Tropical Rainforest

Question 1

What are epipyhtes?

Adaptation

Answer 1

Epiphytes are plants that grow on other plants.
In order to reach sunlight

Question 2

Soil fetility

Answer 2

Soil fertility is low in tropical rainforests because the heavy and frequent rain washes away the nutrients

Question 3

Tip drips

Adaptation

Answer 3

Allow heavy rain to drip off. This prevents algae growing, which could block sunlight and stop photosynthesis

Question 4

Butteress roots

Answer 4

Shallow layer of fertile soil, so trees only need shallow roots to reach the nutrience. However shallaw roots can’t support huge rainforest trees. These can strech from the ground to two metres or more to trunk

Question 5

Lianas

Answer 5

Liana roots are like woody creepers rooted to the ground but carried by trees into the canopy where they have leaves and flowers
(maximum sunlight recived)

Question 6

Flying lemur

Answer 6

Has a huge wingspan which allows it to glide between trees and isn’t acually a wing though more of growth skin. This way it consereves alot of energy in movement as it doesn’t need energy to reach food

Question 7

Tree frog

Answer 7

Have dry thumbs, so that in wet cinditions they can climb easily as they can grip on slipper surfaces. Large vocal sac

Question 8

Why is biodiversity so high in tropical rainforests ?

Answer 8

Biodiversity is so high in tropical rainforests because they have high rainfall and high temperature which leads to high humidity (perfect conditions for plants to thrive)

Question 9

Interdependence in tropical rainforests

Answer 9

Plants need water in order to grow
Plants contribute by evaportranspiration
(water cycle)

(water and plants)

Question 10

Issues related to biodiversity

Answer 10

Indigenous tribes being unable to survive their as they have to abandon their traditional lifestyle

Plants and animals species may become extinc - some before they have been discovered

Question 11

Why should tropical rainforests be protected?

Answer 11

28% of oxygen (lungs of the world)
Carbon sink
Medicine - 25% cancer fighting ingredients

Question 12

Climate of tropical rainforests

Answer 12

Same all year round
hot temperatures between 20-28 because the sun’s energy is more intense near the equator
rainfall is very high around 2000mm per year.
it rains everday

Question 13

Soil

Answer 13

The soil isn’t very fertile as heavy rain washes nutrience away.
There are surface nutrients due to decayed leaf fall, but this layer is very thin as decay is fast in the warm, moist conditions

Question 14

People

Answer 14

Many indigenous people have adapted to life in rainforests
They make a living by hunting, fishing and gathering nuts and berries
And growing vegetables in small garden plots

Question 15

Animal/biodiversity

Answer 15

Rainforest ecosystems are belived to contain more animals specoes than any other ecosystems
They contain 50% of the worlds planys animal and insect species
They dont have to cope with changing conditions and there is always plenty to eat

Question 16

Plants

Answer 16

Most trees are evergreen to help them take advantage og the continual growing season
Mant trees are tall and the vegeitation cover is dense- very little light reaches the forest floor

Question 17

What is commercial farming?

Answer 17

When the forest is cleared away to make space for cattle grazing (letting cows eat grass) or for huge plantations
Cattle ranching is onw of the main causes of deforestation in the Amazon
For example soy takes up 250,000km2 and rice, sugar canes and corn are also grown

Question 18

Subsistance farming

Answer 18

Forest is cleared by small-scale farmers who need land to grow craps for themselves and family
Many indigenous people are subsistance farmers

Question 19

Comercial logging

Answer 19

The amazin is full of valuable hardwood trees such as mahgony which makes logging extremely tempting to both legal and illegal businesses.

Question 20

How does mineral extraction lead to deforestation

Answer 20

Gold, iron ore and copper are mined and exploded to help boosts countries development.
Explosives are sometimes used to clear earth, and deep pits have to be dug to reach the mineral deposits

Question 21

Energy development

Answer 21

Building hydroelectric dams floods large areas of forest. The construction of the Bralbina Dam flooded 2400km of the rainforest

Question 22

How does population growth affect deforestation

Answer 22

Population growth and migration to the same area is putting pressure on the Amazon rain forest, especially as the Brazillian goverment offers land in the rainforest to poor people from overcrowed cities
For example many farmers have settled along the Trans-Amazonian Highway

Question 23

How does road building affect deforestation?

Answer 23

4000km of the Trans-Amazonian Highway connects the Brazilian coast to Peru
New roads built for logging have opened up areas that werepreviouslytoo hardbto get to, destroying and threating more of the forest

Question 24

How is replanting a sustainable management startegy for rainforests

Answer 24

This is when new trees are planted to replace the ones that are cut down
Its important that the type your planting matches the ones that were cut down
In some countries there are law that trees should be replanted after being cut down

Question 25

How is ecotourism a sustainable management strategy - tropical rainforest

Answer 25

• Ecotourism minimises damage to the environment and benifits local people
• Only small groups of visitors are allowed in an area at a time and rules are imposed to minimise environmental impacts
• Ecotourism provides a source of income for local people e.g. they can act as guides and help with transport. It can also raise awareness of the conservation issue and raise money to protect rainforests
• If local people are employed in tourism, they don’t have to log or farm to make money meaing a fewer trees are cut down

Question 26

How is selective logging a sustainable management strategy?

Answer 26

• Only some trees are cut like old ones meaning most trees remain
• Less damaging as the whole areas not being cleared leading to the forest structure being kept
• Canopy remains meaning remains and the soil isnt exposed
• Horse logging and helicopter logging are the least damaging

Question 27

Eduacation

Answer 27

• Educating international students about the impacts of deforestation which can encourage them to buy products from sustainable sources
• Local people might damage the forest (illegally logging) without realizing the the long term impacts
• Educating local people about the impacts of deforestation to help reduce damage
• Teaching people an alternative way to make money

Question 28

Hoe is reducing depth a sustainable managent strategy?

Answer 28

• Many tropical rainforests are found in lower income countries, which often borrow money from wealthier places like the world bank
• This leads to paying back with interest so poorer countries log farm and mine rainforests to make money to pay back the depth
• Reducing depth means countries don’t have to do this and rainforests can remain conserved
• But there is no guarntee that the money will be spent on this

Question 29

How is conservation a sustianably management strategy?

Answer 29

• Many countries have set up national parks and nature reserves within rainforests. In these areas damaging activities are restricted
• However a lack of funds can make it difficult to police the restrictions
• As a result some countries have set up funds which overseas goverments and businesses can invest in

Question 30

International hardwood agreements

Answer 30

Hardwood tends to be dense and hard so it’s often used in furinture
High demand for hardwood from consumers in richer countries means that some tropical hardwood trees are becoming increasingly rare as more are cut down
There are international agreements in place to try to prevent illegal logging, and to promote the use of hardwood from sustainablly managed forests