Rainforests

  1. What is a rainforest?

a thick forest habitat (gets a ton of rain) - more than 200 inches of rain/year

find rainforests(cool areas/ tropical areas-warm/humid & near the equator)

e.g. Amazon Rainforest: the largest

over half the world's species of animals and plants

2) What are some layers of the rainforest?

  1. Understory: the layer between Canopy and Forest Floor, less sunshine- big leaves to get as much sunlight as possible, insects, snakes and jaguars
  1. Forest Floor: bottom of the rainforest, not much sunshine - fewer plants grow, still lizards, insects and fungi
  1. Canopy: top layer(roof), gets much sunshine, leafy, monkeys, sloths, and birds

4) How are rainforests changing?

3) How do plants and animals survive in rainforests?

Adaptations

  1. Air Plants: live on the tall trees(forest floor - x enough sunlight)
  1. Some plants: get rid of extra water(so much rain)
  1. Pitcher Plants-use animals for food(soil - x enough nutrients)
  1. Butterflies: transparent wings
  1. Poison Dart Frog: bright colors to warn their predators
  1. Stinkbird: smells bad

Roles:

  1. manage fresh water
  1. control E's temperature and weather patterns
  1. give off oxygen/ get rid of carbon dioxide( a gas that causes problems in the environment)

But: are being cut down

for wood/ for land(to raise animals and plant crops)

many native people(who depend on rainforests)-lose

plants/animals- x habitats

becoming extinct

becoming endangered

medicines-made from

but x make medicines from rainforests