The Most Beautiful Roof in the World: "Pioneer in the Rainforest"

by Kathryn Lasky
This nonfiction account follows Dr. Meg Lowman as she explores the rainforest.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Pioneer in the Rainforest, Out of the Shadow and Into the Light, A Column of Life
20 words 1025 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. rainforest
    a densely wooded tropical area with heavy precipitation
    Meg is a rainforest scientist, and her specialty is the very top of the rainforest, the canopy.
  2. canopy
    the uppermost layer of branches and foliage in a forest
    Meg is a rainforest scientist, and her specialty is the very top of the rainforest, the canopy.
  3. botanical
    of or relating to plants
    Meg’s lab is at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, a rainforest research center in Sarasota, Florida, where she is director of research and conservation.
  4. conservation
    careful management of the environment and natural resources
    Meg’s lab is at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, a rainforest research center in Sarasota, Florida, where she is director of research and conservation.
  5. intrigue
    cause to be interested or curious
    When Meg was ten years old, she was intrigued by two women: Rachel Carson, one of the first environmentalists, who studied and wrote about the delicate relationships in the web of life, and Harriet Tubman, the most famous “conductor” of the Underground Railroad.
  6. navigate
    direct carefully and safely
    Threading through the countryside and deep woods on long, frightening nights, Harriet Tubman guided countless African Americans out of slavery to freedom. Meg read that she often navigated by feeling for the moss that grew on the north sides of trees.
  7. attune
    adjust or accustom to; bring into harmony with
    She had to be attuned to the environment in order to guide her people on their perilous journey.
  8. perilous
    fraught with danger
    She had to be attuned to the environment in order to guide her people on their perilous journey.
  9. naturalist
    a biologist knowledgeable about botany and zoology
    Harriet Tubman, says Meg, was a pioneer field naturalist, one of the first women field naturalists in this country.
  10. classify
    arrange or order by categories
    When Meg is at Selby Gardens, she busily sorts, classifies, and prepares the samples of plants, flowers, and insects she has brought back from her explorations in rainforest canopies all over the world.
  11. retain
    allow to remain in a place or maintain a property or feature
    Although their color might change, the flowers retain their three-dimensional form for study.
  12. aloft
    high up in or into the air
    To gather species of plants and insects, Meg has climbed ropes to pluck leaves, sailed aloft in hot-air balloons to gather orchids, swung on trapezes through the foliage, and even hung over the side of an inflatable raft resting on the canopy.
  13. foliage
    the collective amount of leaves of one or more plants
    To gather species of plants and insects, Meg has climbed ropes to pluck leaves, sailed aloft in hot-air balloons to gather orchids, swung on trapezes through the foliage, and even hung over the side of an inflatable raft resting on the canopy.
  14. ascent
    a movement upward
    Meg has tried most methods of ascent in her exploration of the canopy.
  15. photosynthesis
    formation of compounds in plants aided by radiant energy
    They knew that the canopy was the “powerhouse” of the rainforest, the place where most photosynthesis occurs and where 95 percent of the biomass, the living things of the rainforest, is produced.
  16. biomass
    the total amount of living matter in a given unit area
    They knew that the canopy was the “powerhouse” of the rainforest, the place where most photosynthesis occurs and where 95 percent of the biomass, the living things of the rainforest, is produced.
  17. liken
    consider or describe as similar or equal
    The rainforest canopy has been likened to an undiscovered continent, a kind of last frontier.
  18. frontier
    a wilderness at the edge of a settled area of a country
    The rainforest canopy has been likened to an undiscovered continent, a kind of last frontier.
  19. elasticity
    the tendency of a body to return to its original shape
    They must be as skillful as any mountaineer, perhaps more so, for the cliffs they ascend are made not of rocks but of leaves and branches of enormous elasticity.
  20. pioneer
    someone who helps to open up a new line of technology or art
    These women and men are the pioneers of a newly discovered continent as they feel their way up to the brightly lit canopy.
Created on Tue Nov 03 19:50:09 EST 2020 (updated Wed Dec 02 10:28:21 EST 2020)

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