Botonist
Title.
Objective: To become familiar with the native plants in your ecosystem.
The tropical rain forest is a forest that has tall trees and is warm all year round. Every year, an average of 50 to 260 inches (125 to 660 cm.) of rain falls from the sky.
Rainforests now cover less than 6% of Earth's land surface. Scientists have estimated that more than a half of the world's plant and animal species live in tropical rain forests. Tropical rainforests produce 40% of the Earth's oxygen.
A tropical rain forest has more different kinds of trees than any other area in the whole world. Scientists have counted around 100 to 300 species in a one hectare area in South America. In the rainforest, seventy percent of the plants in the rainforests are actually trees.
About a quarter of all the medicines we use come from plants in the rainforest. Curare is from a tropical vine, and it is used as an anesthetic and also to relax people’s muscles during surgery. Quinine, which is from the cinchona tree, is used to treat malaria. Someone with lymphocytic leukaemia has a 99% chance that the disease will go into remission because of the rosy periwinkle. The rosy periwinkle is only native to the tropical rain forests of Madagascar. More than 1,400 varieties of different tropical plants are thought to be potential cures for cancer.
All of the tropical rain forests are alike in some ways. Lots of the trees have straight trunks that don't branch out for around 100 feet or more. There isn’t any sense in growing branches below the canopy where there isn’t a lot of light. Most of the trees have smooth, thin bark because there’s no need to protect them from water loss and freezing climates. It also makes it hard for epiphytes (a plant that grows on another and gets its nutrients from water, dust particles, and the air) and plant parasites to get a hold on the trunks. The bark of different plant species is so similar that it is hard to tell trees apart by their bark. Many trees can only be told apart by their flowers.
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/rainforest.htm
Objective: To identify the adaptations that have allowed for successful colonization.
http://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/water/testrf1.htm
In tropical rain forests, there is rain a lot of the days. Three days without rain can almost be a drought! The rain is often heavy and very regular. Plants grow well in humid and warm conditions. These plants are a source of shelter and food for animals living in tropical rainforests. Also, the animals living in tropical rainforests, have adapted to their supply of food and water.
Also, getting salt in tropical rainforests can sometimes be hard because salt is easily washed away. Because some of the animals eat the earth to get their supply of salt, they can’t because it’s washed away!
For the plants and animals, it’s hard because they can sometimes be washed away form heavy rain, but they can always find somewhere close with fresh water.
Many animals eat the fruit in the forest, and then the seeds fall from the eaten fruit. The plants rely on the animals letting the seeds of the plants be planted.
Objective: To identify the interdependence between plants and other organisms in the ecosystem.
In tropical rainforests all of the organisms rely on each other. This happens in every ecosystem. Like if an insect only survive in one type of tree, while at the same time some birds only eat one type of insect. If this tree were to be destroyed, the insects will have no home. If these insects die, the birds that rely on them for food will starve to death.
Objective: To identify various mutualistic relationships within the ecosystem.
In tropical rainforests, the rain pours down very heavily and makes the rivers rise and collect mo0re water. When the water is stable and heavy, the plants and animals all benefit from it. But when it has not rained for a few days, then it doesn’t benefit them because no fresh new water if pouring into their lakes.
Tropical rainforests have some of the most interesting mutualistic relationships. One of the most famous of the mutualistic relationships is that of the Ant-Acacias. The Acacia tree (Acacia collinsii) has ants (Pseudomyrmex sp.) living on it. It gives the ants a home (the hollow thorns) and food (little protein tips on new leaves and nectar from the foundation of the leaves). In return, the ants are a defence system against any herbivores such as caterpillars. The moment a caterpillar or grasshopper gets on the plant, the ants rush to attack the trespasser, chasing it away or killing it with their painful stings
