Rainforest -Geo. Project- Designed by Chan Mei Shuen(1),Chau Tsz Ying(4), Yip Hau Yan(19),Sin Ka Ching(36), Fong Fu Tong(25), Leung Ngai Chung (31), Wong Siu Feat(39).

Content What is rainforest? Where are the rainforests? Strata of the Rainforests Why rainforests are important? People in the rainforests Animals in rainforests Plants in rainforests Danger of rainforests Solve the deforestation

What is rainforest? What is rainforest: Rainforests perhaps are the most important place in the earth. It covered fifteen per cent of the Earth’s land. Rainforests are very dense, warm and wet forests. They are havens for millions of plants and animals. And there are two types of rainforests (1) Tropical rainforests (2) Temperature rainforests. The temperature: The weather is always wet. The temperature in the rainforest never freezes and never gets very hot. The range of temperature in a tropical rainforest is usually between 75° F and 80° F (24-27° C). Temperate rainforests rarely freeze or get over 80° F (27° C). Rainfall: Most rainforests have more than 200 mm of rain in a month. In Belem, Brazil, it rains on about 243 days each year. And the rain is heavy too! It is almost always raining in the rainforest. Rainforests get over 80 inches (2 m) of rain each year. It is about 1 1/2 inches (3.8 cm) of rain each week.

Where are the rainforests? The map of the rainforest The Location: Tropical rainforests are located near the equator. Temperate rainforests are found in coastal areas. The largest temperate rainforests are along the Pacific Northwest coastline, from Oregon to Alaska.

Strata of the Rainforests Different animals and plants live in different parts of the rainforest. Scientists divide the rainforest into strata (zones) based on the living environment. Starting at the top, the strata are: EMERGENTS: Giant trees that are much higher than the average canopy height. It houses many birds and insects. CANOPY: The upper parts of the trees. This leafy environment is full of life in a tropical rainforest and includes: insects, birds, reptiles, mammals, and more. UNDERSTORY: A dark, cool environment under the leaves but over the ground. FOREST FLOOR: Teeming with animal life, especially insects. The largest animals in the rainforest generally live here. The tree layers

THE TREE LAYERS

Why are rainforests important? Rainforests are home of native people, plants and animals Control the amount of carbon dioxide and oxygen Plants made medicine For eating and rubber

Why are rainforests important? People in the rainforest (1)Rainforests are home of native people, plant and animals: Rainforests are home to about fifty million people and more than half the species of plants and animals of the earth live in the rainforests. In 10,000 squares meters of rainforest there can be more than 8,00 different species of plants. (In all of Great Britain there are only 1443 different species of plants)                                                            

Why are rainforests important? (2)Control the amount of carbon dioxide and oxygen: The leaves of rainforests’ trees make one-third of the Earth’s oxygen. The trees of rainforests help the Earth’s air because their leaves use carbon dioxide and make oxygen, which we need to live. Also they control some of the Earth’s weather. Through their large leaves, they give out water vapour, which makes heavy clouds. The clouds then move to other parts of the Earth and give rain. The clouds also protect the Earth from the sun. Clouds and water vapour

Why are rainforests important? (3)Plant made medicines: Also the peoples of rainforests have always used plants to make medicines. Today, all over the world, people use medicines made from rainforest plants. Rainforest trees are used to make many things which we use every day. In 1970, a disease destroyed half the maize in the United States of America. Scientists began to look for new species of maize in the rainforests. In 1987, in the Mexican rainforest, they found a new species, which is stronger than other species. The Maize Plantation

Why are rainforests important? Rubber trees (4)For eating and rubber: Rubber, for example, is used to make many things. The fruits of many forest trees are good to eat – forest people have eaten them for thousands of years. Today, all over the world, people eat rainforest food plants; for example, coffee, tea, oranges, and rices.

People in the rainforests Peoples: More than fifty million people live in the rainforests of the world. The Yanomami Chico Mendes The Gavioes people The Huli Wigmen

People in the rainforests The Yanomami The Yanomami : They live along the rivers of the rainforest in the north of Brazil. They are a group of forest people that can literally run up heavy trunked emergent trees (over 200 feet) without breaking a sweat. It's because of their remarkably wide feet which also have advantages running around the muddy rainforest floors.

