Question

A rain forest is divided into four layers. The bottom layer is the forest floor, which gets almost no light because of the trees. The next three layers are characterized by different types of trees and the height they reach above the forest floor. The understory is 0-10 meters above the forest floor. It has young trees, shrubs, and other plants. It also includes some species of trees that are short when full grown. The canopy is a dense layer that forms 10-40 meters above the forest floor. Most species of the rain forest live in the canopy. The leaves of canopy trees spread out, forming a "roof” over the rain forest. The canopy lets in very little light and tends to spread raindrops from tropical downpours. The uppermost layer is the emergent layer, which is 40-70 meters above the forest floor. A few trees grow above the canopy. They either get full sun or drenching rain. Use the grid on page 221 to make an appropriate graph.

1. Evaluate. What type of graph did you use and why? Identify the dependent and independent variables.
2. Interpret. Data How many and what types of trees are found in each of the rain-forest layers? Suggest a way to highlight this information on your graph.

Answer 1

1. A scattered bar graph was used to visually convey the data and compare the heights of the tree layers. The independent variable is the height above the forest floor, and the dependent variable is the number of trees.
2. I suggest highlighting different data sets in various colors or shapes to indicate the differences among all the tree layers. It would be helpful to mention the height of the tree layer and the specific type of tree found in each one.