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- Year 10
- AQA
Characteristics of tropical rainforests
I can describe key abiotic and biotic characteristics of the tropical rainforest.
- Year 10
- AQA
Characteristics of tropical rainforests
I can describe key abiotic and biotic characteristics of the tropical rainforest.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- Tropical rainforests are distinctive global biomes (large-scale ecosystems).
- Tropical rainforests have distinctive abiotic characteristics that result from the equatorial climate.
- Tropical rainforests have distinctive biotic characteristics, including the structure of vegetation into layers.
Keywords
Biome - a large-scale ecosystem with specific climate, plants and animals
Climate - the average weather conditions in a region over a long period of time
Biotic - living components of the environment, such as plants, animals and microorganisms
Abiotic - non-living components, such as temperature, rainfall, humidity, soil quality and sunlight
Common misconception
It is always raining in the tropical rainforest.
Although it will often rain every day in a tropical rainforest, the rain is often short and intense rather than continual. Some rainforests have drier and wetter seasons also.
To help you plan your year 10 geography lesson on: Characteristics of tropical rainforests, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 10 geography lesson on: Characteristics of tropical rainforests, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 4 geography lessons from the Tropical rainforest unit, dive into the full secondary geography curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
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Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Tropical rainforests are located between the Tropics of Cancer and .
Q2.What is the typical climate of a tropical rainforest?
Q3.How much of Earth's land surface is covered by tropical rainforest?
Q4.Match the terms and their definitions.
Large, distinct region, characterised by climate, vegetation, wildlife
Community of living organisms interacting with each other
A specific area where organisms live
Q5.The of a region refers to the long-term weather patterns and average weather conditions in that area.
Q6.Rainforests receive more than __________ of rain annually, with some areas getting up to 4000 mm.
Assessment exit quiz
4 Questions
Q1.Which of the following best defines a biome?
Q2. factors are the living components of an ecosystem, such as plants, animals and microorganisms.
Q3.Which of the following is an example of an abiotic factor in an ecosystem?
Q4.Match the rainforest layer with its description.
trees here reach between 30-50 metres
a continuous layer of branches and leaves
dark and humid with smaller animals, trees and shrubs and ferns
only 1-2% of sunlight reaches this layer