Tropical Forest Biome

1. Tropical Forest Biome Meredith Wolfe Troy Marowske

2. Climate • The rain forests have a very steady warm and moist climate, due to there location near the equator. • The average annual temperature is around 25° C. • The temperature range throughout the year is between 20° C to 34° C. • Average humidity is between 77% and 88%.

3. Climate Cont. • Tropical rainforests have any extremely high amount of rain fall averaging about 200cm a year. • This extreme amount of rainfall per year is mainly due to its location near the equator and warm air’s ability to hold more water than cold air. • The relatively warm year long temperatures and the abundance of rain are the two biggest building blocks for creating the earth’s most complex biome.

4. Factors Controlling Climate • Location near equator. • High amounts of direct sunlight year round. • High amounts of rain per year. • The location near the equator allows for plenty direct sunlight year round. The direct sunlight heats the earth, water, and air below. Also the high amounts of sun allow for more water to be evaporated. Because warm air holds more water than cool air does the high amounts of water evaporated can be held in the atmosphere which gives the tropical rainforest its extremely moist climate.

5. Geographic Location Tropical forests are found near the equator, within the area bounded by latitudes 23.5 degrees N and 23.5 degrees S.

6. Geographic Location Tropical rainforests found in 3 major areas: • Central America in the the Amazon river basin. • Africa - Zaire basin, with a small area in West Africa; also eastern Madagascar. • Indo-Malaysia - west coast of India, Assam, Southeast Asia, New Guinea and Queensland, Australia.

7. Types of Flora (plants) • Very diverse. • About 100-200 different species of trees every square kilometer. • Trees are 25-35 m tall, with buttressed trunks and shallow roots, mostly evergreen, with large dark green leaves. • Plants such as orchids, bromeliads, vines, ferns, mosses, and palms are present in tropical forests.

8. Types of flora cont. Plants have made many adaptations to live in the rainforest: • Plants have drip tips and grooved leaves to help shed water off quickly so branches don’t break. Some also have oily coatings. • Leaves are very large to absorb sunlight in the lower canopy. Some trees have leaf stalks that move with the movement of the sun to absorb the maximum amount of sunlight • Leaves in the upper canopy are dark green, small and leathery to reduce water loss in the strong sunlight. • Many trees have buttress and stilt roots for extra support in the shallow, wet soil of the rainforests

9. Layers of a Canopy • Emergent trees are the tallest trees and have canopies that spread above the forest. They receive the most sun. • The upper canopy has trees that can reach the sunlight. Most animals live in the upper canopy • The lower canopy is where the trunks of the trees are. Little sunlight gets through. • The forest floor receives only 1% of sunlight so very little plants and animals are here.

10. Types of Fauna (animals) Characteristics of animals in the rainforest are: • Bright colors, sharp patterns, loud vocalizations, fruit diets, and adaptations to tree life. • Insects make up the largest group of animals. They include butterflies, mosquitos, stick insects, ants and many more.

11. Types of Fauna cont. • There is an estimated 40-100 different species of animals in 2.5 acres of a tropical forest. • Rainforests contain 1/3 of all bird species in the world. • A typical rainforest has a biomass between 400 and 700 metric tons per hectare (180 to 300 tons per acre) which is much higher than any other biome.

12. Pyramid of Biomass Plants are the producers Insects are the primary consumer. Animals are the secondary consumer

13. Websites • http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/rainforest.htm • http://www.runet.edu/~swoodwar/CLASSES/GEOG235/biomes/rainforest/rainfrst.html