearing and we need to be educated. It really appeals to all ages, which showed since there were people in the audience from age seven to 80,” Lowman said. “Science cafes are a great way to share knowledge with local scientists and citizens.”