Tropical Rainforest LAUREN DREESEPARKER LEIROVALERIA TEFEL

Also Known As :

- Jungle- Coniferous forest

Location/ClimateLocated in South America (Brazil, Colombia, Peru) with a warm year-round Tropical Climate (Equatorial Climate).

Avg. rainfall is 108 Inches per year…

that’s why it’s so diverse!

68F ≤ Temperature≤ 93F

The Amazon is the most biodiverse place on Earth

Ironically, there is not a lot of litter in the amazon because it is a tropical coniferous forest. This means that the leaves do not fall off year round

There is not a lot of soil here, or good soil, because the vast, tall trees restrict sunlight from reaching the bottom of the forest floor

Nutrient Flow Diagram

Biodiversity= The variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem.

Habitat= The natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism.

Niche= The physical environment to which it has become adapted as well as its role as producer and consumer of food resources.

Animals of the RainforestTropical Rainforests are home to over 427 mammals, 1,300 birds, 378 reptiles, more than 400 amphibians.

- Anaconda: Live in water mostly found in the amazon river basin. They swim/stay in the streams and rivers of south america.

- Glass frog: Live in subtropical moist lowland, forests, and rivers. The glass frog is a heterotroph, a consumer.

- Macaw: Depending on the type of macaw depends on their niche. For example, the macaw that feeds on palm fruits have a niche of palm trees.

- Sloths: Sloths enjoy warmer weather. The three toed sloth, which eats mainly fruits and leaves, is a herbivore. The two toed sloth, mainly eats birds and insects, is an omnivore.

- Jaguars: nocturnal meaning they are awake during the night and that's when they feats. They are carnivores. - Golden lion tamarin: They sleep in tree holes during the night and is active during the day time, living in

groups 2 to 8. Lives in the trees most of life.

Sloth appreciation slide

Plants of the Rainforest- Corpse Flower:One of the world's largest and rarest flower. This particular

flower only blooms for a short amount of time but when it blooms a scent is released. This scent is similar to rotting meat or dead body.

- Strangler Figs: The reason it gets the name strangler is because it “strangles” the host. Eventually after years these strangler figs squeeze the tree continuously and kills the host.

- Amazon water lily: This water lily is the perfect example of adapting to your surroundings. It changes to the rise and fall of the rivers by growing rhizomes and new leaves.

ENERGY FLOW● Food Pyramid

● Pyramid of Numbers● Food Chain● Food Web

● Biomass Pyramid

Food Pyramid

Primary Producers- bananas, cacao, kapok tree, comet orchid

Primary Consumers (Herbivores)- Howler Monkeys, Fruit Bats, Butterflies

Secondary Consumers (Carnivores/Omnivores)- River Otters, Tapir

Tertiary Consumers (Apex/Top Predator)- Pumas, Poison Dart Frogs

Number Pyramid

Fern: 25,600,000

Caterpillars: 2,560,000

Macaw: 256,000

Ocelot: 25,600

-Used to see the structure of an ecosystem, the number of organisms, biomass, and productivity at each trophic level.

Food Web

Biomass Pyramid

-Biomass: amount of living/organic matter found in an organism

-Biomass Pyramid: how much biomass present in each trophic level

-Only 10% of energy from each trophic level is transferred to the next

GPP & NPP-Gross Primary Productivity (GPP): total amount of energy produced by primary producers -Net Primary Productivity (NPP): What is left over from the GPP available to the rest of the ecosystem (measures incoming energy and carbon dioxide)

Tropical Rainforests have a high GPP and NPP due to their warm climate,and abundant rainfall and sunlight, resulting in a productive recycling of nutrients.

PhotosynthesisTropical Rainforests are divided into 4 main layers. The Emergent Layer, Canopy, Understory, and Forest Floor. The Emergent Layer receives the most sunlight, but also the most heat and wind. This makes the Canopy layer the place where photosynthesis goes to work for the forest. All of the leaves from the 60-90ft tree tops work like solar panels and the rate of photosynthesis here is extremely high. This results in massive production of fruits, flowers, seeds, and more, also resulting in this being the most biodiverse section of the forest. Sunlight doesn’t reach the understory and forest floor nearly as much, so biodiversity is scarce and soil produces only a small amount of plant growth.

Succession- How does it occur?

Primary Succession is part of the rainforest when natural disturbances occur, such as trees dying of old age or trees falling due to weather conditions. In the amazon, there are few of these catastrophic events so forest regeneration is usually just small parts of the land where trees have died.

Secondary Succession is part when farmers and people cut down large areas of the trees to grow crops or to use the trees minerals.This causes deforestation and a decrease in the soils fertility, so once it is fertilized and the trees start to grow, the forest will take hundreds of years to grow back.

Brazil’s Amazon Rainforest experiences deforestation as a result of agriculture, urbanization, infrastructure (ex. new roads), logging (ex. cutting trees for timber).HOW IS IT HANDLED?Now, organizations (such as Greenpeace) have assisted in stopping the progression of the Amazon’s deforestation. Rules have been made such as, the Amazon Soy Moratorium, that prohibitsit from being destroyed for soybean farming.This has greatly decreased Amazon deforestation.

MDC:BRAZIL

LCD:AFRICA

Africa’s Rainforests are deforested for their resources, road construction, and are part of logging and slash-and-burn farming (cutting and burning the land to use nutrients to fertilize crops)HOW IS IT HANDLED?There are conservation organizations you can contribute to save the Congo Basin. It is now recommended to not buy timber products that have not been substantially grown, to lessen the cause of deforestation from logging.

LDC:BORNEO

Australia’s forest are being deforested by logging, burning and land clearing to replace with plantations.

HOW IS IT HANDLED?Greenpeace Australia has created policies to stopits deforestation rate. For example, there is one toensure that Australians buy wood legallyfrom well managed sources. However, manyof the policies are being forgotten throughout the years.

Borneo rainforests are affected by deforestation as they are being cut for timber, palm oil, rubber and other minerals. Also, wildfires have formed that clear their rainforests. HOW IS IT HANDLED? It has committed to the Heart of Borneo Initiative which protects the remaining forests across the island. Efforts are made to reverse the deforestation trend, such as the plan to convert 10 percent of the Yayasan Sabah to oil palm plantations so they can generate revenue and then restore it.

MDC:AUSTRALIA

Sad Howler Monkey :(