Key Terms: Tropical Rainforests Flashcards

All 9 cards in this deck

What is biodiversity?

The variety of plant and animal species living in an ecosystem.

What is a biome?

A large-scale global ecosystem with a distinctive climate, plants and animals, e.g. tropical rainforest.

What is deforestation?

The cutting down and clearing of large areas of forest.

What is sustainable management of the rainforest?

Using the rainforest so that people today benefit without damaging it for future generations.

What is selective logging?

Felling only mature or carefully chosen trees, leaving the forest structure intact so it can regenerate.

What is ecotourism?

Small-scale tourism that has minimal impact on the environment and benefits local people.

What is debt reduction (debt-for-nature swapping) as a rainforest strategy?

When part of a country's international debt is cancelled in return for it protecting its rainforest.

True or false? Ecotourism means building large hotel resorts in the rainforest to create jobs.

False. Ecotourism is small scale, low impact and puts money into local communities and conservation.

True or false? Tropical rainforests contain the highest biodiversity of any biome.

True. Their warm, wet climate all year supports a huge variety of plant and animal species.