People in the rainforests Chico Mendes (right) Chico Mendes: He was famous in Brazil because he wanted to keep the forest for his people. ‘I want the Amazon forest to help all of us- forest people, Brazil, and all the Earth,’ he said.

People in the rainforests The Huli Wigmen ceremony The Huli Wigmen: They live on an island, called Papua New Guinea, just off the coast of Australia. The men of this tribe wear large wigs of matted human hair, that they grow themselves.

People in the rainforests The Gavioes people opening Brazil nuts with machetes The Gavioes people: They are living in Brazil and they use the forest, but they protect it as well. They find and sell the Brazil nuts, which grow on the forest trees.

Animals in the rainforests Animals: In the rainforest, there are many different kinds of animals. You can find bats with wingspans up to 5.5 feet, moths with wingspans of 12 inches, frogs so big they could eat rats, and rats themselves weighing up to 100 pounds. The piranha The saltwater crocodiles The anaconda The leaf cutter ants Vampire bats The blue jeans frog

Animals in the rainforests The Piranha The piranha: It is a small fish that is activated into a feeding frenzy by the smell of blood. Their teeth are so sharp that they can strip a 100 pound animal to the bone in a minute. No telling what they could do to a box of Kellogg's* Froot Loops* cereal!

Animals in the rainforests The saltwater crocodiles The anaconda The saltwater crocodiles: It can grow to more than 20 feet long. They are one of the most aggressive animals on earth. They've been known to attack canoes out at sea. You don't want to dial this croc's number. The anaconda: It's a water boa and is the largest snake in the world at 37.5 feet long and weighing over 500 pounds. They've been known to eat people now.

Animals in the rainforests The leaf cutter ants The Vampire bats The leaf cutter ants: They are one of the first life forms on earth to engage in a form of agriculture. They use the leaves to form an organic mulch that nurtures the growth of a certain type of mushroom, which the ants cultivate and eat as their sole diet. Vampire bats: They’re medium sized bats that pierce the skin of their victim, usually a cow or pig, with razor sharp teeth. The victim is unaware of the cut because the bat's saliva contains an effective anesthetic, as well as an anti-coagulant, to keep the blood flowing while the bat feeds. Blood is the sole form of food for this bat.

Animals in the rainforests The blue jeans frog The blue jeans frog: This little amphibian has been nicknamed the blue jeans frog. The skin of this frog contains a powerful toxin used by hunters to poison the tips of their arrows and blow gun darts. Even in the rain forest the cool animals wear blue jeans.

Plants in the rainforests In every rain forest there are many kinds of plants. In fact, inside a single hectare (2.47 acres) you can find up to 750 types of trees and 1,500 types of plants! But this entire range of species can easily be broken down into four categories, grouped by how they take up nutrients: Carnivorous plants eat small animals. Saprophytic plants eat decaying matter. Parasitic plants take nutrients directly from other living plants. Autotrophs take nutrients from the soil.

Plants in the rainforests The Bamboo Shoot The giant water lily The Bamboo: It’s a giant grass found in the rain forest and can grow up to 120 feet high and have stems 12 inches in diameter. One Bamboo plant was recorded growing at a rate of 36 inches in 24 hours. The giant water lily: It has leaves that can grow over 5 feet across. It is actually strong enough for a kid to stand on.

Plants in the rainforests The rafflesia The money ladder The rafflesia: It is a parasite that has the world's largest flower. It's over 3 feet across and can hold several gallons of water. When it opens, the rafflesia makes a hissing sound like a cobra. It also has the strong odor and color of rotting meat, which attracts flies that pollinate it. Monkey ladders: They are these very cool vines that grow in a zig-zag fashion and look like ladders. They're filled with pure water, so travelers only need their machete to get a quick drink if they want one.

