Grade 8
Name Date
Read the selection then answer the questions that follow it.
Can a Nut Help Save the Rain Forest?
Excerpt from: South America: People and Places By Steve Sheinkin
©2003 National Geographic Society
You have just bought some land in the Amazon Rain Forest. You do not have much money, and you need to make a living from the land. What are your options?
You could clear the trees from your land and use the land for farming. You know that the layer of fertile soil in the rain forest is very thin, though. Once the trees are cleared, the land won’t be fertile for very long. Besides, you would prefer to protect the forest.
You walk through your land in the forest and notice many Brazil nut trees. “This could be the answer,” you think. You know that Brazil nuts can be collected and sold. It might be a way to earn money and protect the forest at the same time.
Harvests that Last The region of the Amazon Rain Forest where Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil meet is rich in Brazil nut trees. Here, thousands of people earn money as castañeros (cahs tahn YER ohs), or Brazil nut harvesters. This name comes from the Spanish word for Brazil nuts, castañas. The nuts are called castanhas in Portuguese. Castañeros can play an important role in protecting the Amazon Rain Forest. This is because harvesting Brazil nuts is a sustainable activity. When something is sustainable, it can be continued year after year, long into the future.
Sustainable Development
As long as the rain forest remains healthy, castañeros can continue to earn money harvesting Brazil nuts. How can this protect the Amazon?
To answer that question, think about the reasons people destroy sections of rain forest in the first place.
They want to sell the trees, or use the land for farming or ranching.
Casteñeros are showing that it is possible to make money from the land without destroying the rain forest. They are earning a living without damaging the resources upon which future generations will depend. This is known as sustainable development.
Teamwork in the Forest
Brazil nut trees are only found in the Amazon Rain Forest. Efforts to grow them on plantations have failed. Scientists think this is because the trees depend on a variety of rain forest insects and animals. Bees, for example, carry pollen to the flowers on Brazil nut trees. Once the flowers are pollinated, they develop into Brazil nut pods. Each coconut-sized pod holds about 20 Brazil nuts.
These pods fall from high branches, hitting the forest floor with great force. This can be dangerous for forest animals. “You sometimes see animals staggering around with large welts,” says Peruvian biologist Enrique Ortiz.
Once the Brazil nut pods are on the forest floor, several things can happen. Pods may be collected by casteñeros, they may rot, or they may be found by agoutis (uh GOO tees). Agoutis are rain forest rodents with very sharp teeth. They gnaw open Brazil nut pods and take out the nuts, eating some and burying others for later. If these buried nuts are forgotten, they can sprout into new Brazil nut trees.
Even empty Brazil nut pods are part of the web of life in the rain forest. Agoutis leave empty pods on the forest floor. When the pods fill with rainwater, they become home to a number of forest creatures. Enrique Ortiz explains, “An entire world exists inside each empty fruit!”
FILL IN THE CIRCLE BY THE CORRECT ANSWER
1. Why is harvesting Brazil nuts considered a sustainable activity?
m A. Because it can be done as long there are agoutis in the forest.
m B. Because it sustains the lives of agoutis and other animals.
m C. Because it stops people from destroying the rain forest.
m D. Because it can be done year after year.
2. The Amazon Rain Forest is in danger because
m A. people are destroying it to make money.
m B. much of it is being cleared for farming and ranching.
m C. people are cutting down the trees.
m D. all of the above
3. Castañeros demonstrate that
m A. it is possible to earn a living without destroying the rain forest.
m B. it is necessary to destroy parts of the rain forest to earn a living.
m C. it is necessary to damage natural resources to make money.
m D. it is possible to make money by using the land for farming or ranching.
4. As a result of the destruction of the rain forest
m A. castañeros are able to make a living.
m B. agoutis are thriving.
m C. many native animals and insects are lost forever.
m D. all of the above.
5. Which is the best summary for the passage?
m A. Agoutis and castañeros both rely on Brazil nuts to survive in the Amazon Rain Forest.
m B. Castañeros play an important role in protecting the rain forest because by harvesting Brazil nuts they are able to make money without destroying the forest.
m C. Brazil nuts, found only in the Amazon Rain Forest, can be dangerous to forest animals since they fall to the forest floor with great force hurting animals below.
m D. People destroy the rain forest in order to sell the trees or use the land for farming, but destroying the rain forest has devastating effects on the plants and animals that live there.
6. If farmers found a way to grow Brazil nut trees outside the Amazon Rain Forest, then
m A. the rain forest would be protected from further damage.
m B. agoutis would thrive.
m C. farming would then become a sustainable activity.
m D. castañeros would not make as much money.
7. The Amazon Rain Forest is found
m A. in the northern region of South America.
m B. in southern Brazil.
m C. along the Pacific coast of South America.
m D. all of the above
8. Brazil nut trees are valuable resources in the rain forest because
m A. these enormous trees provide much wood for developers.
m B. Enrique Ortiz, a Peruvian biologist, studies them.
m C. castañeros and many insects and animals depend on the pods for survival.
m D. they can only grow in the Amazon Rain Forest.
9. What could be another title for this passage?
m A. A Rodent to the Rescue of the Amazon Rain Forest
m B. The Amazon Rain Forest in Trouble
m C. Life and Death in the Amazon Rain Forest
m D. How Brazil Nuts Help Protect the Amazon Rain Forest
10. Use the diagram to answer the next question.
Which of these belongs in the empty box?
m A. The agoutis eat some of the nuts and bury others.
m B. The agoutis leave the empty pods on the forest floor.
m C. Castañeros then come, find the nuts, and bury them.
m D. All of the above would be appropriate.