Lesson video

Hello, my name's Mrs. Harking.

And today we're going to be exploring forests.

Don't worry if you haven't learnt about forests before.

I'm here to break it down for you and make it really simple.

Today's lesson is "Forests of the World," from the Forest Biomes unit, "Why are forests important?

" Today, we're going to be focusing on explaining why forests are important, and then describing the global distribution of different types of forest.

Here we have the keywords that are useful to know before we start the lesson today.

First we have forest, a large area full of trees.

Then habitat, the natural home or environment of an animal, plant or other organism.

We have global warming, the increase in Earth's average temperature over a long period of time.

Biome, which is a large region of the world with places that have similar climates, vegetation and animals that have adapted to living there.

You might've heard of hot desert biomes or the rainforest biome.

Climate is our final keywords, and that means an average of weather conditions, for example, rain, sun, wind, in a place taken over a long period of time.

So usually 30 years or more.

If you would like to pause the video now and record any of the keywords that you think you need to, that is absolutely fine, just press pause now.

So today's lesson is going to cover, first of all, why are forest important?

And then we're going to move on to where are different types of forests located?

First of all, why are forest important?

Trees are the oldest-living organism on our planet, which is amazing fact.

So some individual trees are believed to be as old as 6,000 years.

So that's not all trees, that's some trees.

There's a few trees that old.

There are many different forests globally which provide really important benefits.

Can you think of any of those benefits?

Well done.

We've got some ideas from some students here.

Let's take a look.

So Aisha says, "They provide habitats.

" Alex thinks that forests reduce global warming.

Jun says, "They are good places to live and for recreation.

" And Izzy says that forests prevent flooding.

These are all brilliant ideas.

I'm going to go through them one by one.

So first of all, forests provide important habitats.

For example, 10 kilometers squared of rainforest can provide a habitat for over 400 species of birds.

That's just birds, not all animals, just birds.

There are loads of other different types of animals that live in forests as well.

For example, this howler monkey that you can see in the photograph.

So they live really high up in rainforests, and that's where they can find their foods.

Another reason why forests are so important is the fact that the leaves take in carbon dioxide from the air and release oxygen.

This is during a process called photosynthesis.

You might've heard about photosynthesis in science.

Most of this carbon is then stored in trees.

So you can see in the diagram below that we have got carbon dioxide entering into the leaf, that will then go within the plant and gets stored, the carbon part of that will get stored in the tree.

And then the oxygen part of the carbon dioxide is then released back into the atmosphere.

That storing of carbon is really important because carbon stored by trees helps reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

This is important as human activities produce a lot of carbon dioxide, which contributes to climate change.

Trees take in carbon dioxide and store carbon and this helps to reduce global warming.

So remember, global warming is the increase in the average Earth's temperature over a long period of time.

So by trees taking in carbon dioxide, they are reducing the effects of global warming and reducing the heating up of our planet.

Add the missing words to these sentences.

"Forests are important as they remove," what, "from the air.

" Well done, carbon dioxide.

The second sentence we've got here is, "Forests provide," what, "for plants, animals, insects and birds.

" Well done, habitats.

Really great job so far.

Let's have a look at the next reason why forests are really important.

So forests provide good locations for humans to live as forests provide resources, such as food, medicines and building materials.

Humans also use forests for recreational activities, such as walking, cycling and horse riding.

This can benefit both physical and mental health.

Have you got any forests near you that you use to walk in, cycle in or anything else?

Humans and animals eat the fruit and nuts produced by trees.

For example, we've got foods like apples, mangoes, and coconuts.

We've got coconuts on the tree on the left and apples on the tree on the right here that you might be more used to seeing on a tree in the UK.

The last reason why forests are important is the fact that trees intercept rainfall, slowing the water's journey to the river.

This means that rivers flood less frequently after heavy rainfall.

Let's break that down a little further.

Intercept.

Intercept simply means that the trees get in the way of the raindrops, so the leaves of the trees, the branches of the trees and the roots as well can get in the way of that raindrop hitting the surface and then traveling downhill towards the river.

And the slower the rain gets to the river the better, 'cause if lots of rainwater gets to the river really fast, that river's going to overflow and that's going to cause flooding.

So if there's lots of trees there slowing down the rainfall, we're going to get a lot less flooding.

What is wrong with Alex's answer?

"Trees could make rivers flood more because the trees' leaves, branches and roots intercept raindrops, slowing down their journey to the river.

" Where's Alex gone wrong?

Can you see?

Well done.

So it shouldn't be more, it should be less.

So, "Trees make rivers flood less because the trees' leaves, branches and roots intercept rain drops, slowing down their journey to the river.

" So trees prevent flooding.

Right, our first task of the day is to create an information leaflet to explain your top four reasons why forests are so important.

I would like you to put a bit of your opinion in here.

So if you could put the reason that you think is the most important at the top, that would be brilliant.

Well done.

So your answer may have looked something like this.

