The living world

• Buttress roots


  Support tall trees in the shallow, nutrient poor soil
• Canopy


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


  The permanent removal of trees
• Drip-tip


  Allows heavy rain to drip off leaves easily to prevent water from collecting and causing rot
• Ecotourism


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


  Vines that have roots in the ground but climb up trees to reach sunlight at canopy
• Selective logging


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


  A government scheme that aims to move people from overpopulated urban areas to overpopulated 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
• Abiotic components


  Non living, for example, air, water and heat
• Biome


  A large, distinct region of the Earth with similar climate, soil, plants and animals
• Biotic components


  Living organisms, for example, plants, insects and animals
• Ecosystem


  A system in which organisms interact with each other and with the environment
• Food chain


  The connections between different plants and animals that rely on one another as a source of food
• Temperature in the tropical rainforest

  25-30 degrees celsius
• Annual precipitation in tropical rainforests

  200ml/year of rainfall
• benefits of deforestation

  obtain timber products, more job opportunities and access to natural resources that lie within the forested areas
• Rainforests are disappearing due to human activity like…

  Logging, mineral extraction, road building, commercial farming
• Soil erosion

  Removal of the top layers of soil by rainwater, wind and destructive human activities
• Mineral extraction

  Causes soil and water contamination, large environmental degradation
• Logging

  Timber is harvested to create commercial goods such as furniture and paper, leading to habitats being destroyed
• Commercially farming

  Huge areas of land cleared to make space for plantations, which are mostly illegal with little consideration for the environmental impact