Tropical rainforest

High school (ages 12+)
Geography

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/tropical-rainforest

1. What is the average annual temperature?
2. What is the pharmaceutical origins?
3. Where are tropical rainforests located?
4. Why do tropical rainforests have so many different kinds of plants and animals?

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the average annual temperature?Ranges from 20-34°C (68-93°F) with minimal seasonal variation
2. What is the pharmaceutical origins?A substantial proportion of modern medicines are derived from rainforest plant species
3. Where are tropical rainforests located?Tropical rainforests are found in the equatorial belt between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, mainly in the Amazon Basin, the Congo Basin, and parts of Southeast Asia like Borneo and New Guinea.
4. Why do tropical rainforests have so many different kinds of plants and animals?They have so many plants and animals because the warm, wet climate and the forest’s vertical layers create many different habitats, letting many species adapt to unique spots.

Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ): A low-pressure belt near the Equator where the northeast and southeast trade winds converge, causing heavy rainfall.
Evapotranspiration: The process by which water is transferred from the land to the atmosphere by evaporation from the soil and other surfaces and by transpiration from plants.
Habitat Fragmentation: The process by which large, continuous habitats are broken down into smaller, isolated patches.
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK): A cumulative body of knowledge and practice and beliefs, evolving by adaptive processes and handed down through generations by cultural transmission, about the relationship of living beings (including humans) with one another and with their environment.