Download Get in Line to Catch the Vine - Mercer Island School District

Get in Line to Catch the Vine
Tropical Rain Forest 101
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Forest of tall trees in a region of year-round warmth
 Many of the trees have straight trunks that don't branch out
for 100 feet or more.
Poor soil due to the amount of plants that use up the nutrients
and therefore do not allow the soil to recuperate and
accumulate a sufficient amount of nutrients.
Rainforests now cover less than 6% of Earth's land surface
Layers of The Rainforest
A layer: the emergent. Widely spaced trees 100 to 120 feet tall
and with umbrella-shaped canopies extend above the
general canopy of the forest.
B layer: a closed canopy of 80 foot trees. Light is readily
available at the top of this layer, but greatly reduced below it.
C layer: a closed canopy of 60 foot trees. There is little air
movement in this zone and consequently humidity is constantly
high.
Shrub/sapling layer: Less than 3 percent of the light
intercepted at the top of the forest canopy passes to this layer.
Ground layer: sparse plant growth. Less than 1 percent of the
light that strikes the top of the forest penetrates to the forest
floor. In such darkness few green plants grow. Moisture is also
reduced by the canopy above: one third of the precipitation is
intercepted before it reaches the ground.
Climate
 Very
humid because of all the rainfall
 About 250 cm of rain per year
 Near the equator: high temperatures year
round
 Rains more than ninety days a year
When to visit
 This
biome is warm year round
 Driest part of the year: June to September
Iquitos Peru is considered a Tropical Rainforest biome
Unique Features

Home to half the Earth’s plant and animal
species
home to tribal cultures that
have survived in the forests for
thousands of years

Unique Features

source of medicinal plants (1 out of 4 ingredients)

Help maintain global rain and weather patterns.
Much of the water that evaporates from the trees
returns in the form of rainfall. Removal of the forest
can change the natural rainfall patterns.
Unique Features
 An
area of a rainforest the size of a football field is
being destroyed each second.
 Since there is little wind most of the pollination
depends on bees, bats, birds, and other animals
Characteristic Plant and
Animal Species
 3%
of life make it to forest floor
 drip tips and grooved leaves, and some
leaves have oily coatings to shed water.
Characteristic Plant and
Animal Species

Adaptations to a life in the trees, such as the
prehensile tails of New World monkeys. Other
characteristics are bright colors and sharp
patterns, loud vocalizations, and diets heavy on
fruits.
Plant and Animal Adaption
 To
reach the sunlight in the upper canopy
lianas (vines) send out tendrils to grab
sapling trees. The liana and the tree grow
towards the canopy together.
 Toucans have adapted by developing a
long, large bill. This adaptation allows this
bird to reach fruit on branches that are
too small to support the bird's weight. The
bill also is used to cut the fruit from the
tree.
Tropical Rain Forest vs.
Humanity
 The
Human interactions with the tropical
rainforest has been disastrous
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
We have cut down thousands of acres of
trees (football fields worth).
Furthermore, the vast climate change due
to human and other interfering changes
has vastly damaged the tropical rainforest.
 Cutting
Down Trees
 Animal exploitation/ Hunting
 Climate Change
PSA
The Travel to the Tropics Travel Agency is not
responsible for any damage you may cause
while visiting this wonder of the world. Please
leave the forest as or better than you found
it.
Works Cited
 http://www.mbgnet.net/sets/rforest/explo
re/special.htm
 http://www.srl.caltech.edu/personnel/kru
bal/rainforest/Edit560s6/www/facts.html
 http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/rainfor
est.htm