It may have looked slightly different, and that's absolutely fine.

Let's have a look at an idea of what it could have looked like.

So, "Forests provide important habitats for many plants, insects and animals that live in forest to survive.

" "Leaves taking carbon dioxide from the air and reduce global warming.

" "Recreational activities, for example, cycling, walking, improve health.

" And finally, "Trees intercept rainfall, meaning rivers are less likely to flood.

" Right, well done.

The first section of our lesson, why forests are important, is complete.

So hopefully you've got a good idea of some reasons why forests are really important to the world.

Second section of the lesson now is looking at, where are different types of forest located?

There are three broad categories of forests.

First of all, we have tropical rainforests, temperate forests, and then lastly, boreal forests.

Different forest biomes can be found in every single continent, apart from Antarctica.

Antarctica is just too cold.

So here we've got our tropical rainforests.

Tropical forests, including tropical rainforests, are located between the tropics, where it is hot and wet.

So we can see on the world map here that we have the Tropic of Cancer labeled on and the Tropic of Capricorn.

So these are two lines of latitude.

In between these lines of latitude, we call that region the tropics, as it has a tropical climate, and it is where we have our tropical rainforest.

Tropical rainforests are really dense forests.

The trees here can grow to extreme heights.

And they lose their leaves throughout the year rather than in one season.

So you'll never see a forest full of bare branches, like we would maybe do in the UK.

In a tropical rainforest, it'll always look lush and green.

Tropical rainforests can be found in five different continents.

Can you see which?

Have a look at the key on the map to help you with this.

Well done.

I'm going to start with one that you might've missed, which is North America.

So this one is tricky because the tropical rainforests are in Southern Mexico and in Central America, which is part of North America, but you might've missed that 'cause they're only sneaking in there in the southern reaches of North America.

But we've also got Asia, Oceana, Africa and South America.

I hope you got them all.

Let's name one continent tropical rainforests can be found in.

Well done.

You could've got any of these.

North America, Africa, South America, Asia, or Oceania.

Now we're going to move on to temperate forests.

They're located in the temperate region.

Again, this totally makes sense.

The temperate region is actually between the polar regions.

You can see I've labeled these on the side, and the tropical regions, which we've just looked at.

So the temperate regions are wedged just between these two.

The temperate regions include the UK, as you can see labeled on the map here.

Temperate forests have different seasons.

Many of the trees drop their leaves in winter, although some are evergreen.

You can see here Jacob has said, "In the autumn, I take my dog for a walk in the woods and kick the fallen leaves.

The trees must be part of the temperate forest.

" And he's right, I would agree with that.

Must be.

The continents with the most temperate forests are North America, Europe and Asia.

Boreal forests are also known as taiga.

They are located in the cold regions of the world.

They contain many evergreen trees that keep their leaves all year round, as well as occasional deciduous trees.

What do you notice about the location of boreal forests?

Did you get what Jun noticed?

"There are only boreal forests in the Northern Hemisphere.

" So we've got some in North America, in Europe and in Asia, or at least in the northern parts of these continents, but we don't have any in the Southern Hemisphere.

And that's simply because there isn't enough landmass in the area that has the right climate for boreal forests to appear.

Right, let's have a quick check.

So complete the sentences.

First of all, we've got, "The UK has many," what, kind of forests are there in the UK?

Well done, we've got temperate forests in the UK.

Next sentence, "Boreal forests are only located in the," what hemisphere?

Well done, the Northern Hemisphere.

Right, just a little bit trickier now.

I would like you to put these forests in order from the closest to the equator to the closest to the poles.

So the first one that you pick will be closest to the equator.

Let's look at the options.

A is boreal forest, B is tropical rainforest, and C is temperate forest.

You put them in order, starting from closest to the equator to furthest.

Well done.

So closest to the equator we should have our tropical rainforest.

And then further away we have temperate forests.

And the furthest are boreal forests.

Really good work.

Right, your task now is to label the names of the different forests on the world map.

Do think back to those three different names, and then describe each forest's location and features.

Well done.

You should've labeled the map as shown here.

There's some detail on the right-hand side we need to take a look at.

So, "Boreal forests are located in the cold northern areas of Europe, Asia and North America.

Many evergreen trees grow here.

Temperate forests are located in temperate regions.

These areas have different seasons, and many of the trees drop their leaves in winter, though some are evergreen.

Tropical forests are located between the tropics where there is heavy rainfall and the temperature is hot.

" If you'd like to pause the video now to add to your own answer, that's absolutely fine.

Right, we've actually reached the end of our lesson today.

So we're just going to go through a quick summary to see the key points from what we have learnt today.

So first of all, forests have a range of important functions and benefits.

There are different types of forest across the world.

For example, the tropical rainforests, boreal forests and temperate forests.

Finally, different types of forests are located in specific parts of the world.

I hope you've enjoyed learning about forests today, and I hope to see you next time.

Goodbye.