THE STRUCTURE OF THE FOREST
Time: 24 -25/10/2020
- Content of the lessons: A. Morning of day 1:
Listened to the history and biodiversity of Cuc Phuong National Park on the car.
Participated in a number of quick questions and answers and activities related to knowledge of natural
B. Afternoon day 1:
- Relocated to the Mac Lake area, carried out some experiments on soil erosion as well as vegetative cycle of trees.
- Looked for animals’ tracings: Knowledge about insects, distinguishing different types of insects, observing their characteristics by magnifier.
- Visited the turtle conservation center, primate rescue center in the garden. Learn about the characteristics of termites as well as the necessity that needs to be preserved.
- C. Evening of day 1:
- Visited pangolins and small carnivores and observed nocturnal insect activity D. Morning of day 2:
- Moved to Center Bong. Joined the trekking to the parashorea of hundreds of years old.
- On the way back, listened to the park’s management about:
- History of the Park, future planning plans.
- Forest canopy layers and canopy layers in Cuc Phuong National Park.
- 3km long trekking, on a trekking from low terrain to high terrain, the instructors showed the features of different types of plants in different canopy layers Forest structure is usually divided into 5 levels (5 layers). Specifically:
- First level: Trees beyond the forest canopy, including tall trees, the highest in the canopy stand beyond the main forest layer. Normally, the first level accounts for 5% of the total number of trees. The plants on this level are subject to many weather impacts such as strong winds, heavy rain, and even lightning.
- Second level: The high timber level consists of dominant trees, this level is compared to a giant canopy of the forest consisting of the tallest and oldest trees. The animals inhabit this layer usually include: birds, tree frogs, snakes, lizards and reptiles.
- 3rd level: The medium-high tree level, located just below the second level, consists of trees of average diameter and height, which is the habitat of plants in the process of growing. Because it is covered by the first and second levels, the plants in this level are less affected by the weather. This is home of birds, butterflies, frogs, squirrels, and raccoons (in the north), or monkeys (near the equator)
- Level 4,5: are blocked, underdeveloped trees, shrub and herbaceous layers, vines are the next two layers of tropical rainforest. These layers are made up of a variety of seedlings, regenerating trees and many different types of plants. Mosses and various herbaceous flowers are also found on this level, bees, wasps, butterflies and birds all live on this level. Finally, the forest ground has a layer of leaves falling from the upper levels. Beneath the leaf layer is fertile soil that can house worms, slugs, snails, and centipedes.
- Outstanding species of flora and fauna in the forest: Parashorea, ancient tree, deer, butterfly
- Many species of plants are used as medicine with the number of up to 433 species, including many valuable medicinal plants in nature.
- Share some edible tree species, how to get water from plants for survival in the forest.
- Practice experiment: After the leaves fall. E. Afternoon day 2:
- Moved back to Hanoi and shared memories of the trip.
III. Feeling after the trip:
- Through 2 days of visiting, studying, learning and experiencing at Cuc Phuong National Park – the first national park in Vietnam, children have gained a lot of knowledge about the vast forest world. They understood more about the structure of a forest, and know how to recognize some of the outstanding plants in Cuc Phuong, understand the effects of forests in preventing soil erosion.
- The children wanted to live in harmony with nature and joined hands to protect and conserve plants and animals in the world.
