OCR GCSE (9-1) Geography A: Geographical Themes (J383) · Spec 2.1.3 and 2.1.5
Tropical rainforests
Read the notes, then try the questions. Each one is marked the moment you press Check, and shows the right answer and why.
Key ideas
- Tropical rainforests grow in a belt near the Equator, between the tropics. Warm air rises there, cools and brings heavy rain all year. Examples include the Amazon, the Congo Basin and South East Asia.
- The layers, from the ground up, are the forest floor, shrub layer, canopy and emergent layer.
- Adaptations: drip tips shed heavy rain, buttress roots support tall trees, and epiphytes grow on branches to reach light.
- Nutrients are stored mostly in the biomass, not the soil. Dead leaves rot very fast in the hot, wet climate and roots take the nutrients up quickly. The soil is thin and poor.
- If the trees are cut, heavy rain washes the few nutrients out of the soil (leaching). Rainfall also falls, because fewer trees release water into the air.
- Rainforests are valuable for timber, medicines, jobs and the people who live there. For the planet they store carbon and hold a huge number of species.
- Threats include logging, cattle ranching, soy and palm oil plantations, mining, roads and dams. Management includes protected areas, selective logging, ecotourism and debt-for-nature swaps.
Key terms
- Biodiversity
- The variety of species living in an area.
- Biomass
- The living material in an ecosystem, such as trees and other plants. It holds most of the nutrients in a rainforest.
- Leaching
- Heavy rain washing nutrients out of the soil.
- Deforestation
- The clearing of trees from an area.
- Ecotourism
- Small-scale tourism that protects the environment and benefits local people.
- Debt-for-nature swap
- Part of a country's debt is cancelled in return for protecting its forest.
Common mistakes
- Writing about threats when asked for the value of a rainforest. Value is what the forest gives to people and the planet.
- Stopping at 'deforestation destroys habitats'. Follow the chain, for example fewer trees, then leaching, then soil erosion and fewer species.
- Thinking rainforest soil is fertile because the forest is so green. The goodness is in the plants, not the soil.
- Linking climate and plants only through photosynthesis. The heat and rain also drive fast growth and fast nutrient cycling.
Exam tip
A question on threats usually asks for two, each with a cause and an explained effect. This is usually a 4-mark 'explain two' question. On the case study, name one rainforest and judge how well its management works, using evidence such as deforestation rates or local incomes.
Free practice questions
7 questions, 13 marks. Answer, then press Check. The marking guide explains how the marks are worked out. Nothing is saved.
- Question 1 · Multiple choice[1 mark]
Where is tropical rainforest found?
- Question 2 · Fill the gaps[3 marks]
Rainforest soils are ___ because heavy rain ___ nutrients, so most nutrients are stored in the ___.
Word bank: leaches · adds · biomass · infertile · fertile
- Question 3 · Put in order[1 mark]
Put these rainforest layers in order, from the ground upward.
Use the arrows to put these in the right order, first at the top.
- 1Forest floor
- 2Canopy
- 3Shrub layer
- 4Emergent
- Question 4 · Matching[3 marks]
Match each rainforest plant adaptation to its purpose.
- Question 5 · Fill the gaps[2 marks]
In a debt-for-nature swap, part of a country's debt is ___ in return for protecting its ___.
Word bank: rainforest · increased · cancelled
- Question 6 · Choose more than one[2 marks]
Which TWO are major causes of deforestation in the Amazon?
Choose 2.
- Question 7 · Multiple choice[1 mark]
Why can ecotourism be a sustainable use of rainforest?