Rainforests
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KEY WORDS
•Floor
•Understorey
•Tropical
•Half
•Habitat
•Emergent
•Extinct
•Echo
•Helps
•Epiphyte
•Conifers
•Parasite
•Temperate
•Chocolate
Australian Rainforests
• Tropical rainforests in Australia can be divided
into four different types according to landform
and type;
DID YOU KNOW?
– Tropical rainforests
– Sub-tropical rainforests
– Warm temperate rainforests
– Cool temperate rainforests
There are over 2000 species
of plants found in rainforests.
Among these are a variety of
native fruit trees that are
found nowhere else in the
world.
• The largest area of tropical rainforest in
Australia lies between Cooktown and Ingham
on the hot, wet north-Queensland coast
History of Rainforests in Australia
About 55 million years ago, Australia, Antarctica
and South America were joined together as the last
remaining continents of Gondawana Land. Today
animals and plants from South-East Asia and
Gondawana Land live in Australia’s rainforest.
Click here to learn
more about
Gondawana Land
Gondawana Land
• Until about 120 million years ago, the world’s
southern continents, including Australia,
Antarctica, South America and Africa were
joined together in one super continent called
Gondawana Land.
• About 120 million years ago, Gondawana
Land began to break up. The continents
slowly moved across the surface of the Earth
in a process called continental drift
Click here to go back to Rainforests in
Australia
Climate Changes
• About 45 million years ago
Australia had broken away
from Antarctica.
• This continental drift created
a sea between the two
countries.
• A cold current began to circle
Antarctica, which made
Australia’s climate more dry.
This also made the
difference in climate
between north and south
Australia also increased- the
north remained tropical
(warm and wet most of the
year) whilst the south of
Australia became temperate,
with four seasons.
Species
• Australia continued to move north towards SouthEast Asia. About 15 million years ago there was a
series of ice ages that made the sea levels a lot lower
than they are today. This meant there were stretches
of land connecting New Guinea and Australia. Plants
and animals from tropical South-East Asia eventually
crossed to northern Australia. Some of these animals
and birds consist of:
Bird’s Nest Fern
Tube Nosed Rat
Long-tailed pygmy possum
Rainforests Today
• During the massive climate changes of the past
55 million years, the climate of northern Australia
has remained similar to that of Gondawana Land.
• This has meant that many species of the original
forest survived in the
north.
•Today subtropical
rainforests grow in
South-East Queensland
and north-east New
South Wales.
Rainforests Today
• Warm temperate
rainforests have lots of
ferns with just a few tree
species and vinery small
patches of warm
temperate forests grow in
New South Wales,
Queensland and Victoria.
• Cool temperate
rainforests grow in
Tasmania. They are forests
of tall trees that tower
above a thick carpet of
mosses, lichens and ferns.
ANSWER: Those
states and
territories don’t
have any
rainforests!
Click on the
for the states and
territories of Australia to be taken to a
website to find out more.
QUESTION: Why is there no link
for Australian Capital Territory
and South Australia? Click on
the question mark for the
answer.
Layers of the rainforest
• There are four layers of the rainforest:
Emergent Layer
Canopy Layer
Understorey Layer
Forest Floor
Click on the name of each layer to learn more about each
The Emergent Layer
• The emergent layer, or top layer is made up of
the smallest trees. These may be as tall as 45
metres.
• The trees in the Emergent Layer have small,
waxy leaves. The waxy coating helps the
leaves to stay moist and not to dry out, this
helps the plants to survive the hot, dry
conditions.
Click here to go back to the other layers
The Canopy Layer
The canopy is made up of lowergrowing trees whose leaves and
branches interlock to form a shady
green cover, or rood for the forest.
It is the area with the biggest
diversity of species and it is
understood to be home to 40% of
all plant species.
Click here to go back to the other layers
The Understorey Layer
The understorey layer is made up of small trees,
such as palms, and younger trees struggling to
reach the light. Because these trees get less
sunlight than the trees in the canopy, this layer is
not as dense.
Hundreds of tree trunks of all shapes, sizes and
colours can be seen in the understorey, their bark
often decorated with epiphytic lichens and
mosses giving it a mottled appearance.
Many animal species are supported by the diversity
of plant life in the understorey.
Click here to go back to the other layers
The Forest Floor
This layer is made up of shrubs and very small
trees and flowering plants. This undergrowth
on the forest floor also is home to old fallen
leaves and fruits, rotten branches, ancient or
diseased trees, mosses, lichens, fungi and
many animal species. These plants do not
need a lot of light to grow.
Did you know that every minute,
somewhere in the world a
rainforest the size of a football
field is being cleared
Plants of the Rainforest
As rainforest trees
have to keep pushing
their way towards the
light, they grow into
tall, slender shapes
without low
branches. The highest
branches spread out
and interlock in their
struggle for sunlight.
Trees
Strangler trees, mostly fig
trees, grow from seeds that
have been eaten by birds.
The seeds pass through the
birds and end up on the tree
branches in their droppings.
Seeds then grow, and sends
roots down its host trunk.
Over the years more roots
grow, they thicken and join
together to hold onto the
host tree, robbing the host
tree of its nutrients until it
dies.
Epiphytes are plants that grow
on other plants, but do not get
nutrients from the host plant.
They get their nutrients in a
number of ways; have leaves
that grow in the shape of
baskets to collect other
nutrients that decay, leaves
that soak up and hold water,
collect their energy from the
sun and leaves that absorb
moisture from the air and rain.
