Tropical Rainforests Flashcards
Tropical rainforest location
Between tropics, where it is wet and warm
Layers of rainforest
Emerging- uppermost layer
Canopy- most animals, middle layer
Under canopy- smaller trees and bushes
Shrub layer- dark, little sunlight, insects
Animal adaptations in the rainforest
Red winged parrot - has a curved beak, good for getting into fruit with seeds and nuts
Red eyed tree frog- suction cups on its feet to attach to the trees
Spider monkeys- screech to warn off predators, long tail to balance when climbing trees
Sloths- huge claw to grip onto trees
Jaguars- camouflage skin to hide in the shadows created by the trees
Plant adaptations in the rainforest
Epiphytes- grow on other trees to take the nutrients because it’s difficult for them to get close to the sun
Drip tips- leaves shaped for water to drip down when rain comes so there’s no wilting of the plant
Indirect threats to the rainforest
Global warming
Flooding rivers
Climate change which disrupts the nutrient cycle
Droughts
Forest fires
Direct threats to the rainforest
Roads
Deforestation
Mineral deposits
Farming
Causes of deforestation
Poverty
Debt
Economic development
Demand for resources
Poverty as a cause of deforestation
Local people cut down small areas to farm and to provide money for themselves
Debt as a cause of deforestation
Countries have debts and so have to cut and sell their natural resources in order to pay it back
Economic development as a cause of deforestation
Deforestation happens in order to build roads, and expand cities to develop LICs
Demand for resources as a cause of deforestation
Raw materials need to be mined, and turned into product because consumers constantly need it
Nutrient cycle of the rainforest
Big biomass because lots of biodiversity
Lots of growth because there’s more nutrients in the soil
More leaching because of high rainfall
More decay because it’s hotter and chemical weathering happens slower
Kilum Ijim Cameroon
Under pressure for logging and farming
Home to tribes
They marked out a forest reserve and have rules for being there. Limited human interaction, eco tourism to fund, replant trees
Better than Juma because it provides jobs adne education
Juma SFR in Brazil
Relies on donations
Doesn’t help out the families who live there
Hard to monitor
Protects a large area
Wood buffalo national park in Canada
North of the tar sands
Threatened by the potential of mining
Would have devastating impacts on the wildlife it holds and on the river because the Cree Indians will die
