By: Sarah O. Social Studies- B3 Science –

B5

Title Page………………..1

Index………………..2, 3

What is the Rainforest? ....................4

Layers of the rainforest………………..4, 5, 6

Where is the Amazon rainforest located?....................6

What are some benefits of the rainforest?....................6

Animals of the Amazon………………..7, 8

Plants of the Amazon………………9

What is the climate like in the Amazon?....................10

What eats what?.................... 11, 12

Tribes of the Amazon………………..12, 13, 14

What’s happening to the rainforest?..........14,15

Sources Cited……………….15, 16

Quiz……………….. 17, 18

What is a Rainforest? A rainforest is a tropical forest with broad leaved trees and high annual rainfall. There are four layers of a rainforest, the Emergent, Canopy, Understory, and Forest Floor. There are many rainforests all along the

equator but we are going to talk about the one in South America; The Amazon.

Layers of the Rainforest

Emergent

The Emergent Layer is the very top of the rainforest. This layer holds the largest trees, many sixteen meters across, like the Kapok tree. Because this layer is at the top, it gets the most sunlight. This means they get more energy, so they would be healthier. Plants use a process called photosynthesis. This is when a plant turns sunlight into energy, so it can grow. Trees in this layer can be from 100 to 240 feet tall. They

are spread out into an umbrella shape.

Canopy

The Canopy Layer is located just beneath the Emergent Layer. This layer is very dense. It also holds many organisms (plants and animals). Many plants like Bromeliads and Orchids live in this layer. This layer holds very many animals, like the poison dart frog, toucans,

butterflies, sloths, jaguars, and leopards. This layer doesn’t get as much sunlight as the emergent layer. The umbrella-shaped trees fan out in order to catch as much sunlight as possible. With almost every tree doing this, not very much light reaches the Forest Floor. Trees in

this layer are 60 to 130 feet tall. Many animals stay here because of the abundance of food.

Understory

The Understory Layer is Just under the Canopy and above the Forest Floor. This layer receives very little light, so for a small tree, growing bigger is very difficult. Animals like sloths, jaguars, and leopards live in this layer. This layer is very dense from high heat and humidity. In the Understory, trees can be up to 60 feet tall. This layer is made up of trunks of canopy trees, shrubs, and small trees. This layer is usually completely

shaded.

Forest Floor

The Forest Floor is at the very bottom of the rainforest. This is where trees begin growing. Giant Ant Eaters, beetles, frogs, lizards, snakes, and the anaconda are all animals that live on the Forest Floor. There isn’t very much light on the forest floor, except where a larger tree has

fallen. Only 2% of light reaches the Forest Floor. This is also where the Amazon River is located. The Amazon Rainforest is 4080 miles long. The topsoil in the Understory is very thin. The litter from the layers above is broken down by termites, earthworms, fungi and the heat and humidity. Many animals in this layer use camouflage, or blending in, to hide from potential predators.

Where is the Amazon Rainforest Located?

The Amazon Rainforest is located in South America. It is in the south western hemisphere. The coordinates are 0-15 degrees south latitude and 45-75 degrees west longitude. It is in the Tropic of Capricorn. The Amazon Basin covers over 2,722,000 square miles.

What are some benefits of the Amazon?

Many things come from the Amazon Rainforest. Some of them

we use in our daily lives without even realizing it. Things vary from food to medicine. We get things like cocoa beans (chocolate), cinnamon, bananas, sugar cane, rubber, pineapples, citrus fruits, mangoes, lemons, coconuts, tamarinds, and Brazilian nuts. More than 50% of the Earths oxygen comes from the rainforests.

Animals of the Amazon

Jaguars

There are many animals in the Amazon Rainforest as you know, and one of those many is a jaguar. A jaguar is a carnivore. A carnivore is an animal that eats only meat. Jaguars are predators; which means they hunt other animals. But this doesn’t mean they don’t have predators. Jaguars are threatened by humans, so

when human’s “habitat” expands, a jaguars decreases.

Jaguars tend to prey on things like crocodiles, snakes, monkeys, sloths, tapirs, turtles, eggs, frogs, and fish. A prey is an animal that is hunted by another organism. Jaguars are a type of big cat. They are an orange-tan color with black spots. Jaguars live in the canopy and understory. Their

habitat is usually in forests with high annual rainfall and is warm and humid. A habitat is the natural environment of an animal. Jaguars adapt to climb trees and survive the hot and humid climate of the Amazon Rainforest. An adaptation is changing to fit surroundings or requirements.