Lichins, mosses and funghi are
all epiphytes
Strangler Trees
Click on each of the plant pictures to learn more about each of them
Epiphytes
Animals of the Rainforest
Amethystine Python
Lacewing Butterfly
King Parrot
Cassowary Bird
Saw-shelled Turtles
White-throated
Kingfisher
Tree Kangaroo
Green Tree Frog
Click on the animals to see what they are called
Red-legged Pademelons
Aboriginal Impact
• About 60 000 years ago, Australia’s first humans- Aboriginal
peoples arrived. Their affect on the rainforest was very
small.
• The rainforest provided Aboriginal people with lots of
different foods.
• The creeks provided food such as jungle perch and turtle.
• Many different types of fruits were eaten
• Aboriginal people discovered how to cook poisonous plants
to make them safe to eat.
• Aboriginals also learnt how to ‘read’ the changes in
seasons, which meant they knew when foods were
ready to be eaten.
Click on each
picture to find out
how Aboriginals
used each of these
items.
Aboriginal peoples
ate rainforest foods
such as the fruit of
the Palm Lily.
Aboriginal Impact
Aboriginal peoples knew
that when the October
glory plant flowered it was
time to dig up the brush
turkey eggs from their
mounds.
Aboriginal peoples
learnt how to
make black beans
safe to eat by
mashing and
soaking them in
water to remove
the poisons.
Glory Plant
Palm Lily
DID YOU KNOW?
The Wet Tropics region of north-eat Queensland included several
different Aboriginal language groups. This region was occupied by
groups including the Tjabukai and KuKu-Yulangi people.
Black Beans
Aboriginal Survival
• Aboriginal people cut bark off trees to make shelters
(midyahs).
• Other trees such as the yellow jack (giddul), were
used to make canoes.
• Water carriers were made of bark that was sewn with
split cane.
• Bark of the fig tree was used to make strong string for
fishing.
• Hardwood trees were used to make boomerangs and
spears
• The aboriginal people also used forest plants for
medicine.
Issues since European Settlement
Clearing
for farming
Climate
change
Tourism
and roads
Clearing
for timber
Issues
Introduced
plant
species
Bringing of
new
animals
Mining
Settlement
on
rainforests
Threats to rainforests
The biggest threat to
rainforests is man. Clearing
for mining, timber and
farming.
Introduced plant species
are now weeds that are
killing rainforest species.
Introduced species
compete with native
species for food, light or
space.
Click on the
pictures to learn
more
Animals were brought into
Australia as household
pets. It didn’t take long for
them to escape and turn
feral. These include cats,
foxes, pigs and cane toads.
Since 1978, three
quarters of
Australia’s
rainforests have
been cut down.
As rainforests are
beautiful places to visit,
tourists are attracted to
the area. Tourists can
damage the areas they
come to admire and enjoy.
Rainforest land has
been cleared for roads.
Vehicles can spread
plant diseases from soil,
as well as killing plants
and animals
Australian Rainforest Foundation
Deforestation Game
• Click here to help our hero Congo Jones defeat Larry
the Logger and his logging machine before he
destroys the whole rainforest, plants and animals!
Climate Change
Climate change is probably the biggest environmental
threat that not only Australia faces, but the whole
world.
The greenhouse gas effect is caused by gases, such as
carbon dioxide, trapping some of the heat from the
sun. This causing the world to heat up.
Today the greenhouse effect is increasing as more people
are using cares, aeroplanes and electricity. These all
burn fuels, which produce greenhouse gases.
Clearing forests also contributes to the greenhouse effect
as trees take in carbon dioxide.
Click here to visit the Australian Governments website for climate change.
Climate change and Australian
Rainforests
Long
droughts
Frequent,
hotter &
longer
heatwaves
bushfires
Rainforests
Floods
Stronger
storms &
cyclones
Click here to visit
the Amazon
rainforest website
The Amazon Rainforest
The Amazon Rainforest is the largest rainforest on Earth.
It covers 40% of the South American continent as well as eight
South American countries including Brazil, Bolivia, Peru,
Ecuador, Columbia, Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname.
The basin is drained by the Amazon River, the world's largest
river in terms of discharge, and the second longest river in the
world after the Nile.
30% of the worlds animal
species are found in the
Amazon.
Since 1970, over 600,000
square kilometers (232,000
square miles) of Amazon
rainforest have been destroyed.
Quiz
1. Australian rainforests can be divided into four different types.
Can you name them?
2. Australia, South America and Antarctica millions of years ago
were all joined called?
3. What are the four layers of the rainforest?
4. Which two states or territories in Australia do not have any
rainforests?
5. What type of plants are epiphytes?
6. How did Aboriginals know when foods found in the rainforest
were ready to be eaten?
7. Why does the clearing of rainforests contribute to the
greenhouse gas effect?
8. Climate change increases the severity of
which natural disasters?
Answers!
1. Tropical rainforests, Sub-tropical rainforests, Warm
temperate rainforests, Cool temperate rainforests.
2. Gondawana Land.
3. Emergent, Canopy, Understorey, Forest Floor.
4. Australian Capital Territory & South Australia.
5. Plants that grow on other plants, but do not get
nutrients from the host plant.
6. They learnt to ‘read’ the seasons.
7. Trees take in carbon dioxide.
8. Bushfires, cyclones, droughts & floods.