Rainforests

• Ecosystem


  A biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment
• Biome


  An ecosystem at a continental scale covering a large area, with vegetation characteristics that are influenced by the climate
• Organisms

  • Slugs
  • Crows
  • Cat
• Producer

  An organism that uses sunlight to produce food energy
• Consumer


  An organism that gets its energy by eating other organisms - it eats producers or consumes
• Decomposer


  An organism that gets its energy by breaking down dead material
• Tropical rainforest


  • Close to or on the equator
  • Very high temperatures
  • Rains a lot
  • 4 layers - forest floor, lower canopy, higher canopy, emergent layer
• 50% of the world's plants and animals live in the rainforest
• 25% of western medicines come from rainforests
• Location of rainforests

  Between the Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn, in South America, Africa and Asia, between 0° and 20° north and south of the equator
• Slugs


  • 92-190cm long
  • 46-165 lbs
  • Nocturnal
  • Hunting at night
  • Spotted coat camouflages them
  • Eat carrion, monkeys and snakes
  • Spend a lot of time in trees
• Frogs

  • 25-5cm long
  • Diurnal (active during the day)
  • Bright colours warn predators
  • Produce natural venom to paralyze or kill
  • Skin secretions can be toxic
  • Eat ants and small insects
• Fan palm


  • Large sized leaves
  • Tilted to allow wind to flow freely
  • Segmented leaves to allow excess water to drain
• Buttress roots

  • Supporting foundation of large trees
  • Shallow, wide roots to reach nutrients
  • Stretch from ground up trunk to anchor the tree
• Lianas


  • Woody vines on the ground that spread from tree to tree to gain access to sunlight
• Drip tip leaves

  • Allow rain to flow off leaves easily to prevent water storage and damage
• Strangler fig


  Starts at the top of a tree and sends roots down the trunk of the original tree until it reaches the ground, eventually surrounding and killing the host tree
• Epiphytes


  Plants that grow harmlessly upon another plant to absorb moisture and nutrients from the air, rain and debris
• Causes of deforestation

  • Mineral extraction
  • Subsistence farming
  • Commercial farming
  • Logging
  • Road building
  • Settlement
• Sustainability

  Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations
• Selective logging and replanting

  1. Cut down diseased trees to protect stronger trees

  2. Cut down trees that have reached maximum CO2 absorption

  3. Replant younger trees
• Conservation and education efforts

  • Charities like WWF raising international awareness
  • Educating local rainforest tribes about deforestation impacts
  • Helping locals find non-damaging ways to make money
• Debt-for-nature swaps

  Poor countries agree not to chop down rainforests in exchange for debt cancellation
• Ecotourism


  Tourism that doesn't harm the environment or local people, providing income for locals
• International agreements

  • Agenda 21 promoting global partnership to reduce deforestation
  • REDD+ aiming to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation
  • UNFCCC aiming to reduce emissions and compensate countries
• Mineral extraction

  • Gold, copper and diamonds and other precious metals can be found within rainforests
  • Extracting them are frequently destructive and damaging for the ecosystem
• Subsistence farming

  • People simply use the rainforest for their own personal use
  • The forest floor is left to dry and is burnt
  • The land is then used to plant crops - bananas
  • After 1-2 years the productivity of the soil will decrease
  • Farmers will dig a bit deeper for short term use
• Commercial farming

  • Increasing international demand of products such as palm oil, soy, beef and wood
  • This fuels the illegal destruction of rainforests
  • 71% of tropical deforestation is between 2000-2012 - 49% was faused by illegal clearing to make agricultural profucts for the EU, US, China and Russia
• Logging

  • Cutting trees for sale to sell as timber or pulp
  • Timber is used for homes - furniture
  • Pulp is used to make paper and paper products
• Road Building

  • Opens up large areas to deforestation
  • Trans- Amazonian higheay resulted of the destruction of huge areas by colonists, loggers and land speculators