Forest Structure

Question 1

Characteristics plant forms include:

Answer 1

• Trees- splaying either buttress or prop roots
• Epiphytes- plants such as lichen, mosses and ferns which adhere to other plants
• Lianes- woody plants rooted in the ground but use other plants for support to reach the light
• Scramblers- lawyer vines or rattan, assisted by thorns or prickles on long flexible stems which cling to trees
• Adventitious roots- roots which develop from the stem, branches or leaves (usually fine and numerous)
• Twiners- grow spirally around stems of saplings.
  (show adaptations to growing in low light or finding their way high to dense canopies to reach the light

Question 2

Key parts of rain forest structure

Answer 2

Emergents- large trees which poke out of the canopy
The canopy- exposed to the sunlight and providing shade below
The understory- a shady, moist place
The leaf litter or crytosphere- providing rich layer of decomposing trees and wood for soil. has lots of fungi and bacteria.