Rain Forest
By: Chase Panno, and Alfredo Antonetti
Location of Rain Forests
There are two types of rainforests, temperate and tropical. Temperate rainforest are found on the coast area in temperate areas. The longest ones are in North American. Others are fond in Chile, The UK, Norway, Japan,New Zealand, and Australia.
Tropical rainforest can be found in Central and South America; in Western Africa, eastern Madagascar, and the Zaire basin. Also in indo- Malaysia Along the west coast of indian, Assam, Southeast Asia, New Guinea, and Queensland, Australia.
Tropical rainforest can be found in Central and South America; in Western Africa, eastern Madagascar, and the Zaire basin. Also in indo- Malaysia Along the west coast of indian, Assam, Southeast Asia, New Guinea, and Queensland, Australia.
Weather
In tropical rainforests, it is lush and warm all year long. Temperature doesn't change that often, and ranges from 70-805 F year long. Its pretty wet with a high humidity 77% to 88% year round. The yearly rainfall ranges from 80-400 inches and it can rain hard.
In temperate rainforests, it is also wet but not as rainy. It rains from 60 - 200 inches each year. The fog there provides about 7 - 12 inches of rain annually. Temperate rainforests are usually a lot cooler than tropical rainforests.
Adaptations
One type of plant usually found in a rainforest is an epiphyte. These plants adapt to their environment by growing on trees so that they can receive more sunlight. There are about 10 - 20 species of of trees in temperate rainforests and hundreds of species in tropical rainforests. Most trees in tropical rainforests have thin, smooth bark. Since the rainforest is so wet, these trees don't need thick bark to hold moisture. Many plants in the rainforest have different leaf shapes that allow water to drip off. New World monkeys have prehensile tails tails that curl around branches allowing it to swing from trees.
Variations
In the rainforest you have many birds that all do what most birds do fly and look for food like seeds, but they can vary in color and in behavior. Like parrots repeat noises, and other birds blend in with the leafs and the plants. Some monkeys in the rainforest have long tails to hang and swing in the trees, while some in other parts of the world and the rainforest don't have as long of tails.
Interdependency between organisms
The birds in the rainforest depend on the seeds and insects on the ground to survive. Monkeys depend on fruits that grow on trees while Bobcats hunt the monkeys and birds and other animals for food. All the animals all depend on the rain/ water to drink and survive since you cant live with water.
EQ
Claim: Animals and plants are uniquely adapted to their environment by their behaviors and physical properties.
Evidence: Animals like monkeys have long tails that allow them to hang from trees so they can not be hunted by bobcats. Trees have different shaped leafs to allow water to drip off.
Reasoning: This shows that animals and plants have physical properties that help them in the rain forest. Without these they could die and maybe eventually become extinct.
Eliminating the Spider Monkey from the Rain Forest
If the Spider Monkey was eliminated from the rain forest, then the jaguar would loose one of its main food sources causing some of the jaguars to starve due to competition . The ecosystem would also be effected with the elimination of the spider monkey because the banana, bamboo, and coconut trees would all increase in population.
Adding Wild Boar to the Rain Forest
With the addition of the wild boar to the rain forest, the fruit bats, macaws, and grasshoppers would have less plants, trees, and seeds to feed on due to competition. Also, the wild boar would bring unnecessary diseases to the rain forest which would cause other animals in this ecosystem to die. Since the population of the primary consumers would decrease, the secondary and tertiary consumer population would also decrease. This would therefore lead to the destruction of the ecosystem.