Swinging into the Tropical
Rain Forest Biome
By: Alanna Cavallini and Maya King
Period 6
What is the Tropical Rainforest
Biome?
Tropical rainforest is earths most complex biome
50% of Earths biodiversity
Abundant rainfall and year round warm temperatures
Between 28 degrees N/S of the equator
Average annual rainfall no less than 66 inches
Among most threatened ecosystems
Types of Tropical Rain
Forests
Lowland equatorial evergreen rain forest: receive high rainfall,
occur in a belt around the equator. Found in Amazon Basin, Congo
Basin, Indonesia and New Guinea
Moist deciduous and semi-evergreen seasonal forests: high overall
rainfall with warm wet summer and cooler dry winter. Some of the
trees drop their leaves during dry season. Found in S America, C
America, W Africa and Indochina
Montane Rain forests: aka cloud forests are found in cooler climate
mountain areas between 1500-3300m in the mountain range
Flooded forests: Forests with permanent water accumulation
ex. Lower floodplain forest, previous floodplain and seasonally
waterlogged swamp forest
Tropical Rainforest Climate
Very high precipitation, up to 250 cm
per year
Very humid and wet environment
Equatorial location results in moist
air and high temperatures
Temperature is rarely higher than 93
degrees F and rarely lower than 68
degrees F
Year- round warm temperatures
Understory of tropical rainforest
cooler because it receives less
sunlight
Plant life of Tropical Rainforest
Rainforests have 170,000 of the
worlds 250,000 known plant
species.
A typical four-square-mile patch of
rainforest contains as many as
1,500 flowering plants, 750
species of trees
Plants must adapt to the extreme
amount of precipitation that occur
in this biome
Emergent Layer-tallest trees, as
much as 200 feet above the forest
floor. Sunlight is plentiful
Canopy Layer-the primary layer of
the forest and houses a large
animal life
Understory Layer-Little sunshine
reaches this area, but there is a
large concentration of insects
here.
Forest Floor-It's very dark so
almost no plants grow in this area.
A mot of decomposition occurs in
this layer
Cacao Plant Grows below altitudes of
1,000 area that
Needs about 4 inches of rain
per month
lowland rainforests of Amazon
River basins
Used in making chocolate
Heliconia colorful plant has 40 different
species with paddle-shaped
leaves
part of the banana family
Found in the tropics including
southern Mexico, Central and
South America and the West
Indies
Animal life in the Tropical
Rainforest
An estimated 50% of Earths biodiversity is found in Tropical
Rainforests
Estimates range from 3 million to 50 million species that inhabit the
Tropical Rainforest
A typical four-square-mile patch of rainforest contains 400 species of
birds and 150 species of butterflies.
Animals in this biome must adapt to be very competitive because of the
hundreds of others they are competing against for resources
Anaconda large, non-venomous
snake found in tropical
South America
one of the largest
snakes in the world
Poison Dart FrogThese frogs are considered one of
Earth's most toxic species, some
have enough poison to kill 20,000
mice. They have a range of bright
colors like yellows, oranges, reds,
greens, blues
Proboscis MonkeyMale proboscis monkeys
use their fleshy,
pendulous noses to
attract mates. Proboscis
monkeys are endemic to
the jungles of Borneo
Human Impact
Millions and Millions of acres of Tropical
Rainforest are cleared every year for the
benefit of humans.
An area of a rainforest the size of a football
field is being destroyed each second.
the two main reasons for this forest clearing
is to create land available for agricultural use
and to harvest trees in the logging industry
This deforestation results in massive habitat
loss for millions of species and soil
degradation
Experts estimates that we are losing 137
plant, animal and insect species everyday due
to rainforest deforestation, or 50,000 species
a year
As the rainforest species disappear, so do
many possible cures for life-threatening
diseases.
Fun Facts
Rainforests are the oldest ecosystems on
earth. Some rainforests in Southeast Asia
have been around for at least 100 million
years, when dinosaurs roamed the earth.
Giant bamboo plants can grow up to 9
inches a day.
The trees of a tropical rainforest are so
densely packed that rain falling on the
canopy can take as long as 10 minutes to
reach the ground
Over 25% of natural medicines have been
discovered in rainforests.
Global oxygen is 28% from the
rainforests.
Hope you all had a wild time,
swingin through our
presentation!
