The Rainforest

Grade 4

Amy Richards and Emily Haggerty

How does the Rainforest benefit humans?Learning Outcomes:

Chapter 1: Students will be able to explain the climate and characteristics of a rainforest, and be able to identify the different levels of the strata. They should be able to list some animals found in the Rainforest.

Chapter 2: Students should be able to list benefits of the rainforest, as well as explain how those benefits affect their life. Chapter 3: Students will be able to explain what deforestation is and why it occurs. They will be able to see how deforestation directly may affect them and be able to brainstorm ideas they can do in their daily lives to help save the rainforests. Students will be able to describe the relationship between deforestation and global warming.

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Introduction: Welcome to the Rainforest 2

Chapter 1: Inside the Rainforest 3

Chapter 2: Benefits of the Rainforest 15

Chapter 3: Deforestation 21

Glossary 35

References 39

Have you ever wondered where some of our greatest resources have come from? Medicines, chocolate, and many other products that we enjoy have come from the oldest ecosystem on Earth, the Rainforest! Though this beautiful environment only covers a small portion of our Earth, the benefits that come from it are abundant.

Tall trees, rich soil, and plenty of rain have provided the perfect habitat for many plants and animals, many of which play a key role in balancing out this environment. Disruptions to the ecosystem can be detrimental to the inhabitants of the rainforest as well as the people around the world who rely on the goods they receive from the Rainforest.

ClimateA tropical rainforest is a wooded area full of tall trees. These are warm, humid, wet places found near the equator. A rainforest can get more than 200 inches of rain every year and the average temperature is 77°F.

Learning Target: Students will be able to explain the climate and characteristics of a rainforest, and be able to identify the different levels of the strata. They should be able to list some animals found in the Rainforest.

Guiding Questions:1. Describe the climate in the rainforest,

and explain why you would or would not want to live there.

2. For each of the four levels of the strata, identify an animal that would live there.

3. Why do you think rainforests thrive near the equator? (Hint: Use the definition of equator to help)

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LocationThe largest rainforests are found in

Central America, South America, Central Africa, and Southeast Asia. As you can see in the picture below, all of the Rainforests are found near the equator. Some of the best-known rainforests like the Amazon and Congo are actually located on the Equator where the temperatures and rainfall are high all year round.

The Amazon

The Amazon jungle is the world's largest tropical rainforest. The forest covers the basin of the Amazon, the world's second longest river.

The Amazon is home to the greatest variety of plants and animals on Earth. 20% of all the world's plants and birds and about and about 10% of all mammal species are found there. In the Amazon you can find over 2.5 million different species of insects and over 40,000 plant species!

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Africa

Central Africa holds the world's second largest rainforest. To the southeast, the large island of Madagascar was once intensively forested, but now much of it is gone.

Africa contains areas of high cloud forest, mangrove swamps and flooded forests. The island of Madagascar is home to many unique plants and animals that cannot be found anywhere else.

The Layers

A rainforest is really four layers of plants stacked one atop another. These are known as strata (zones). Starting at the top, the strata are:

● EMERGENTS: Giant trees that are much higher than the average canopy height and much windier. This is typically 250 feet high or more. It houses many birds and tribes of agile monkeys.

● CANOPY: The upper parts of the trees; made up of thick branches and leaves of taller trees. This leafy environment is full of life in a tropical rainforest and includes: insects, birds, reptiles, mammals, and more. There is a refreshing breeze up here with sunlight, creating this to be the most popular place to live in the jungle. Due to the height of the trees, the canopy stops most rain from reaching the forest below.

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● UNDERSTORY: A dark, hot environment under the leaves but over the ground. Plants grow here and trees will grow tall quickly; some vines grow to a half mile in length. There are leafy bushes and the tops of small trees here.

● FOREST FLOOR: The floor swarms with different insects, worms, land snails, frogs, toads, snakes, birds and small rodents. The largest animals (like jaguars)in the rainforest also generally live here.

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The Rainforest is home to many species of both plants and animals. Though the Rainforest only covers about 2% of our Earth, it is where about half of the world’s animal species lives. Plants and animals found in the rainforest have had invaluable benefits to people around the world. The abundant trees have provided the world with fresh oxygen, fruits, nuts, goods, medicines, and lumber.

Flowering plants, vines, trees, bushes, and carnivorous plants cover the Rainforest. One of the most fascinating plants in the Rainforest is the Venus Fly Trap. The Venus Fly Trap is known to actually eat insects, by trapping them in their mouth-like closure.

