The rainforest ecosystem

Why is the

rainforest both an ecosystem and a biome?

A biome isAn ecosystem is

The rainforest is both because

• Where do rainforests occur?

What are the two main factors that affect where different biomes occur?

What climatic conditions do rainforests need to grow?

Productivity in the rainforestWhat is the climate of the rainforest?What causes it to rain so much?

Which area of the world has the sun overhead?

Which area (Africa or Europe) did we say had the sun directly overhead?

Which area has the sun spreading out over a larger area?

Which area is hotter then?

Why does it rain so

much in the rainforest?

So, based on what you have just found out, what causes the lush vegetation in the

rainforest?

• What happens to the rain that falls in a rainforest?

• What will happen in the short term if the trees are cut down?

• And in the long term?

Why do these four layers grow up?

• Does a forest with four layers have more or fewer habitats than a forest with two layers?

• If there are more habitats does that mean there are more niches?

• If there are more niches what does that mean about species diversity?

More than 50% of the world's plant and animal species inhabit the 7% of the world that is covered in

rainforest.

A four-square mile patch of rainforest contains as many as 1500 species of flowering plants, 750 species

of trees, 125 species of mammals, 400 species of birds, 100 species of reptiles, 60 species of amphibians, and 150 species of butterflies.

• Using what you now know, explain why the rainforest has such a high species diversity.

? is the total amount of CO2 that is fixed by the plant in photosynthesis.

? is the net amount of primary production after the costs of plant respiration are included.

Therefore, NPP = GPP ? R

Which ecosystems have the greatest gross primary productivity?

• What does this bar graph show about NPP?

What is primary productivity?

What is secondary productivity?

What role do the producers

(plants) have in this ecosystem?

What role do the decomposers

have?

What role do the consumers have?

What would happen to the food web if poachers killed ocelots?

Is this the water cycle or the nutrient

cycle?

Where are nutrients stored in this cycle?

Where do nutrients come from?

How can nutrients be lost from this system?

Why is there so much photosynthesis in the rainforest?

What are the inputs and outputs in photosynthesis and respiration?

What are the energy transformations in photosynthesis and

respiration?

What happens to light energy?

Where does the world’s energy come from and where does it go to?

How is energy transferred and transformed as it flows through the rainforest ecosystem?

How is carbon transferred and transformed as it moves around the rainforest ecosystem?

How is nitrogen moved around the rainforest ecosystem?

How does the water cycle work?

.

What is GSP and GNP?

What are the values of GSP and GNP here?

BibliographyYoutube Video- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMojw8InWKQ

Distribution of trpical rainforest map- http://www.greenwichschools.org/uploaded/faculty/nelyda_miguel/rainforestmap.gif

Sunlight distribution picture- http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/images/g_me_r_2.gif

Miscellanious- http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/rainforest.htm

Climate-http://www.studygs.net/citation/mla.htm

Plantlife-http://www.savetherainforest.org/savetherainforest_004.htm

Temperature-http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/rainforest.htm

Pictures-http://www.kidcyber.com.au/IMAGES/Rafflesialabel.jpghttp://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0310225/graphics/redplant.gifhttp://www.veeriku.tartu.ee/~ppensa/saint-orchid.jpghttp://www.savetherainforest.org/savetherainforest_004.htmhttp://www.abcteach.com/RainforestFacts/plants.htm

• Fact: We lose 50 species everyday due to deforestation of tropical forests. Fact: Over 2,000 tropical forest plants have been identified as having anti-cancer properties. Fact: Less than 5 percent of the world's tropical forests are protected.