Glossary

Biomass: Living and dead matter produced, including plants and animals.

Canopy: The highest layer of the rainforest, made up of the tops of trees. Animals such as howler monkeys, red-eyed tree frogs, sloths and parrots live here.

Equator: An imaginary circle around the earth, equally distant at all points from the North and South poles. It divides the earth into two halves - the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

Emergent: The tops of the tallest trees in a rainforest.

Evaporate: When moisture changes from liquid to gas in the air.

Extraction: To remove something (for example, to take out Brazil nuts from the Amazon rainforest).

Forest Floor: The ground layer, made up of tree roots, soil and decaying matter. Mushrooms, earthworms, and elephants all make their homes here.

Greenhouse Effect: The warming of the planet caused by chemicals which trap heat in the air. This process is being sped up by humans who put too many heat-trapping chemicals into the air. Some causes include car exhaust, factory smoke, and burning rainforests.

Interdependence: The concept that everything in nature is connected to each other, and cannot survive without the help of other plants, animals and abiotic factors (such as sun, soil, water and air) around it.

Nutrients: Food needed for growth by living things.

Species: A distinct kind of plant or animal that has many common characteristics or qualities.

Sustainable: Using products of the forest in a way that does not permanently destroy them, so that people in the future can also use them.