1 Amazon Rainforest Allyson Q.

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Block 1- ScienceBlock 5- Social Studies

1. Introduction……………………………………….………pg. 22. Physical Features…………………………….………….pg. 33. Layers…………………………………………………………pg. 44. Saving the Rainforest…………….……………..…….pg. 65. The Grapefruit…………….………………………………pg. 76. Water Hyacinth…………………………………………..pg. 87. Manatee……………………………………………………..pg. 98. Pink River Dolphin……………………………………….pg. 109. The Yanomami Tribe……………………………………pg. 1110. Yanomami Images………………………..…………pg. 1211. The Machiguenga Tribe……………………………pg. 1312. Machiguenga Images………………………….……pg. 1413. Food Web…………………………….………………….pg. 1514. Conclusion……………………………………………….pg. 16

Allyson Quesinberry Amazon Rainforest

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Block 1- ScienceBlock 5- Social Studies

What is a rainforest? Well, it is a large forest that is near the equator.

Since it is near the equator, it would be a tropical forest, and it would be humid. And, since it was humid it would be very rainy, hence the name rainforest. In a rainforest it has densely grown evergreen trees such as mahogany and pine. The trees have large, broad leaves to catch rainwater for animals high up in the upper levels.

Now that you know about the rainforest, lets journey deeper to learn more!

Now that you know what a rainforest is, where is the Amazon Rainforest? Well, it is in nine of South America’s countries. They are Brazil, Peru, Columbia, Guyana, French Guiana, Suriname, Bolivia, Venezuela, and Ecuador. It is 45o west, 70o west, 5o north, and 15o south. Really, most people think that the Amazon is in the south, but it is in the Northwestern and the Southwestern hemispheres.

Allyson Quesinberry Amazon Rainforest

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Block 1- ScienceBlock 5- Social Studies

We are killing animals. We are killing plants. We are destroying. We are deforesting. We are cutting down trees, putting them on fire, all for ourselves. We are using the rainforest for our own personal reasons and we never replace any of it. We need to help the rainforest. Just think about it. As we cut down, we are killing ourselves.

There are companies looking to save the rainforest. They are conservation companies. We need to help those companies so we will not die. We need to be ecotourist. We have to leave the rainforest how we find it. If we do mess it up, we need to replace it. Do you want our kids not to see a rainforest or our grandkids not to know what one is? This is the reason we need to save it.

Allyson Quesinberry Amazon Rainforest

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Block 1- ScienceBlock 5- Social Studies

The first climate map shows 5 of the 8 climates in South America. The Amazon has two major climate areas. They are tropical wet and tropical dry. The darker pink shows tropical wet. The lighter pink is tropical dry. The green is humid subtropical. The highlands

are gray. Lastly, the yellow is steppe.

The next one is the land cover map. It shows what part of the rainforest that has been cut down, is left, or never had any rainforest covering it. The light green area is the deforested area or the area that was cut down. The dark green is the remaining area that has not been cut down. The brown never had rainforest covering it

Allyson Quesinberry Amazon Rainforest

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Block 1- ScienceBlock 5- Social Studies

There are 4 main layers of the rainforest. They are the emergent, canopy, understory, and the forest floor. They start from about 200 feet above the forest floor to the very bottom

at the forest floor. The emergent layer at the very top, has the tallest trees peeking out.

The emergent layer is at the very top of the rainforest and has the tallest trees emerging. Usually, the trees that are in the emergent layer are big, hardwood evergreens. They have broad leaves to soak up the rain and sun light. They have the most sunlight and rain than the rest of the forest below them because, first come, and first served.

Different animals live in the emergent layer such as eagles, monkeys, bats, and butterflies. The monkeys swing through the trees grabbing onto the branches as they go. The bats, butterflies, and eagles fly through the air and perch on the branches when they need to.

The next layer is the canopy layer. It still has some tall trees, but they aren’t as tall as those in the emergent layers.

Allyson Quesinberry Amazon Rainforest

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Block 1- ScienceBlock 5- Social Studies

The leaves are smooth and round to cover the layers beneath it. Also, since it still gets tons of sunlight, it has abundant food for the animals that live there. Snakes, toucans, and tree frogs live there. The snakes have branches to wrap around, toucans can perch on branches to rest, and tree frogs can hop from tree to tree.