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Click HERE for a Virtual Rainforest

Water Animals

You may think that the Rainforest is only trees, plants, and animals roaming. Because of the great amount of rainfall, and the surrounding rivers, a large portion of the Rainforest is home to water animals. We know mostly about Amazonian animals like piranhas, but there are many others in the water.

Electric eels are one animal that roam the waters in the Amazon, and to much surprise you can also find dolphins!

Did you know that there is actually a pink dolphin in the Amazon waters?

Animals we are more familiar with when we think of the Rainforest, are the floor-dwelling animals. These are all of the jungle cats, snakes, insects, and other mammals. These animals are important to the environment and food cycle in the Rainforest. Want to learn about some more closely? ...

Floor Animals

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Activity:

Click HERE to pretend you are an explorer in the Rainforest! Research the animals you would find in each area, and answer the questions found at the beginning of the exploration! Bon Voyage!

The Big Top

The big top covers all of the animals in the tops of the trees, seeing the Rainforest from the best view. These are the animals like the exotic birds, three-toed sloths, monkeys, and some insects. These animals all play their own role in the Rainforest and enjoy the fruits and other foods straight from the trees.

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Learning Target: Students should be able to list benefits of the rainforest, as well as explain how those benefits affect their life.

Guided Questions:

1. List five products that you use that you think came from the Rainforest.

2. What do you think is the most important resource that we have from the Rainforest? Why?

Rainforests help to clean the world’s air and water. There is more to forests than just a massive collection of trees. It is a natural, complex ecosystem, made up of a wide variety of trees, that support a massive range of life forms.

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Habitat & EcosystemsRainforests serve as a habitat to

millions of animals. Animals form part of the food chain in the forests and all of these different plants and animals are called biodiversity. An ecosystem is the interaction between one another with their physical environment. The healthier ecosystems can recover and withstand a variety of disasters such as floods and wildfires.

Climate ControlRainforests are extremely significant to

the world’s climate and to the health of our environment. Trees and other plants in the rainforests retain billions of tons of carbon in their trunks, stems, and leaves.Trees cleanse our atmosphere by absorbing the carbon dioxide that we exhale and provide the oxygen that we need to breath.

It is believed that the Amazonian forests alone store over half of the Earth's rainwater! Rainforest trees draw water from the forest floor and release it back into the atmosphere in the form of swirling mists and clouds. Rainforests are constantly recycling huge quantities of water by feeding the rivers and without this, droughts would become more common.

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FoodAbout 80% of all of the

developed world's food originally came from the rainforests.

Fruits like avocado, coconuts, oranges, lemons, grapefruits, bananas, pineapples, mangoes and tomatoes can all be found in the world’s rainforests. Also, there are many vegetables such as: maize or sweetcorn, potatoes, and winter squash. Nuts such as Brazil, cashew and macadamia originated from the rainforests along with spices such as vanilla, ginger and cinnamon. People rely on rainforests as the source of many products and without the rainforests we will be directly affected as well.

MedicineNot only do our rainforests provide food, but they are also a wonderful pharmacy. One hundred and twenty one prescription drugs, medicines that can make us feel better, come from plant-derived sources. Ginger is also used to treat indigestion and colds which is found from the rainforest.

Do your parents love coffee? Tell them to thank the Rainforest for coffee beans!

….Did you know?

More than 20% of the world's oxygen is produced in the Amazon Rainforest. This has earned the area the name The Lungs of The Planet.

The Amazon Basin holds one-fifth of the world's fresh water.

More than half the world's approximately 10 million species of plants, animals and insects live in the tropical rainforests.

Rainforests once covered an estimated 14% of the earth's surface. They now cover less than 6%. At current rates of loss, the rainforests will be completely gone in forty years.

Currently, over 120 drugs come from plant-derived sources. Of the 3000 plants identified by the US National Cancer Institute as active against cancer cells, 70% come from rainforests.

Rainforests are extremely important because the water they produce is evaporated and then used as rain in other areas.

At least 3,000 fruits are found in the rainforests.

The number of species of fish in the Amazon exceeds the number found in the entire Atlantic Ocean.

The biodiversity of the tropical rainforest is so immense that less than 1 percent of its millions of species have been studied by scientists for their active constituents and their possible uses So, when one acre of the rainforest is destroyed the loss is HUGE!

