Rainforest Ecosystem

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• The rainforest has more plants and animals in an environment (Biodiversity) than any other place on earth

• The location and climate is the reason for all these organisms living together.

• Just North and South of the Equator (23 degrees) is very warm and wet

• This region gets plenty of sun and rain so it can support life of many plants and animals

• The rainforest receives between 80 and 400 inches of rain a year

• They get 12 hours of sunlight a day and average 80 degrees a day

• Its hot. humid, and full of life

• The rainforest consists of 4 layers/ecosystems

• Each ecosystem has its own temperature, amount of light, and moisture level

• 1) Emergent Layer- This is the tops of the trees. It gets plenty of sun and contains birds, butterfly's and monkeys

• 2) Canopy- This is just below the emergent. Its the thick vegetation that blocks the floor from the sun and creates a roof over the remaining 2 layers

• Canopy- has plenty of food therefore plenty of animals live there like snakes and tree frogs

• 3) Understory- The layer below the canopy. a hot, humid environment made up of shrubs, young trees, and vines.

• the lack of sunlight means everything grows tall in order to reach the sunlight

• Lots of insects in this layer including ants, beetles, and bees

• 4) The rainforest floor is the last layer

• It is dark and humid.

• No sunlight (2%) reaches the floor so there are no plants, only land animals like jaguars and leopards.

• Goliath bird-eating spider (tarantula)

• lives on the rain-forest floor waiting for its prey of insects ,snakes, small animals and birds

• This spider is a carnivore (It eats meat) and leaves behind food to decompose/get eaten by scavengers

• The rain forest and all of its trees provide oxygen for humans and animals

• We breath in the oxygen they produce and use carbon dioxide

• The trees "inhale" that carbon dioxide and "exhale" oxygen

• Primarily that carbon helps the plants to feed themselves through photosynthesis

• scientists believe the rain forest contains more than half of all species on earth

• maybe even thousands of species still undiscovered

• Some undiscovered bacteria and plants can hold the cure to many different diseases.

• The largest rain forests can be found in South America, Africa, and South East Asia

• They used to be much larger but humans have played a major role in the shrinking of them

• They have been cut down for farming, to make wood products, or even develop on the land ( houses, buildings etc.)

• The "old man of the forest"- the orangutan, is just one such victim of humans deforestation.

• The orangutan is found exclusively in Asia and the habitat is still shrinking.

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