Transcript All About Rainforests

All About
Rainforests
A Powerpoint Presentation by
Mrs.Meadows
What is a tropical
rainforest?
Rainforests are rich and wonderful worlds. They
are filled with tall trees, strange animals, giant
bugs, and amazing plants. The largest flowers in
the world grow in the rainforests. The smallest
frogs and the biggest spiders live in the
rainforests, too!
Rainforests have year round warmth and plenty
of rainfall. Rainforests can get 60-70 inches of
rain a year and the temperatures of a rainforest
are usually between 70-80 degrees year round.
Where are tropical
rainforests located?
 Tropical rainforests are located all around the
world. Almost all rainforests lie near the equator.
(The imaginary line that runs all around the middle
of the earth.) They are located in Africa, Asia,
Central and South America, and on islands in the
Pacific Ocean.
 The largest tropical rainforest is the Amazon
Rainforest in South America. The Amazon
rainforest is bigger than the states off Texas,
California, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, Arizona,
Oregon, Minnesota, and Alaska combined!
Why are rainforests
important?
 Tropical rainforests have more kinds of trees than
any other area in the world. In the Amazon
Rainforest, scientists have counted about 280 kinds
of trees in just a 2 ½ acre area. (An acre is equal to
about 2 ½ football fields.) Most forests of this size
in the U.S. have fewer than 7 species. Also, more
than half of the world’s species of plants and
animals live in tropical rainforests.
 One of the most important reasons tropical
rainforests are so important to us is that half of
the medicines in the world used everyday come from
rainforest plants. In addition, products we use
everyday come from rainforests resources.
What does a tropical
rainforest look like?
 A tropical rainforest looks like a building with
several different floors. The floors are called
layers. Each layer is home for different kinds
of plants and creatures. The four layers of a
rainforest are:
 1. Emergent Layer
 2. Canopy Layer
 3. Understory Layer
 4. Forest Layer
45
A Emergent
40 Layer
35
30
25 B. Canopy Layer
20
15
10 C. Understory
Layer
5
D. Forest Floor
What does each layer of a
rainforest look like?

The emergent layer is top level of a rainforest. The emergent
level consists of the few trees that grow even taller than the
canopy trees in the second layer. The distance from the ground to
the top of an emergent tree can be greater than the height of a 14
story building. Harpy eagles live in the tops of the emergent trees.

The canopy layer is right below the emergent layer. The tops
of the trees in a rainforest form the canopy. The canopy is like
living under a big green umbrella. In most rainforests, the canopy
is more than 100 feet above the ground. The canopy is noisy.
Most of the animals in a rainforest live here. Many of these
animals live their whole life in the canopy and never touch the
ground.

The third level of a rainforest is the understory later.
The understory is dark and shadowy because the
leaves of the canopy are so close together that only a
tiny bit of sun shines through. The trees here are not
very tall. Several different wild cats live here along with
snakes, monkeys owls, and bats.

The bottom layer of a rain forest is the forest floor. It
is very dark and quiet. The ground is covered with
rotting leaves. A few ferns and bushes grow among
the giant trunks of the canopy trees. The animals living
here are quiet. Jaguars prowl silently, looking for food
and snakes slither over the tree roots. Millions of
insects creep through the dead leaves.