In the warm, damp climate, leaves and dead plants and animals that fall to the floor decay quickly to provide the nutrients in the soil that the rainforest needs to survive. 7 ecokidsplanet.co.uk DEFORESTATION DEFORESTATION the Dangerous effects PERMANENT of deforestation DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS WOODS 1 The entire planet relies on rainforests to Why do people produce oxygen.

What is a rainforest As you might have guessed, a rainforest is a forest where it rains a lot.

Rainforests are some of the wettest places on Earth, getting over 250 centimetres of a rain a year thats about four times as much as most places in the UK.

Why are rainforests important Tropical rainforests are found either side of the equator, the hottest part of the world.

There are tropical rainforests in South America, Africa, Australia and Asia, covering 16 of the land on Earth thats four times as much land as every town and city put together.

More than half the forests on the planet are tropical rainforests.

Two of the worlds largest tropical rainforests grow in the basins of mighty rivers: the Amazon (South America) and the Congo (Africa).

Other large patches of rainforest are located on islands in Southeast Asia: Borneo, Sumatra and New Guinea.

Map Activities Complete the map activities on page 5.

Look out for clues if you get stuck Label the following places Colour and draw 1.

The equator 5. Colour the basins of the Amazon and Congo rivers in green.

Clue: The central line that divides the Clue: A basin is the area around all globe in half to form the southern and northern hemispheres.

Colour the New Guinea, of Capricorn Borneo and Sumatra islands in green they are covered in Clue: The first one marks the end of tropical rainforests.

Colour in the animals on hemisphere, and the second one marks the map.

Draw an Clue: Find the toucan for the Amazon elephant in the Congo rainforest.

If people 3 ATLANTIC continue to destroy rainforests OCEAN at this rate, all tropical rainforests will disappear United Kingdom within 100 years.

EQUATOR PACIFIC OCEAN Amazon rainforest South America The Amazon rainforest is the richest The first flowering plant appeared 6 in a tropical rainforest.

It was a place in plant species on Earth.

Almost 400 billion trees belonging still be found there.

This is because more than the number of ant species the canopy is so dense only 5 in the whole of of sunlight reaches the ground.

Great Britain. 7 Tropical rainforests are home to 9 It can take 10 minutes for undiscovered a falling raindrop to travel tribes who might from a rainforests thick be unaware that canopy to the floor.

They grow up to 60 metres tall thats the height of a 20 storey building Because theyre so high up, they grow thick waxy leaves that can withstand a lot of sunshine and wind.

Understory The under canopy, or understory, is the layer between the canopy and the forest floor.

Many houseplants found in the UK are originally from rainforests under canopies.

The Forest Floor The forest floor layer is very dark and gloomy not much lives down here because of the lack of light.

In the warm, damp climate, leaves and dead plants and animals that fall to the floor decay quickly to provide the nutrients in the soil that the rainforest needs to survive.

DEFORESTATION DEFORESTATION the Dangerous effects PERMANENT of deforestation DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS WOODS 1 The entire planet relies on rainforests to Why do people produce oxygen.

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