Tropical Rainforests

• Biodiversity refers to a large variety of animal and plant life living in the same ecosystem.
• Buttress roots are large, thick tree roots that grow above the ground in tropical rainforests.
• Camouflage is an animal adaptation where animals purposefully look like their surroundings to hide from predators.
• The canopy is the layer of a tropical rainforest where the tops of trees touch, forming a dense area of vegetation.
• A carbon sink is something that absorbs more carbon dioxide than it emits, causing a net loss of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
• Cattle ranching is the rearing of cows on large areas of land, usually to produce meat to sell for a profit.
• Clear felling is a form of logging where all trees in an area are cut down.
• Commercial farming is agriculture that is intended to create surplus produce to sell for a profit.
• Debt-for-nature swaps are agreements where one country reduces the amount of debt owed by another country in return for the owing country putting efforts into environmental conservation.
• Decomposers are organisms that break down organic material and release the nutrients back into the ecosystem.
• Deforestation is the permanent (and usually large-scale) removal of trees.
• A drip-tip is an adaptation of a leaf where the end of the leaf is tapered, allowing rainwater to drip off.
• Ecotourism is tourism that aims to have reduced environmental impact and supports conservation efforts, making it sustainable.
• Epiphytes are plants that live on the surface of other plants, receiving nutrients from these plants.
• Hydroelectric power is energy harnessed from the movement of water.
• Interdependence is the concept of multiple things depending on each other for survival.
• Latosol is an iron-rich, infertile soil found in tropical rainforests.
• Leaching is a process in soils where minerals are washed away by water (usually rainfall).
• Lianas are woody vines found in tropical rainforests; their roots grow on the forest floor, but the vines stretch high into the canopy.
• Logging is the process of cutting down trees for wood.
• Nutrient Cycling is the movement of nutrients between organic and inorganic components of an ecosystem.
• Plantations are farms where crops are grown in large amounts with the intention to sell for a profit.
• Selective logging is a form of logging where only certain trees are cut down to reduce the environmental effects of logging.
• Subsistence farming is agriculture that is intended to produce only enough food for the farmer and their family to eat.
• Biodiversity refers to a large variety of animal and plant life living in the same ecosystem.
• Transmigration is a government scheme that aims to move people from overpopulated urban areas to underpopulated rural areas.
• Buttress roots are large, thick tree roots that grow above the ground in tropical rainforests.
• Tropical rainforest is a warm, wet, biodiverse ecosystem located within the Tropics.
• Camouflage is an animal adaptation where animals purposefully look like their surroundings to hide from predators.
• Understory is the layer of a tropical rainforest that lies beneath the canopy but above the forest floor.
• The canopy is the layer of a tropical rainforest where the tops of trees touch, forming a dense area of vegetation.
• A carbon sink is something that absorbs more carbon dioxide than it emits, causing a net loss of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
• Cattle ranching is the rearing of cows on large areas of land, usually to produce meat to sell for a profit.
• Clear felling is a form of logging where all trees in an area are cut down.
• Commercial farming is agriculture that is intended to create surplus produce to sell for a profit.
• Debt-for-nature swaps are agreements where one country reduces the amount of debt owed by another country in return for the owing country putting efforts into environmental conservation.
• Decomposers are organisms that break down organic material and release the nutrients back into the ecosystem.
• Deforestation is the permanent (and usually large-scale) removal of trees.
• A drip-tip is an adaptation of a leaf where the end of the leaf is tapered, allowing rainwater to drip off.
• Ecotourism is tourism that aims to have reduced environmental impact and supports conservation efforts, making it sustainable.