Get in Line to Catch the Vine

Tropical Rain Forest 101  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 emergents. 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  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.

Meredith Adams, Shalva Kohen, and Ethan Rouillard

Works Cited  re/special.htm re/special.htm  bal/rainforest/Edit560s6/www/facts.html bal/rainforest/Edit560s6/www/facts.html  est.htm est.htm