Recap:

We have looked at the main vegetation zones that make up the Rain Forest:

understorey/shrub layer
canopy
emergents

task In your jotter:

1. Cut and paste the drawing of the Forest Cross Section shown here on to a double page of your jotter

2. . Use the information from your textbook at add the following labelled arrows to the diagram:

Buttress roots; drip tip; lianas (creepers); tree ferns; decomposing leaves; tall slender trunks; 95% of light is filtered; crown has most leaves; 50% of animals; thin humus layer;

3. Give a reason for each of the follwing facts about vegetation in the Rain Forest.

Trees grow incredibly tall
lianas grow around trees
tree trunks are bare, except for the crown of leaves at the top
leaves are waxy and have drip tips
different species of animal tend to be found in different layers of the forest.

4 Look at the photo at the top of this page.

Suggest why the Rain Forest tends to have a sparse population (ie very few people live there)

We are looking at “empty lands” and “crowded lands” in both USA and Brazil. As an example of Empty Lands we shall be studying the Amazon Rain Forest. you can get an idae of the sheer amount of energy released during a storm by looking at this photograph.

Click here for BBC site on the Amazon.
Click here for Wikipedia article on the Amazon
click here for link to BBC File on Brazil
TO LEARN Here are some key words;

confluence
Rain Forest
understorey
canopy
emergent
buttress roots
creeper
torrential
biodiversity