Poison Dart Frog

Poison Dart Frogs are small, poisonous frogs that come in many colors. They can come in colors like yellow, gold, copper, red, green, blue, or black. These frogs tend to prey on small insects ants, beetles, and termites. Scientists believe that the frogs get their poison from the insects they eat, not that the insects are poisonous, but the plants the insects eat are poisonous. Scientists back this theory up with

the fact that frogs raised in captivity and isolated from their natural habitat never develop poison. Poison Dart frogs live in the canopy, understory, and forest floor. These frogs have no predators besides humans because of their poison.

Scientists have developed a synthetic compound version of the frogs poison that show promising signs of being a pain killer. Poison dart frogs can live up to ten years in captivity. They live in Central and South America. The Poison Dart frog is in a fauna with the jaguar. A fauna is a group of organisms considered a whole; like, all the animals in the understory would be considered a whole, so they would be in a fauna together. forests with high annual rainfall and is warm and humid. A habitat is the natural environment of an animal. Jaguars adapt to climb trees and survive the hot and humid climate of the Amazon Rainforest. An adaptation is changing to fit surroundings or requirements.

Plants of the AmazonFoxglove

The Amazon Rainforest houses over half of the world’s species of plants, including over 2,500 species of vines. The Fox Glove flower is one of the many, many types of the flowers in the Amazon Rainforest; and like most flowers, the foxglove flower is an antidote. When the leaves of the flower are chewed it can cure things like snake bites, ease childbirth, and fevers. This flower lives on the forest floor. It lives in warm sunny areas, like in openings were trees have fallen. This flower looks like a bunch of grapes, but instead of grapes, they are shaped like bells. These flowers can range from, blue to black, yellow, orange

and pink; but the most common is the Purple Fox Glove.

White TrilliumThe White Trillium is another flower of

the Amazon Rainforest. This flower lives on the forest floor. The white trillium flower is in a flora with the fox glove. A flora is a group of plants considered a whole, like a fauna, but with plants. The white trillium flower contains digitalis, a substance used to treat heart problems. This flower has three, large, dark green leaves, three small, light green leaves and three white petals with an orange-yellow center.

What is the climate like in the Amazon?

In the Amazon Rainforest, it is very hot and humid. The Amazon Rainforest has a very high annual rainfall. The average rainfall for a year is usually 6ft. 8 inches, but over 50% is returned to the sky by the foliage before it even reaches the forest floor. It rains almost every day. The climate for the Amazon Rainforest is very hot and humid. Climate is the average weather of an area over a long period of time. In the chart above, the temperature for the Amazon Rainforest ranges from 27 degrees Celsius to 29 degrees Celsius, or about 77 degrees Fahrenheit. The highest recorded temperature was in Rivadavia South America as 120 degrees Fahrenheit, or 49 degrees Celsius. The Amazon rainforest covers part of nine different countries;

Brazil, French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador.

What eats what?

In the Amazon Rainforest, and everywhere else in the world, everything traces back to producers, like a plant. A Producer is a plant that gets its energy from the sun through photosynthesis. What happens is, when a jaguar eats a snake, he is eating something that eats beetles; and beetles eat leaves that get their energy from the sun. This is called a food chain. Another type of food chain is a food web. The pictures below and the picture on the following page are

an example of these.

Food Chain-Leaves beetle snake jaguar Decomposer

Food Web-

There are three types of animals. There are carnivores, omnivores, and herbivores. A carnivore is an animal that eats only meat, like a jaguar. An omnivore is an animal that eats both plants and

animals; and an herbivore is an animal that eats only plants.

There are also other kinds of animals; Producers, consumers, secondary consumers, and decomposers. A producer gets energy from the sun. Consumers are animals that get their energy by eating producers. Secondary consumers get their energy by eating consumers; and decomposers are animals that eat dead plants or animals. Examples of decomposers would be termites, worms, fungi, and algae.

Tribes of the Amazon Rainforest

Yanomami

The Yanomami tribe lives deep in the Amazon Rainforest. Since it is so hot in the Amazon Rainforest, they have little need for many clothes. Almost everything the Yanomami people have comes from the Rainforest. These people make circular houses called malocas. Over 40% of men

in the tribe have killed another man and 25% will die a violent death. There are over 200 separate Yanomami clans in the Amazon Rainforest. The Yanomami people believe that nature created itself and

is sacred. This is their culture, or way of life. This group is being influenced greatly by things like deforestation, conservation and ecotourism. This group is indigenous. Indigenous means they are originating and have the characteristics of a particular region or country. Nomad is the opposite of indigenous. A nomadic tribe is a tribe that

moves around instead of having a certain place for home.