Activity:Imagine a future scenario, in 500 years,

in which the world has regained most of its forests. What happened? How and why did the forests regrow? Write a one-page story. Describe the forests in the present tense. Describe what happened in the past tense. What are the benefits of having these forests around? How is it helpful to people?

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Learning Target: Students will be able to explain what deforestation is and why it occurs. They will be able to see how deforestation directly may affect them and be able to brainstorm ideas they can do in their daily lives to help save the rainforests. Students will be able to describe the relationship between deforestation and global warming.

Guided Questions:1. What is the leading cause of

Deforestation?2. List one way how deforestation may

directly impact you.3. What are scientists determining will

happen to rainforests in the future? What evidence backs this up.

4. What are the negative consequences of deforestation? For people? For animals? For the environment?

What is deforestation?

Deforestation is when humans remove or clear large areas of forest lands and related ecosystems for non-forest use. These include clearing for farming purposes, ranching and urban use. In these cases, trees are never re-planted.

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CausesThe leading cause of deforestation is agriculture. There are however, several other reasons, for example, to be used, sold or exported as timber, wood or fuel (logging). People also want to create more space for human settlement and urbanization (these include making space for shelter, industries and roads).“Rainforests used to cover 14% of the Earth, and now we only have 6% left. Every second, a section the size of a football field is cut down. Scientists estimate that in about 40 years, the 6% will be gone as well. In rainforests, the most valuable asset to people is the amount of wood. In time, the impacts of deforestation will become obvious.”

What can we do?Deforestation doesn’t happen overnight; this is a slow process that slowly kills the forests. It is significant to be aware that small actions make a big difference. If everyone made a small change in their daily lives, the impact may be huge. There are many different actions we can do in our daily lives.

➢ 3R: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle ➢ Eat organic foods- many pesticides

and insecticides kill off the insects that need nutrients as well.

➢ Avoid jewelry that has been mined.➢ Turn off lights, television, turn down

heat, and unplug chargers when you are not home. Saving electricity is very important and very easy to do!

➢ Save water by taking shorter baths and showers.

➢ At the grocery store, bring a reusable bag instead of the plastic bags.

➢ Make a conscious decision to share this information with friends :)

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★ Social:

❏ Medicine- Many of the medicines that are used today come from the rainforests. By destroying the plants of the region, humans lose potential medicines that may help to cure diseases. There are more than 121 natural remedies in the rain forest which can be used as medicines.

❏ Many indigenous people live in rainforests. When they lose their homes due to deforestation, much culture goes with them as well. Deforestation hurts them because their natural resources for their way of life are taken away.

There are environmental and social impacts:

★ Environmental:

❏ Extinction- The rainforest is home to many species; cutting down the rainforests will only result in losing species.Up to 28,000 species are expected to become extinct by the next quarter of the century due to deforestation.

❏ Habitat Loss- Organisms are losing their homes through deforestation which will cause them to disappear.

❏ Soil erosion- Deforestation is removing the plants which will result in rain washing away the nutrients in the soil.

❏ Climate Change- Deforestation will result in a hot and dry temperature which will create hazard to the native species. Increase in global warming may also occur.

❏ Pollution-The ground, air, and water become polluted from the mining.

Impacts

The rainforest is slowing disintegrating,Getting chopped down for our needs,And whilst we are all debating,We need to plant more seeds.

So when we cut down the trees,We should help the animals around,What you need to plant is an extra three,For when that tree hits the ground.

They help us with medicines, when we are ill,However we still chop them to the ground,Think about all those poor creatures we kill,Petrifying them with the sound.

Provide homes for people that live there,Or make things around the house,From tables to even the kitchen chair,But this can kill cats to even a mouse.

And there are many things that we can do,Not just sit there and let it materialize,We CAN save those animals to,And to the World we have to open our eyes.

The rainforest is slowing disintegrating,Getting chopped down for ALL our needs,And whilst we are all debating,We Have To Stop These Bad Deeds!

By Sian Mein

Deforestation

Think about it:

● Decode this poem and explain it in your own terms.

● Take out key ideas and create a diagram of what we can do to help the rainforests.

● Create a new poem about the benefits of the forest and why it is significant to not cut the trees down.

