The Jobs of the Different Parts of a Canopy Tree

The Jobs of the Different Parts of a Canopy Tree

The job of the umbrella of leaves, or crown, of each canopy tree is to grab as much sunlight as it possibly can. The canopy of a rainforest grabs so much sunlight that it absorbs 98% of the sunlight that shines on the forest. The leaves of each tree also have another important job to perform. Photosynthesis occurs in the leaves. This is a process in which sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide are converted, or changed, into food for the plant.

1. What does crown mean in this paragraph?

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2. What is photosynthesis?

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3. What does converted mean? ________________________________________________________________

4. What are two jobs that the crown of a canopy tree has to do?

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The Trunk of a Canopy Tree

The trunk of a canopy tree is a transport, or travel, system. Throughout the trunk is a system of "veins" which allow water to travel from the forest floor to the very tips of the leaves on the crown of the tree. Food is transported from the leaves throughout the tree so that it can be properly nourished, or fed. We have veins in our bodies, too. Blood is transported through our veins. Our blood carries oxygen, food and other things we need to all parts of our bodies, just like veins in the tree transport the things that it needs to all of its different parts.

5. What does the word transport mean? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. What are two things that the veins in a tree transport to different parts of the tree?

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Buttress Roots

The soil on a rainforest floor is shallow and sandy. There are frequent and heavy downpours in the rainforest. Also, winds can be quite strong in the canopy layer. A rainforest tree, therefore, has quite a job of staying upright. Rainforest trees have developed strong roots called buttresses that stick out from the sides of the trunks and help anchor the trees to the ground.

7. What are three reasons why is it hard for a canopy tree to stay standing up?

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8. What are buttresses?

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A Race For Survival

Rainforest trees produce, or make, thousands of seeds. Most of these are eaten by canopy animals, or by the animals of the forest floor. The few seeds which survive, sprout quickly, but most of them die because they do not have enough light to grow on the forest floor. The only way in which a rainforest tree seedling can continue to grow is if an adult tree dies. When this happens and it crashes to the forest floor, a space in which light can get through to the floor is created. The seedlings then begin to grow quickly. The one which reaches the canopy first, lives, and seals off the space in which light got through. The other seedlings die!

9. What does produce mean? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10. What are two different reasons that most rainforest trees' seeds do not grow?

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Layers of a Tropical Rainforest

A tropical rainforest is composed, or made up of several different layers. The names of these layers are the emergent layer, the canopy, the understory, and the forest floor. Each layer plays an important part in the rainforest system. Find the canopy layer. Does it surprise you that this is the layer in which most of the plant and animal life of the rainforest lives?

1. What are the names of the four layers of a rainforest?

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Emergent Layer: The trees in this layer receive full sunlight.

Canopy: The trees in this layer block the sun from the lower layers.

Understory: This layer receives only the sunlight which filters through the canopy.



Forest Floor: This layer receives very little sunlight. It is very dim.

The Rainforest Canopy

This is perhaps, the most important layer of the rainforest. It is the layer which is the most filled with plant and animal life! Rainforest trees are the most important part of the canopy. These trees grow to be 100 feet tall! They have tall, straight trunks. At the tops of the trunks, the trees are covered with an “umbrella” of branches and leaves. The canopy of the rainforest, if viewed from an airplane, looks like an unbroken blanket of green tree tops!

2. Why is the canopy the most important layer of the rainforest?

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3. List three facts about canopy trees

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4. If you were looking at the rainforest from an airplane, what would the canopy look like?

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Actually, the canopy trees do not often directly touch each other. They leave small gaps between themselves and the trees around them. This is known as canopy shyness. No one knows exactly why this happens. Some scientists think that it may be a tree’s way of protecting itself against insects and other living things that could harm it. If the branches do not touch, insects that harm the trees cannot travel from one tree to another, unless they have wings.

5. What is canopy shyness?

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The job of the umbrella of leaves on each canopy tree is to grab as much sunlight as they possibly can. The canopy of a rainforest grabs so much sunlight that it absorbs 98% of the sunlight that shines on the forest. This means that only 2 % of the sunlight is left to light the understory and the forest floor! For this reason, the floor of the rainforest is very dim, or poorly lit. It looks like twilight during the day on the forest floor!

6. Why is the forest floor in a rainforest very poorly lit?
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