What Makes an Area a Tropical Rainforest?
Tropical rainforests are forests that
receive more than 80 inches of rain a year. Some rainforests
receive as much as 200-400 inches of rain a year!
Rainforests also have large amounts of humidity, or
water vapor in the air.
What is the Temperature Like in a Tropical Rainforest?
The temperature in a tropical rainforest
does not vary, or change, much during the year. It
ranges between 70 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit at all
times. Tropical rainforests never get really hot because
they receive almost daily rainfall. Other areas near
the equator which do not receive a great deal of rainfall
have much higher average temperatures than tropical
rainforests. The temperature is much the same at night
as it is during the day, unlike other places where
the temperature at night is much cooler than the temperature
during the day. The reason that the temperature stays
the same year round is that the lands near the equator
receive the direct rays of the sun.
A Rainforest Day
Tropical rainforests have days which
are evenly divided between light and darkness. This
is because the tropics belt receives direct rays from
the sun. Therefore, a rainforest day has 12 hours
of sunlight and 12 hours of darkness. There are several
characteristics that make an area considered to be
a rainforest. They are found in the tropics belt and
receive more than 60 inches of rain a year. Rainforests
have temperatures that remain between 70-80 degrees
year around. They have days that are evenly divided
between sunlight and darkness.
Click here for Comprehension Sheet:
Name:____________________________
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Directions. Answer the following questions
using information from the text. Write your response
as complete sentences.
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1. What does the word humidity mean?
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2. What is the range of temperature in a tropical
rainforest?
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3. Why does the temperature in a rainforest stay the
same year around?
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4. Why are a rainforest’s days evenly divided
between light and darkness?
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5. List 4 characteristics that an area must have to
be considered a rainforest:
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