Ecosystems - Tropical Rainforests

Small-scale ecosystem: a natural system made up of plants, animals, and the environment. There are often complex interrelationships between living/ non-living components.

Biotic: living. E.g plants and animals

Abiotic: Non-living. E.g Climate, soil, temperature, water and light

Global ecosystem/biome: world scale ecosystem covers a huge area. There are 9 biomes in the world: Tropical rainforest(high precipitation and temperature), desert(high temperature in day, low at night and low precipitation), polar(very low temperature and precipitation), tundra(cold, windy and dry), deciduous and coniferous forests(varying precipitation and temperature), temperate grasslands(cold winter, dry summer), Mediterranean(hot summer, mild winter and low precipitation) and tropical grassland(hot and cold, wet and dry). 

Tropical Rainforests:

Found in: Central and South America, South East Asia, Central Africa and Northern Australia.

Physical Characteristics:

Forest floor is dark and fragile with less than 1% available sunlight making it through the tree canopy - this is where some plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria live in order to maintain the relationship with soils, temperature, and moisture. The majority of plants and animals live in the canopy(middle layer) so they can get sun. Temperate is high and constant throughout the year, rainfall is high with variation throughout the year(wet season lasting around 6 months).

Plant Adaptions:

Lianas - Long and thin and grow very fast, wrapping around branches towards the light.

Epiphytes - Plants that grow on other trees to get closer to the sunlight.

Drip tips - Leaves shaped to encourage water to run off them and not break them. 

Buttress roots - Help stabilize trees because soil and roots systems are shallow get nutrients from the surface of the soil.  

Rafflesia flowers - found in shady lowland with disc shape which gives off rotting smell to attract flies into the plant to pollinate it.

Trees - Tall and thin because uses its energy to grow towards the light. Trees also grow flowers, life figs, animals eat the flowers and excretion to disperse. 

Deforestation: 

Deforestation is the cutting down of trees, on a very large scale. This means the land can be used for other profit-making enterprises. However, it…