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Fresh water is scattered across the surface of the earth as lakes and rivers, and is buried in aquifers in most geologic basins around the world. Fresh water has low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Salt water from the oceans and from the salty seas of the world mixes with fresh water at bays, estuaries, and the mouths of rivers. Salmon and certain other forms of life are able to move back and forth between the
saltwater and the fresh water environments. However, in general there is a barrier between salt water and fresh water life. Fresh water is a very important renewable resources necessary for most terrestrial organisms. However, only 3% of water on Earth is freshwater, and 2/3rds of this, or 2% of the water on earth, is frozen in glaciers or at the polar ice caps. Most of the the 1% of water on earth not frozen and still fresh water is in underground aquifers. Only 3% of this 1%, or 0.03% of the water on earth, is surface fresh water. Lake Baikal in Russia and the Great Lakes of North America contain 7/8ths of this fresh water at the surface. Swamps have most of the 0.00375% of water
on Earth that is fresh water and not already accounted for. The small amounts of fresh water, relative to the amount in swamps, is found in rivers and interior lakes.3.212 As far as life in fresh water goes, it consists of microorganisms, algae, reeds, insects, spiders, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and some mammals, like beavers. However, fresh water
is the key component of most terrestrial life.
Jungles provide the most abundant life on land, occurring next to the oceans and large rivers, at elevations close to sea level, at latitudes surrounding the equator, and in the tropics. Jungles are dense forests in a hot climate. Biologically the most important characteristic of a jungle is the extensive biodiversity. E.O. Wilson at Harvard stated "You can spend a lifetime studying the life in one stump, and make major contributions to science."3.213 Since jungles consist of densely tangled plants as trees, vines, grasses, and various roses, there are innumerable types of life in these environments.3.214 Those jungles known as tropical rain forests are home to two-thirds of all the living animal and plant species on the planet. It has been estimated there are hundreds of millions of new species of plants, insects, and microorganisms still undiscovered in these environments, including many natural medicines.3.215 An interesting fact, relative to greenhouse gases is that rain forests are essentially oxygen neutral, with little or no net oxygen production.
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paradoxes