Unit 1: Conservation Abroad - Tropical Rainforest
- Created by: rosieevie
- Created on: 27-04-14 18:14
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- Tropical Rainforest
- Ecological Features
- No large seasonal changes
- High light levels, warm temperatures and high rainfall = high productivity
- Good species inter-relationships
- Species pollinate, feed on or spread seeds of plants
- Specialised niches
- Plants adapted to live on different layers of rainforest
- Very high biodiversity and unique species
- Importance
- Resources
- Timber
- Fuel
- Medicines
- Food
- Biodiversity - stable ecosystem that resists change
- Unexploited resources
- Carbon sequestration (removing carbon dioxide)
- Trees put large amounts of water into atmosphere that fall again as rain
- Soil conservation - removing trees erodes already poor soils
- Resources
- Threats
- Fuelwood - other fuels are expensive for poor people (unsustainable)
- Timber - affordable construction material (taken unsustainabley)
- Slash and burn farming - increased population density = soil cannot fully recover (erosion)
- Commercial agriculture - unsustainable forest clearence
- Mineral extraction - destroy forests
- Hydro-electric power floods forests
- Global climate change - higher temperatures means less rainfall
- Conservation Methods
- Debt-for-nature swaps - cancelling debt in return for rainforest protection
- Protected areas and ecotourism
- Limited or restricted trade e.g. timber
- Ecological Features
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