Rainforest Potpourri Trivia Quiz

Answer: Alaska

There are actually rainforests in Alaska and Canada! They aren't tropical forests, which is what most of us envision when we hear the term. They are temperate rainforests, and they occur in mild climates that receive lots of rain. About half of them are in North America, on the west coasts of the USA and Canada.

Answer: Understory layer

The emergent layer is comprised of the tallest trees and must be able to withstand heat, lots of sunshine, and dryness. Below that is the canopy layer, supporting many species of plants and animals. The understory is next, said to be home to up to 40% of the combined plant and animal species on earth. All of these layers are arboreal, meaning the species they support live in trees, above ground level.

The ground level layer is called the floor.

Answer: Tongass National Forest

The Tongass National Forest in Alaska is a rainforest on two islands. The National Forest was established by Teddy Roosevelt in 1907 and claims to be the largest intact (i.e., not tampered with by man) temperate rainforest in the world. It is part of a rainforest environment that runs down the western coast of North America from Alaska to Oregon. Temperate rainforests cover just 0.2 percent of the Earth at this writing in 2007.

They exist in only a few places: the coasts of New Zealand, Tasmania, Patagonia and western North America.

Answer: Plants that contain nitrogenous substances that are useful in making medicines

Biochemists believe alkaloids help protect plants from disease and insects. Many alkaloids have medicinal value to humankind.

Answer: The Southeast Asian rainforests

The Southeast Asian rainforests have been continuously in existence for the longest span of time. They date to to the Pleistocene Epoch, about 70 million years ago. It is thought they owe their longevity to the fact that they straddle the equator and are continguous to more water than rainforests on larger land masses.

Answer: The Australian rainforest in Queensland

Climatic types of rainforest found in Queensland:

Tropical
Subtropical
Dry
Warm temperate
Cool temperate

Answer: Amazon

In 2007 the Amazon Rainforest covers over a billion acres, occupying portions of Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Venezuela, and Colombia. If it were a country, it would be the ninth largest in the world. No other rainforest area comes close to the Amazon's size.

Answer: Annual rainfall amounts only

There are a couple of different standards out there for how much rain needs to fall in an area for it to be a rainforest. Some say 75 inches is enough, others say 100.

There are actually at least two places on earth that get over 500 inches of rain annually--one in Bangladesh, the other in Hawaii. So what's a mere 100 inches?(For comparison, London gets 23 inches annually, New York City 43, Beijing 20, and Sao Paulo, Brazil, 54).

Answer: apples

Rainforest foods include a number of things you might not expect: avocados, figs, tomatoes and citrus fruits; vegetables including corn, potatoes, rice, and winter squash; spices like black pepper, cayenne, chocolate, cloves, ginger, sugar cane, tumeric, vanilla; and nuts, including cashews and Brazil nuts.

Answer: the Yanomami

The Pygmies and Huli peoples live in rainforests, but not in South America. Pygmies live in African rainforest areas, Huli in Papua New Guinea. Inuits live in Northern Canada, not in a rainforest environment.