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Saving Rain Forests (October 3, 2003, One)

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Program Summary

Where do half the Earth’s species live? In just seven percent of the planet’s land area: rain forests. Most students will know of threats to rain forests. These jungle gems have been under assault for years from logging, ranching, farming, and human encroachment. Many rainforest educational programs focus on how many acres are lost yearly, daily, even by the minute!

But Ira’s guests this week point out a way they’ve devised to help protect rain forests and those who live in the countries where they exist. They call it bioprospecting. Rather than prospecting for gold, they are searching for precious commodities of another kind—compounds that may someday become new drugs. They have helped set up a program in Panama in which all of the research in locating and testing potential medicinal compounds is done locally instead of being sent out of the country. The local communities benefit because the labs employ residents, bring educational opportunities to local students, and have profit-making potential should useful compounds be discovered. The idea is to make keeping and protecting the forests more profitable than clearing them. And it seems to be working.

Use the activities that follow to take your students on a virtual tour of the world’s rain forests. And as one of the activities says, don’t forget your leech socks!

Guests

Phyllis Coley, professor of biology at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City

Tom Kursar, associate professor of biology at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City

Related Links and Resources

Rainforest Action Network
Rainforest Fact Sheets
The Rainforest Web
University of Utah News and Public Relations, October 1, 2003: “A Realistic Way to Save Rainforests”

For Discussion:

• What makes a rain forest a rain forest? Compare and contrast a rain forest habitat with others such as deserts, temperate forests, or grasslands.
• Half the Earth’s species live in rain forests. How many of them can students name? What are some endangered rain forest species and why are they in danger?
• Rain forests and products that come from them benefit people all over the world. What are some of these benefits and products?
• If you look at rain forests on a map or globe, you’ll see that they form a belt around the middle of the planet. Why is that?
• If rain forests were to disappear, what would be lost?

Activities

Virtual reality. National Geographic Society’s excellent virtual page takes you into the sights and sounds of the Rain Forest at Night. Shine your flashlight into the canopy and onto the forest floor to illuminate numerous animated plants and animals. Click on the images to get information and more photos. These are good sites to pique students’ interest in rain forest study.

It’s all in the journey. Journey into Amazonia is the companion Web site to the PBS program of the same name. The site contains a wealth of information about plant and animal life in Amazonia’s rivers and the forest canopy and floor. You’ll also learn about threats to the ecosystem and the indigenous people living there. In the Teacher Resources section, you’ll find background and excellent activities for grades 5–10. Assess what students have learned by having them play Amazon Explorer, an interactive game in which they travel to the jungle to seek the answers to several research questions.

Rain forest Rx. A good site to explore rain forests’ role in the search for new medicines is Rainforest Education.com. After surfing the extensive information on the site, students can try some of the quizzes and activities, including writing a rain forest story, listening to jungle sounds, and making a butterfly garden.

Back to the source. Many everyday products and foods contain ingredients derived from rain forests, but students may not be aware of the connection. Bring in a basket of goodies and challenge students to trace ingredients in them back to the rain forest. Here are some things to put in the basket: chewing gum (chicle), varnish (copal), rubber band (latex), candy bar with coconut (chocolate and coconut), perfume with rosewood or sandalwood, medicinal ointment such as Vicks VapoRub (camphor), toy airplane made of balsa. In addition, many fruits, vegetables, nuts, spices, and houseplants come from tropical forests.

Join JASON. The JASON Project is a multidisciplinary program that links students with scientists on “expeditions” to explore the environment. One of this year’s expeditions is Rainforests at the Crossroads. The best thing about JASON is that students get to interact with scientists conducting research in the field. They can read researchers’ journals, conduct online labs, and follow a group of real students on a two-week field trip to the rain forests of the Isthmus of Panama. It’s not too late to join this year’s expedition. But be aware that there are fees involved in participating.

Use the search box below to perform a Google search within any of the specifc sites or general domains mentioned in this Activities section.

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