Rainforest Characteristics True or False

							                     Rainforest Characteristics: True or False?

1) Tropical rainforests cover     2) The soil in rainforests        3) The deciduous trees shed
nearly 17million km2 of the       contain very few nutrients and    their leaves in the autumn
Earth’s land surface and can be   are infertile
found in 70 different countries
4) Over 1 third of the world’s    5) rainforests contain            6) There is a thick layer of
trees grow here                   examples of over half of the      fallen leaves on the forest
                                  Earth’s species of plants and     floor
                                  animals (huge biodiversity)
7) The temperature is between     8) The vegetation has either      9) The forest floor has very
25 and 30oC throughout the        small, waxy, glossy leaves or     little undergrowth.
year                              sharp thorns in order to reduce
                                  the amount of water lost by
                                  transpiration
10) Trees and plants have very    11) Very few different species    12) Humidity is extremely high
long roots to try to reach        of plants grow in this            and water vapour can often be
underground water supplies        ecosystem                         seen hanging in the rainforest
                                                                    air
13) High temperatures mean        14) The climate varies greatly    15) Fallen leaves decay very
that trees grow throughout the    in different layers of the        slowly
year and are ‘evergreen’          rainforest
16) Trees have large amounts      17) The pattern of weather is     18) Tall trees often have
of branches along the whole       much the same everyday            thick, leathery leaves for
length of their trunks                                              protection against the intense
                                                                    sunlight
19) Leaves have adapted to the    20) There are large amounts of    21) The tallest trees called
heavy rainfall by having ‘drip    coniferous trees in the           ‘emergents’ may reach heights
tips’ to shed moisture quickly    rainforest                        of 50 metres
22) Epiphytic plants have roots   23) All saplings grow quickly     24) Rainforests are found in an
in the air, grow on other trees   and reach the canopy to obtain    unbroken band around the
and obtain their nutrients from   the sunlight                      equator and within the tropics
rainwater
25) The conditions are too hot    26) The topmost layer of the      27) Tropical rainforests are
and wet to allow rapid plant      rainforest is called the canopy   found where there is an
growth                            and viewed from above it          equatorial climate
                                  appears like a green ocean
28) Parrots and monkeys are       29) The canopy blocks out 95%     30) Nutrients in the soil are
often found on the forest floor   of sunlight and 80% of rainfall   quickly washed away by rainfall
                                                                    if they are not taken in by the
                                                                    roots of plants and trees
31) Annual rainfall is between    32) Vine-like plants called       33) The forest floor is bathed
1500 and 4000mm                   lianas use large trees as         in bright sunlight
                                  support in their effort to
                                  reach the canopy and sunlight
34) Most plants need to be        35) Many trees have shallow       36) Convectional rainstorms
xerophytic (drought resistant)    roots and need the extra          occur nearly every afternoon
                                  support that is provided by
                                  buttress roots