Rainforest
Skylar Smith
biome description
LANDFORMS
There are two different kinds of rainforests. one is the tropical, the tropical rainforest is located located near the equator and the biggest tropical rainforest are located in South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. The other kind of rainforest is the temperate rainforest, the temperate rainforest are found along the coasts of temperate regions. Tempo rate rainforests are located on the Pacific Ocean, North America, stretching from Alaska to Oregon.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
The tropical rainforest is very lush and warm all year,the temperature is about 80
degrees fahrenheit . the environment is pretty wet and the humidity ranges from about 77% to 88%. The temperate rainforests are wet but not as wet as tropical rainforests, they also have long wet winters and short drier summers. Temperate rain forests are also a lot cooler than the tropical rain forests
Abiotic factors
WEATHER AND CLIMATE
The amount of rain in the rainforest is important to the rest of the weather pattern because it evaporates from the rainforest and moves and rains somewhere else but about half of the precipitation stay there. in a rainforest it is very humid because of all the rain the rainforest gets around 250cm of rain per year. The tall trees in the rainforest act as a canpoy and blocks some rain and water from ever getting to the under story.TEMPERATURE
The rainforest stays hot but it never really goes higher than 93 degrees farenhite or below 68 decrees farenhite. The humidity of he rainforest is averagely between 77 and 88%. There is not a Winter in the rainforest.PRECIPITATION
The yearly rainfall in a tropical rainforest ranges from 80-400 inches. It can downpour up to two inches in one hour. It a temperate rainforest the rainfall is about 60-200 inches per year.Land forms
MOUNTAIN
A mountain is a topographical feature that rises above surrounding areas and has an altitude higher than a hill. South America, Asia, Australia, Africa and Pacific Islands are the regions where mountains in tropical rainforests can be found. Out of the total mountain cover of the world, 22% is found in South America. Barisan mountains in tropical rainforests of Sumatra Island, Indonesia also are the important ones.
BODIES OF WATER
The soil of wetlands is saturated with water. The different types of wetland regions are marshes, swamps, bogs, etc. The wetlands are saturated with water because their water table is just near the ground surface. Shallow pools of water are found in wetland regions. The activity of studying wetlands is referred to as paludology. Brazil, Chile, Bolivia and Paraguay are the regions in South America where wetlands are commonly found. Largest of all wetlands, the Pantanal is located in Brazil.
Biotic factors
ANIMALS
The tropical rainforest is home to half the animals on earth. Animals in the tropical rainforest are specially adapted to live in this environment. Insects make up the largest single group of animals in the tropical rainforest. They include bright beautiful butterflies, masque toes, and camouflage stick animals.Red eyed tree frog
The Red-Eyed Tree Frog is located in Southern Mexico, Central America including but not limited to Costa Rica, Honduras and Panama, and northern South America.
Resplendent Quetzal
The Resplendent Quetzal is mostly found in Central America, in countries such as Honduras, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama and Guatemala.
Leaf cutter ant
Leafcutter ants, a non-generic name, are any of 47 species of leaf-chewing ants belonging to the two genera Atta and Acromyrmex.
spider monkeys
Spider monkeys of the genus Ateles are New World monkeys in the subfamily Atelinae, family Atelidae. Like other atelines, they are found in tropical forests of Central and South America, from southern Mexico to Brazil.
Morpho Butterfly
A Morpho butterfly may be one of over 29 accepted species and 147 accepted subspecies of butterflies in the genus Morpho. They are Neotropical butterflies found mostly in South America as well as Mexico and Central America
PLANTS
More than two thirds of the world's plant species are found in the tropical rainforests: plants that provide shelter and food for rainforest animals as well as taking part in the gas exchanges which provide much of the world's oxygen supply.The aerial plants often gather nourishment from the air itself using so-called 'air roots';. The humidity of the rainforest encourages such adaptations which would be impossible in most temperate forests with their much drier conditions.
Pitcher plants
found in southeast Asia. This plant grows to 30 feet tall and may have pitchers 12 inches in length, usually crammed full of digested insects.
Orchrid
Known for their beauty, orchids are the largest family of plants in the world
Bromeliad
Bromeliad seems like a complex word and plant, but it’s really not. Bromeliads contain more than 2,700 species that grow on the ground
Epiphytes
Epiphytes grow in tropical and temperate rainforests. Also known as air plants, these diverse plants usually grow on trees or other, larger plants
Vines
Rainforests contain more than 2,500 species of vines, or more than 90 percent of the world's total. Many rainforest vines grow from the top down, sending roots down through the darker layers of the undercanopy to the ground.
ecological concerns or issues
A widespread drought in the Amazon rainforest last year caused the "lungs of the world" to produce more carbon dioxide than they absorbed, potentially leading to a dangerous acceleration of global warming. Scientists have calculated that the 2010 drought was more intense than the "one-in-100-year" drought of 2005.
The greatest cause of tropical rainforest destruction today comes from human activities, which, unlike natural damage, are unrelenting and thorough. Although most of this deforestation is driven by national and international economic forces, a significant proportion serves no long-term purpose; it results from subsistence activities on a local level. Many of the effects from human-induced destruction of the rainforests are probably irreversible within our time.