By: Michael G. B1

What is a Rainforest?

A rainforest is a tall tropical forest, with densely growing foliage, which is the leaves on a plant or leaves in general. Rainforests have a high average rainfall and holds half the world’s plants and animals. But the rainforest that this book will be talking about is the Amazon Rainforest. The Amazon Rainforest is located in northern South America and the exact location of the Amazon Rainforest is 75˚south-15˚west, 15˚west-75˚north, 40˚south-15˚west, 40˚south-15˚west. It is located in the north-west and south-west hemispheres.

Brazil, Columbia, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia,

Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana all contain parts of the Amazon.

The Layers of the RainforestThere are four layers of the rainforest. The first layer

is the forest floor, it is the bottom layer and is on the forest floor, it is very dark because very little sunlight can get down to it. Small plants, bugs, and giant ant eaters live here.

The next layer of the rainforest is the understory

layer; it is above the forest floor but below the canopy. Still very little sunlight reaches this layer; it is home to 12 ft plants, frogs, leopards, and jaguars.

The canopy layer is above the understory layer but under the emergent layer. This is the primary layer and has smooth oval leaves. Many animals live in this layer they include snakes, birds, tree frogs, and many types of monkeys.

The last and highest layer of the rainforest is the emergent layer, it is located at the top of the trees. Some trees can reach heights of up to 200 feet tall! Eagles, monkeys, bats, and butterflies live here.

Climate

Climate is the average weather over a period of time. In the Amazon Rainforest it is very hot and humid, the average temperature is 79˚farenheit. In the Amazon Rainforest it rains almost every day, the average rainfall is 80 inches!

The climate zones are tropical dry and wet.

Squirrel MonkeyThe squirrel monkey’s head and chest are gray

and white. The limbs and back are orange and yellow. The habitat, which is where an animal lives and can have shelter, is the middle canopy and also live near streams and rivers. The only predator of

the squirrel monkey is the eagle. A predator is an organism that hunts and eats other organisms for energy to survive. The diet of the squirrel monkey mainly consists of insects but sometimes they will eat leaves. The squirrel monkey has many adaptations, an adaptation is an ability or characteristic that improves an organisms ability to survive and reproduce in a certain environment. It has special thumbs that help it to swing from tree to tree. Also their thighs are extremely strong this helps them to jump a lot farther. The squirrel monkey is an omnivore because it eats both plants and insects.

The JaguarThe jaguar is yellow with

black spots, they can be up to 6 feet in length and stand up to 3 feet tall. The habitat of the jaguar is the forest floor, it lives in dry and grassy parts. The jaguar faces no threat except for humans. The jaguar hunts down many animals for prey. They eat armadillos, monkeys,

sloths, tapir, fish, peccaries, and many others. The jaguar also has adaptations, it’s claws and teeth help hold its prey and it’s spotted coat serves

as good camouflage. This coat helps it blend in with its surroundings to quietly stalk its prey. Like the squirrel monkey the jaguar is a consumer because it eats other organisms to survive. Also the jaguar is a carnivore because it only eats meat.

The FoxgloveThe foxglove consists of

closely bunched flowers that are bright pink or purple. The habitat of the foxglove is sunny places but some shade and also it likes to grow in soil. The only predator of the foxglove is the aphid. The foxglove also can be used for

slowing down a humans heart beat. The foxglove does not need to eat other organisms, which is any form of life. It does not need to eat other organisms because it is producer, producers produce their own food to survive by doing a process called photosynthesis. This is the process at which a plant uses sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to make their food.

The CattleyaThe cattleya comes in bright

colors that include purple, yellow, and orange. The cattleya grows in the high canopy. The predator of the cattleya is the greenfly. People grow the cattleya and sell them to people which they use for decoration.

Food Web

This food web consists of consumers, producers, and decomposers. Decomposers break down the dead bodies other organisms for energy. This also consists of carnivores, omnivores, and herbivores. Herbivores are organisms that only eat vegetation.

Yanomami

The yanomami live in the part of the Amazon in Brazil. They live in small villages and make huts out of wood and leaves from the rainforest. They hunt fish and other animals also they tend gardens without damaging the rainforest. Their culture is very religious and traditional. Culture is the way of life of a group of people. The Yanomami is an indigenous tribe which means originating from or native to a certain place. Some products that they get from the rainforest are crops that include sugar cane, sweet potato, bananas, and tobacco. Also they get a rubber like substance from trees called latex.

Ticuna The Ticuna live in Peru, Columbia, and Brazil.

They live by many traditions and ceremonies that sometimes have to the phases of the moon. They pass their way of life down the generations and try to keep it that way. They make their shelter out of wood like the Yanomami. The products that they

get from the rainforest include woven baskets, clay for pottery, and food.

MovementPeople get around the rainforest in many ways.

They include trucks, boats, rafts, and walking on foot. There have been many roads built in the rainforest to allow better transportation. Also many roads have been built to ship out timber, mining products, and many other things. Ideas are exchanged between natives and urban area by ecotourism. Ecotourism is tourism having unspoiled natural resources; it contributes to the safety of the environment.

Human/Environment InteractionOne of the ways humans effect the

environment is by deforestation, which is the cutting down of trees. Some examples of deforestation are loggers cutting down trees for timber, miners have to

clear a large area of trees to mine. Also farmers raise cattle and to do that they have to cut down trees. Ecotourism is another example of human/environment interaction. Native tribes of the Amazon give tours to teach people the importance of the safety of the rainforest. The example of human/environment interaction is conservation. Conservation is the act of conserving or saving something which in this case is the Amazon rainforest. An example of conservation is native tribes getting food and resources from the rainforest without damaging it. Another example is people planting trees in the rainforest. The environment also affects humans in many ways. The rainforest supplies us with many medicines and other products. A lot of the world’s medicines come from plants in the rainforest. Also we get timber, mining products and South America gets food from farmers in the rainforest.

If the rainforest goes

many plants that are used to treat cancer and many other diseases will go too. Also thousands of animals will die because they will have no home. So take action and see what you can do to help the rainforest.

Resourceshttp://www.zooschool.ecsd.net/squirrel%20monkey.htm

http://rainforest-alliance.org/kids/species-profiles/jaguar?gclid=CLWhwsTV36cCFce7KgodCSMHAA

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/amazon-rainforest-climate.html

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/Amazonia/Facts/basinfacts.cfm

http://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/yanomami

http://www.micktravels.com/peru/transportation.html

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

http://library.thinkquest.org/04oct/01873/ama2.htm

http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-maps/world-map-with-latitude-and-longitude.html