The next layer is the understory. The understory layer has large leaves to soak up the little sunlight that it gets. There are many animals that live there such as jaguars, red eyed tree frogs, leopards, and lots of insects. The jaguar and leopards drag their prey into the branches to eat them away from other animals such as scavengers.

Lastly is the forest floor. It’s on the very bottom where animals such as giant ant eaters live. It’s dark, damp and things decay quickly. Decomposers are all over the forest floor break down the dead organisms down on the floor.

Allyson Quesinberry Amazon Rainforest

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Block 1- ScienceBlock 5- Social Studies

The rainforest is very dear to the Earth. It makes 80% of Earth’s oxygen, and we all need the oxygen to survive. People are cutting down the rainforest, which is called deforestation, and we are losing oxygen by the minute. People in Europe all know that the oxygen from the rainforests travels to Europe, so every year; they provide money to save the trees.

The people that deforest the rainforest are mainly trying to use the land for cattle ranching or mining. They usually just leave the land just how they last used it. We need to conserve the rainforest. There are organizations trying to save the rainforest. If you ever go to the rainforest, be an eco-tourist. That means you leave the area like you found it. Don’t cut down or burn the trees, throw your trash on the ground, or go past certain areas in the rainforest. If you go past certain areas, your scent may stay there and animals may not live there anymore.

Allyson Quesinberry Amazon Rainforest

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Block 1- ScienceBlock 5- Social Studies

The grape fruit is an Amazon producer. It is orange on the outside and either pink or white on the inside. The tribes of the Amazon eat the grapefruit. The grape fruit is a producer that lives on small trees or

tall bushes in the understory. The foliage uses sunlight and creates food through photosynthesis. The grapefruit can be used for different things such as medicine and food.

Allyson Quesinberry Amazon Rainforest

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Block 1- ScienceBlock 5- Social Studies

The water hyacinth is a beautiful producer that is not permitted in Texas. Texans, please do NOT give this to your relatives. Its flowers are in clumps of tiny flowers. Their foliage collects the sunlight and creates food through the process of photosynthesis. They live in the rivers in the understory layer. One of their only predators is the manatee. The flowers are so pretty that in most states, excluding Texas, people use them in their ponds to make their ponds pretty.

Allyson Quesinberry Amazon Rainforest

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Block 1- ScienceBlock 5- Social Studies

The manatee, or the ‘sea cow’, is an amazing animal. Its large tail lets it move through the water quickly, while its upper lip helps it eat its prey. Its main predators are the jaguar and caiman. It eats one of my plants, the water hyacinth, but also water lettuce and floating grass. Sometimes it has camouflage to the bottom of the rivers if they are darker.

The sea cow is a wrinkly water mammal that’s habitat is in floodplain lakes and channels in the rainforest. We keep them at zoos here and they are wonderful animals!

Allyson Quesinberry Amazon Rainforest

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Block 1- ScienceBlock 5- Social Studies

The pink river dolphin is pink, with a long beak with teeth for holding and breaking up its prey. Its habitat is in the rivers of the Amazon Basin. There it finds its prey of river fish, catfish, piranha, and crustaceans to feast on. It uses its adaptations to find its prey. First, it must find it with its audible sonar. Then it must use its powerful tail to go and retrieve the prey.

Sometimes it meets its fate, humans. We are the river dolphin’s main predators. The Amazon tribes kill and eat this animal for food.

Allyson Quesinberry Amazon Rainforest

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Block 1- ScienceBlock 5- Social Studies

The Yanomami tribe is a large indigenous and nomadic tribe in the Amazon. They are one of the many tribes that are becoming westernized. They live in a village with their families. They have large gathering places in the middle of the village for eating and gathering for fun. For shelters, they use large trees and palm leaves. In the middle of the village, they have a large plaza dedicated to their gods.

They use different products for different uses. They use the trees for shelter or lumber. Another use is eating animals, such as monkeys, for food. Today, some use shot guns instead of bows and arrows to hunt. They traded it with people outside of the rainforest. That is an example of movement. There is one man in the village has a few bullets and a shot gun to go find something to eat. He is the most skilled hunter, so they chose him to use the shot gun.

