Please read the pages indicated by Z-16 and study Behavioral Objective 23. Tropical areas with abundant rainfall are usually covered by tropical rain forests. Or more correctly, one should say that they were covered by tropical rain forests. These forests include some of the most complex communities there are on earth. The diversity of species is enormous.

Activity: Write a paragraph describing which environmental factors are responsible for the characteristic adaptations demonstrated by the plants and animals in this biome and give examples of the flora and fauna which may be found in this ecosystem’s trophic levels. Write a description of the canopy, understory and forest floor layers in a tropical rain forest as to amount of light received, plant life, animal life. Include the following terms epiphytic plants, buttresses, insects, birds, amphibians, diversity, and decomposition.

Although tropical rainforests currently form half of the forested area of the earth they are being rapidly destroyed. Write a paragraph in your notes indicating the detrimental effects this destruction may have on human beings.

Epiphytic plants must be adapted to a shortage of __________.

a. water and minerals

b. light and temperature

c. light and soil

d. soil and minerals

Which of the following statements is not true concerning the tropical rainforest?

a. Woody vines reach high into the canopy to compete for sunlight.

b. Plants compete for nutrients since their is little accumulation of leaf liter on the forest floor.

c. There are more species of plants and animals is the tropical rainforest than in all biomes put together.

d. The critical competition among plants is light.

e. All of the above are correct.