Vocabulary List, Rainforest

Tropical Rainforest:  a type of forest located about ten degrees north and 10 degrees south of the equator, characterized by year-round warmth and moisture

Canopy:  the layer of a forest formed by the crowns of tall trees

Emergent:  a tree that grows taller than the canopy trees around it.  Emergents have umbrella-shaped crowns and slender trunks, and may be more than 200 feet tall.  Harpy Eagles nest in emergent trees.

Epiphyte:  a plant that grows on other plants

Understory:  the forest layer beneath the canopy that includes small trees, young canopy trees, shrubs, and herbs

Arboreal:  inhabiting trees

Deforestation:  the process of clearing forests

Fragmentation:  the condition arising when large but unconnected sections of rainforest are destroyed, leaving smaller, isolated “pockets” of rainforest which can no longer support all of the animal populations.  This often results in predators leaving the area to seek out larger, contiguous rainforest habitat.