Rainforests Rule

Summary
An introduction to rainforest characteristics and differences/similarities between tropical and temperate rainforests.

Objectives
• Students will recognize rainfall and diversity as characteristics of rainforests.

• Students will compare and contrast temperate and tropical rainforests.

Suggested Grades
5th Grade
6th Grade

Excerpt
Temperate rainforests are very ancient and rare. Trees in temperate forests are conifers with needles and some of them are 1000 years old. Trees like fir, spruce, and cedar can grow very large here. Some have trunks more than 100 feet around. The forest floor is shaded by the large trees and covered with ferns. Temperate rainforests have mild, wet winters. Summers are cool and often foggy or cloudy. Fog supplies additional rain to the forest. Many trees have epiphytes on them. Epiphytes are plants that grow on other plants. Examples are ferns, mosses, and lichens. Animals like beavers, raccoons, black bears, and cougars are found in temperate forests. Elk are an important part of a temperate rainforest. They forage and trample the vegetation and prevent the forest from becoming a thicket.

Continued...