Tatuyo

The Tatuyo Tribe is one of the many hundreds of tribes in the Amazon Rainforest. It is an indigenous tribe. The Tatuyo Tribe lives deep in the Amazon. It was first contacted in 1929. The tribes religion is based on the Ancient myths and the reality of the world mixed together. Because of the hot weather, there is little need for clothing. These people believe that before a man dies, he must take his hammock, his machete and anything valuable to him, and walk into the woods; when he reaches the other ‘’side’’ where he arrives at another maloca, where he is received by his dead parents.

Then, he sits in a hole for a year, and when he wakes up, he goes and takes a bath in the river, and when he returns to the maloca,

instead, it is where people live before being born. Tatuyo women make pottery; and the men make baskets, dugout canoes, blowguns, bows and arrows, and feather headdresses. In the Tatuyo tribe, ibis feathers are like money.

This tribe trades with the nearby tribe, Tukano. Things they trade include curare, manioc graters, and river-snail shells. This tribe has been

influenced greatly by the whites that come from the outside. Salt, axes, machetes, knives, guns, fishhooks, flashlights, aluminum and plastic containers, hammocks, clothing, radios, and outboard motors are all things that have been brought to the tribe by the White People. There are many Tatuyo clans, which each have their own area of land, which is legitimated by the origin myth.

What is happening to the rainforests?Many things are happening to the Rainforest; some are

good, though many could destroy the rainforest and all its benefits. One of these things is deforestation. Deforestation is the cutting down of trees in an area. Deforestation has affected the Amazon greatly.

Rainforests are cleared for farming, businesses, homes, and roads. It is deforested by things like chainsaws, bulldozers, and fires. Rainforests are being deforested because people are developing a desire for mahogany wood, and many other things that come from rainforests. The Amazon Rainforest is currently very large; so large that if it were a country, it

would be the ninth largest country in the world. But we still need to stop cutting down the rainforests; a way of doing this would be conservation. Conservation is official supervision to protect the environment. The Amazon Rainforest is also affected by ecotourism. Ecotourism is tourism to places with unspoiled natural resources, with minimal impact on the environment a primary concern.

This is Human/Environment interaction.

There are many physical features of the Amazon Rainforest. Some of them include trees, rivers, and anything that

appears in the rainforest naturally.

The world is affected by the rainforests in many ways. There used to be more than 14% of the world covered in rainforests, but now there is only 6% left. At this rate, the rainforests will be gone in 40 years; and with over 2000 cancer fighting ingredients in the rainforests, what do you think will happen if the rainforests disappear?

Sources Cited

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/rainforest.htm

http://www.srl.caltech.edu/personnel/krubal/rainforest/Edit560s6/www/what.html

http://www.unique-southamerica-travel-experience.com/amazon-rainforest-animals.htmlhttp://www.tigerhomes.org/animal/layers-rainforest.cfm

http://www.dictionary.comhttp://www.unique-southamerica-travel-experience.com/amazon-rainforest.htmlhttp://www.tigerhomes.org/animal/layers-rainforest.cfmhttp://library.thinkquest.org/04oct/01873/ama2.htm

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3458001266.html

http://www.everyculture.com/South-America/Tatuyo-Religion-and-Expressive-Culture.htmlhttp://indian-cultures.com/Cultures/yanomamo.html

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&safe=active&biw=1020&bih=463&gbv=2&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=amazon&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&safe=active&biw=1020&bih=463&gbv=2&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=amazon+tribes%2F+tatuyo&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&safe=active&biw=1020&bih=463&gbv=2&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=jaguar&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq= http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&safe=active&biw=1020&bih=463&gbv=2&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=cocoa+beans&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&safe=active&biw=1020&bih=463&gbv=2&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=foxglove+flower&aq=f&aqi=g1g-m2&aql=&oq=

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&safe=active&biw=1020&bih=463&gbv=2&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=white+triilium&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq= http://www.rain-tree.com/facts.htm http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.rainforests.net/rfnatives.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.rainforests.net/pictures.htm&usg=__LhtmOq4ZG1L9V8O3JypZwHSdklE=&h=238&w=340&sz=29&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=OJM__hGdQ_FUAM:&tbnh=156&tbnw=209&ei=RX-PTfjvGcyO0QHyn4CsCw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Drainforest%2Bdeforestation%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26biw%3D1020%26bih%3D463%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=739&oei=RX-PTfjvGcyO0QHyn4CsCw&page=1&ndsp=8&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0&tx=120&ty=47

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/amphibians/poison-frog/

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/Amazonia/Facts/fact-poisondartfrog.cfm

Do you see the animal?

This is an example of camouflage. (pg.4)

Do you see the animal in the picture?

Can you find the animal?

See how this snake is flying? Is this an adaptation or not? (pg.5)

What kind of animals is this; carnivore, omnivore, or herbivore? (pg.9)