Tropical rainforest

• Biodiversity


  A large variety of animal and plant life living in the same ecosystem
• Buttress roots

  • Large, thick tree roots that grow above the ground in tropical rainforests
• Camouflage


  An animal adaptation where animals purposefully look like their surroundings to hide from predators
• Canopy


  The layer of a tropical rainforest where the tops of trees touch, forming a dense area of vegetation
• Carbon sink

  Something that absorbs more carbon dioxide than it emits, causing a net loss of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
• Cattle ranching

  The rearing of cows on large areas of land, usually to produce meat to sell for a profit
• Clear felling


  A form of logging where all trees in an area are cut down
• Commercial farming


  Agriculture that is intended to create surplus produce to sell for a profit
• Debt-for-nature swaps

  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


  Organisms that break down organic material and release the nutrients back into the ecosystem
• Deforestation

  The permanent (and usually large-scale) removal of trees
• Drip-tip

  • An adaptation of a leaf where the end of the leaf is tapered, allowing rainwater to drip off
• Ecotourism

  Tourism that aims to have reduced environmental impact and supports conservation efforts, making it sustainable
• Epiphytes

  Plants that live on the surface of other plants, receiving nutrients from these plants
• Hydroelectric power

  Energy harnessed from the movement of water
• Interdependence


  The concept of multiple things depending on each other for survival
• Latosol


  An iron-rich, infertile soil found in tropical rainforests
• Leaching


  A process in soils where minerals are washed away by water (usually rainfall)
• Lianas


  • Woody vines found in tropical rainforests; their roots grow on the forest floor, but the vines stretch high into the canopy
• Logging


  The process of cutting down trees for wood
• Nutrient Cycling

  The movement of nutrients between organic and inorganic components of an ecosystem
• Plantations

  Farms where crops are grown in large amounts with the intention to sell for a profit
• Selective logging


  A form of logging where only certain trees are cut down to reduce the environmental effects of logging
• Subsistence farming

  Agriculture that is intended to produce only enough food for the farmer and their family to eat
• Transmigration


  A government scheme that aims to move people from overpopulated urban areas to underpopulated rural areas
• Tropical rainforest

  A warm, wet, biodiverse ecosystem located within the Tropics
• Understory


  The layer of a tropical rainforest that lies beneath the canopy but above the forest floor
• Tropical rainforests have high levels of biodiversity due to their warm climate and abundant water supply.
• economic impacts of the tropical rainforest

  Food - rainforests can produce food such as nuts, which forms part of the diet of local people in the Amazon.

  Cash crops - rainforests also produce cash crops, such as the development of wild coffee that resists disease