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Deforestation is one of the causes of global warming. When you deplete the rainforest, you are getting rid of the trees that inhabit the forest. These trees are what help stabilize the world’s climate by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is believed to contribute to climate change through global warming. This climate change then cycles back to harming the Rainforests’ ecosystem.

Global warming is the term used to describe a

gradual increase in the average temperature of

the Earth's atmosphere and its oceans, a

change that is believed to be permanently

changing the Earth's climate.

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How Does This Affect the Rainforest?

The Rainforest is no stranger to hot temperatures being so close to the equator, but the biggest problem for the Rainforest is change. Any change in an ecosystem can cause various problems.

One of the problems caused by global warming is the affects it has on the plants and animals. Plants and animals that are used to a certain climate could perish from a change in the temperature. Plants and animals that are able to adapt may be able to live with the changes caused by global warming.

Another problem that is a result of global warming is decreased rainfall. Temperature is a major factor in the amount of rainfall an environment might have. In a habitat like the rainforest, rainfall is extremely important. Plants rely on the constant rainfall in the Rainforest. Without it, plants are forced to either adapt or die.

How Does This Affect People?

You may think that the depletion of the Rainforest has no affect on you, right?! Wrong. As seen in the previous chapter, the Rainforest provides people with food, medicines, and other beneficial resources. Not only does it provide us with tangible goods, but it also provides us with the greatest resource of them all- fresh oxygen. The depletion of the Rainforest due to deforestation is problematic and detrimental to the Earth and our survival.

Act Like a ScientistWhat you need:

Assorted sun-loving plantsFlower boxWater

As a class, create your own “Rainforest” with your assorted plants. You will give them plenty of water and sunlight, like they receive in the Rainforest. After a week, your “Rainforest” is affected by global warming, which causes an increase in temperature, and a decrease in Rainfall. You can stop giving your flowers water but still give them sunlight.

1. What will happen if you stop giving your “Rainforest” water?

2. Use your research to think about how global warming affects plants.

3. Construct a hypothesis about what you think will happen to your “Rainforest” over time without the water.

4. Collect data daily from observations of your “Rainforest”

5. Analyze your data and draw a conclusion6. Report your results. Was your hypothesis

correct?

Culminating Activity

Write a persuasive letter to the construction workers in the Rainforest, explaining to them why they can’t cut down the trees in the rainforest.

Things you can include:

● What you love about the Rainforest.

● How the Rainforest filters our air.

● The affects on people if there were no longer a Rainforest.

● Ways that they can help instead.

● Why they should listen to your persuasive letter.

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Canopy Layer- The upper parts of the trees; made up of thick branches and leaves of taller trees. This layer catches most water and is a roof to the remaining two layers. Deciduous forest- a type of forest characterized by trees that seasonally shed their leaves deforestation- the cutting down and removal of all or most of the trees in a forested area ecosystem- a system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their environment Emergents Layer- The tallest trees are the emergents, towering as much as 250 feet above the forest floor with trunks that measure up to 16 feet around. Most of these trees are broad-leaved, hardwood evergreens. Sunlight is plentiful up here. Equator- an imaginary line drawn around the earth equally distant from both poles, dividing the earth into northern and southern hemispheres

Forest Floor- The base of the forest; the soil, plants, and animals that inhabit the bottom layer of the forest

Global warming- a gradual increase in the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere and its oceans, a change that is believed to be permanently changing the Earth's climate. habitat- the natural environment of an organism; place that is natural for the life and growth of an organism Rain forest- a tropical forest, usually of tall, densely-growing, broad-leaved evergreen trees in an area of high annual rainfall strata- layers Temperate- moderate in respect to temperature; not subject to prolonged extremes of hot or cold weather Understory Layer- The part of a forest with a dark, hot environment under the leaves but over the ground. Plants grow here and trees will grow tall quickly; some vines grow to a half mile in length. There are leafy bushes and the tops of small trees here.

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Greenwood, Elinor. Rain Forest. DK Pub., 2013. Print.

Katz, Susan. Looking for Jaguar and Other Rainforest Poems. Greenwillow, 2005. Print.

PBS. PBS. Web. 20 Feb. 2015. <http://www.pbs.org/journeyintoamazonia/bigtop.html>.

Seymour, Simon. Tropical Rainforests. HarperCollinsPublishers, 2010. Print.

"Zoom Rainforest - Enchanted Learning Software." Zoom Rainforest - Enchanted Learning Software. Web. 10 Feb. 2015. <http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/rainforest/>.