They still keep in touch with their old culture with collecting, hunting, fishing, making things, and cooking. They are an amazing tribe, but they are different then us.

The tribe uses canoes and walk around the rainforest. They trade and share ideas that

Allyson Quesinberry Amazon Rainforest

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Block 1- ScienceBlock 5- Social Studies

Allyson Quesinberry Amazon Rainforest

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Block 1- ScienceBlock 5- Social Studies

Another indigenous and nomadic tribe is the Machiguenga tribe. These are not as much westernized then the Yanomami, so they are still kind of old fashioned. They still hunt with bows and arrows and tell stories for entertainment. They have one big house in the middle of the village for weaving, gathering, and eating as a family.

When the men marry, they move to their wife’s village to live with her family. Then the same thing happens with their sons, and more men come to the village as others leave.

The Machiguenga tribe uses nuts, animals, and fruits for their food. They make large, long bows and arrows to shoot the animals down, while the father climbs up the tree to cut down nuts or fruit.

They always tell stories of their ancestors, when the Inca’s came and traded, and other stories. The kids love the stories and they love their animals, too. The families take in hurt or orphaned animals and bring them in as pets.

Allyson Quesinberry Amazon Rainforest

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Block 1- ScienceBlock 5- Social Studies

Allyson Quesinberry Amazon Rainforest

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Block 1- ScienceBlock 5- Social Studies

The polypore fungi is my decomposer. It eats all these organisms when they are dead. My producers are algae, the water hyacinth, and grapefruit. They all create food through photosynthesis. Then there are my consumers. They are humans, jaguars, manatees, pink river dolphins, and fish. The humans are omnivoures, manatees and some of the fish are the herbivours, and the other fish, jaguars, and pink river dolphins are carnivoures.

Allyson Quesinberry Amazon Rainforest

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Block 1- ScienceBlock 5- Social Studies

We need the rainforest. It produces 80% of the oxygen we use, even oxygen in Europe. That is why countries in Europe are paying milliojns of dollars to save the rainforest. We need to help. We are losing oxygen when ever we cut down trees. We can help save the trees, animals, plants, and ourselves. We are dying because of this. Do you want to lose your life? What are you going to do?

Allyson Quesinberry Amazon Rainforest

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Block 1- ScienceBlock 5- Social Studies

http://www.srl.caltech.edu/personnel/krubal/rainforest/Edit560s6/www/whlayers.html www.dictionary.refrence.com www.manatees.net http://inkinpink.wordpress.com/ http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/info-books/manatee/habitat-&-distribution.htm http://junglephotos.com/amazon/amanimals/ammammals/manateenathist.shtml http://library.thinkquest.org/J0110164/Species/amazon_river_dolphin.htm http://seapics.com/feature-subject/dolphin-and-porpoise/pink-river-dolphin-pictures-002.html http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=337 http://secondnaturearomatics.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=209 http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/plant-identification/alphabetical-index/water-hyacinth/ http://www.krisweb.com/krissheepscot/krisdb/html/krisweb/stream/nutrients.htm http://www.rainforestanimals.net/amazonrainforest.html http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/amazon.htm http://www.brazil-travel-guide.com/Brazil-Weather.html http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/Amazonia/Facts/basinfacts.cfm http://www.crystalinks.com/yanomami.html http://www.nativewiki.org/Yanomami http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=63ED3999-871A-4562-A615-

7DE647D0F5A8&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US# http://www.greengrants.org/2003/11/13/peru-indigenous-machiguenga-people-work-to-influence-camisea-pipeline/ http://www.inkawasitravel.com/english/geography-information-peru/madre-de-dios-peru-information/manu-

reserved-zone-people.htm http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/91576-add-coments-post-pictures http://www.birdorable.com/free-comment-graphics/rainforest/ http://www.bio.ilstu.edu/Armstrong/leftoverimages/crtrip/crimages/rfundrsty.htm http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/salatlog.htm http://globalwarming.house.gov/impactzones/amazon http://keep3.sjfc.edu/students/alh00804/e-port/msti%20260/rainforest%20layers.html\

Allyson Quesinberry Amazon Rainforest