Plant of the rainforests Venus Fly Trap eating insect The venus fly trap: It grows in poor soil swamps. To ensure they get enough nitrogen they hunt insects by giving off an odor that attracts them. An insect lands on the leaf which triggers it to snap shut. This one has caught an insect. Venus fly traps taken and grown in other parts of the world have even been known to eat small bits of raw ground beef. They're obviously not picky eaters

Disappearing rainforests Why are we destroying the rainforests that so QUICK? The answer was mainly about MONEY. Cutting trees Cattle ranching Coffee and sugar plantation Rapid population Building dams

Disappearing rainforests Cutting trees: Countries with rainforest cut down about 50,000 square kilometers of trees every year, and sell the wood to the rich countries like Japan, Europe, America… If you want to help the rainforests, you must not buy furniture made of rainforest wood. Also, when people look for metals in the rainforest, they also destroy the forests. For example, when people look for gold, they use deadly mercury to wash the gold. The mercury goes into the rivers where it kills fish and other animals. International business buy rainforests in the Latin America where land is very cheap. They cut down the trees, sell the wood, and use the land for cows. The logging trees

Disappearing rainforests Cattle ranching Cattle ranching: Thousands of trees and animals have died, and forest people have lost their homes, so that today North America can eat cheap meat only. Ninety per cent of Latin America meat goes to North America because it is so cheap. Now, all over the world, people eat 140 million tones of meat every year. And the rich countries of the north eat sixty per cent of this.

Disappearing rainforests Coffee and sugar plantation: Many countries cut down rainforests and plant coffee and sugar which they can sell to rich countries. Not many insects and animals can live in coffee or sugar plantation because they damage the coffee and sugar. Coffee Plantation

Disappearing rainforests Rapid population: In many rainforest countries, there are too many people in the cities, and many people move to the rainforests to grow food for themselves. Also the people of many rainforest countries use wood from forest trees to make fires to cook their food. We must help them to plant new trees, and perhaps to find other ways of cooking. We also need to learn about the trees of the rainforests, before we destroyed them. One famous tree is the petroleum nut tree, from the Philippines. This tree makes oil which we can use for fires for cooking or lighting. One of these trees can make fifty litres of oil every year. The Population

Disappearing rainforests Dams Building dams: In Latin America, many countries want to build dams to make more electricity for their cities. In many places forest people and animals have lost their homes, and thousands of trees have died because dams need a lot of water to make electricity. In Australia, the rainforest in Northern Queensland is in danger because a dam on the Tully river will destroy many squares kilometers of forests.

Solve the deforestation We can raise money to buy large quantities of land and declare it off limits for loggers, farmers and ranchers. We can educate people about the value of the rainforest. How about buying an acre of the forest! For $37.50, individuals can purchase protection of an acre of forest land. Reduce the use of paper and do not use things that made in the rainforest

Conclusion Rainforests really take an important part of our life. They affect us very much. If the rainforests were deforested, all the animals and plants would lose their good living environment. Also, the great numbers of species and the trees of the rainforests which controlled the amount of carbon dioxide and oxygen would be decreased rapidly. Oxygen is the main product that human beings need, and if more and more carbon dioxide were produced, global warming would be occurred. Then after a few years, the earth and all living organisms would died. So we must protect our living place and stopped the deforestation in order to have a better living environment. I hope that the native people and those who destroyed the forests can be co-operated , in order to make a wonderful world.

Feeling After doing this project, we knew the importance of rainforests and the rapid growth of deforestation. Are there any methods to solve the great problems? We can absolutely say the answer is “Yes”, but the people are too selfish because of earning more money. They have never thought about their future and their generations. Destroying the rainforests will also make a great damage to the environment. But why the people are still destroying them? Also we learnt much skills of how to present our project and technical of using the computer.

Work List Chan Mei Shuen (1): Leader, information collector, designer, typist, scraper, make the decoration, read the books, find the websites Chau Tsz Ying (4): Information collector, make the decoration, grammar corrector Yip Hau Yan (19): Information collector, make the decoration Fong Fu Tong (25): Information collector Leung Ngai Chung (31): Information collector Sin Ka Wing (36): Information collector Wong Siu Faat (39): Information collector,make the decoration