Large number plants and animals are found in the tropical rain forest. Suitable temperature and moisture favour immense growth of primary producers and tropical forests are biodiversity hot spots. As plants capture lots of energy from sunlight, survival of large number of complex and different types of organisms could be possible.
What is the most complex ecosystem in the world? Mandira P. Jan 25, Tropical rainforest is most complex ecosystem in the world. The habitats that freshwater ecosystems provide consist of lakes, rivers, ponds, wetlands, streams, and springs. Use these classroom resources to help students explore and learn about these places.
Trophic levels provide a structure for understanding food chains and how energy flows through an ecosystem. At the base of the pyramid are the producers, who use photosynthesis or chemosynthesis to make their own food. Herbivores or primary consumers, make up the second level.
Secondary and tertiary consumers, omnivores and carnivores, follow in the subsequent sections of the pyramid. At each step up the food chain, only 10 percent of the energy is passed on to the next level, while approximately 90 percent of the energy is lost as heat. Teach your students how energy is transferred through an ecosystem with these resources. A biome is an area classified according to the species that live in that location.
Temperature range, soil type, and the amount of light and water are unique to a particular place and form the niches for specific species allowing scientists to define the biome. However, scientists disagree on how many biomes exist.
Some count six forest, grassland, freshwater, marine, desert, and tundra , others eight separating two types of forests and adding tropical savannah , and still others are more specific and count as many as 11 biomes.
Use these resources to teach middle school students about biomes around the world. A biotic factor is a living organism that shapes its environment. In a freshwater ecosystem, examples might include aquatic plants, fish, amphibians, and algae.
Biotic and abiotic factors work together to create a unique ecosystem. Learn more about biotic factors with this curated resource collection. Hunter-gatherer cultures forage or hunt food from their environment. Often nomadic, this was the only way of life for humans until about 12, years ago when archaeologic studies show evidence of the emergence of agriculture. Human lifestyles began to change as groups formed permanent settlements and tended crops. There are still a few hunter-gatherer peoples today.
Explore the lifestyle of hunter-gatherers in your classroom with these resources. Different regions have access to different renewable or nonrenewable natural resources such as freshwater, fossil fuels, fertile soil, or timber based on their geographic location and past geologic processes. For example, the Great Plains region of the United States is known for its abundance of fertile soil. As a result, its main industry is agriculture. Corn, soybeans, and wheat are globally exported from this region and serve as the main economy.
On the other side of the spectrum, the desert southwestern region of the United States depends on the Central Arizona Project canals to transport water from the Colorado River in order to support agriculture and urban areas. Use these materials to explore the interconnected nature of resources and their distribution. A habitat is an environment where an organism lives throughout the year or for shorter periods of time to find a mate.
The habitat contains all an animal needs to survive such as food and shelter. A microhabitat is a small area which differs somehow from the surrounding habitat.
Its unique conditions may be home to unique species that may not be found in the larger region. Unfortunately, some habitats are threatened by pollution, extreme weather, or deforestation. This puts many of the species that live there in danger and is causing many populations to decline.
Explore different types of habitats and microhabitats with this curated collection of classroom resources. A terrestrial ecosystem is a land-based community of organisms and the interactions of biotic and abiotic components in a given area. Examples of terrestrial ecosystems include the tundra, taigas, temperate deciduous forests, tropical rainforests, grasslands, and deserts. The type of terrestrial ecosystem found in a particular place is dependent on the temperature range, the average amount of precipitation received, the soil type, and amount of light it receives.
Use these resources to spark student curiosity in terrestrial ecosystems and discover how different abiotic and biotic factors determine the plants and animals found in a particular place. Rainforests play an invaluable role in sustaining life, but every year, large portions of them are cut down for logging, mining, and cattle ranches.
Rainforests are home to over half of the world's plant and animal species. Learn about tropical and temperate rainforests, how they contribute to the global ecosystem, and the conservation efforts to protect these biomes.
Students explore biodiversity in the Amazon rainforest using the MapMaker Interactive and other online resources. Then students construct an argument for protecting biodiversity in the Amazon rainforest.
Join our community of educators and receive the latest information on National Geographic's resources for you and your students. Skip to content. Twitter Facebook Pinterest Google Classroom. Encyclopedic Entry Vocabulary. A rainforest is an area of tall, mostly evergreen trees and a high amount of rainfall.
This makes rainforests astoundingly dense with flora and fauna ; a square-kilometer 4-square-mile patch can contain as many as 1, flowering plants, species of trees, species of birds and species of butterflies.
Rainforests thrive on every continent except Antarctica. The tropical islands of Southeast Asia and parts of Australia support dense rainforest habitat s.
Rainforests help regulate our climate and provide us with everyday products. Citizens, government s, intergovernmental organizations, and conservation groups are working together to protect these invaluable but fragile ecosystems. Most rainforests are structured in four layers: emergent, canopy, understory, and forest floor. Each layer has unique characteristics based on differing levels of water, sunlight, and air circulation.
While each layer is distinct , they exist in an interdependent system: processes and species in one layer influence those in another. The top layer of the rainforest is the emergent layer. Here, trees as tall as 60 meters feet dominate the skyline. Small, waxy leaves help trees in the emergent layer retain water during long drought s or dry season s. Lightweight seeds are carried away from the parent plant by strong wind s. In the Amazon rainforest, the towering trees of the emergent layer include the Brazil nut tree and the kapok tree.
The Brazil nut tree, a vulnerable species , can live up to 1, years in undisturbed rainforest habitats. Unlike many rainforest species, both the Brazil nut tree and the kapok tree are deciduous —they shed their leaves during the dry season. The animals living in the emergent layer of the Amazon rainforest include birds, bats, gliders, and butterflies. Large raptors, such as white-tailed hawks and harpy eagles, are its top predator s.
In rainforests on the island of New Guinea, pygmy gliders populate the emergent layer. Pygmy gliders are small rodent s that get their name from the way flaps of skin between their legs allow them to glide from branch to branch.
Bats are the most diverse mammal species in most tropical rainforests, and they regularly fly throughout the emergent, canopy, and understory layers. Beneath the emergent layer is the canopy , a deep layer of vegetation roughly 6 meters 20 feet thick.
The canopy blocks winds, rainfall, and sunlight, creating a humid , still, and dark environment below. Trees have adapt ed to this damp environment by producing glossy leaves with pointed tips that repel water.
While trees in the emergent layer rely on wind to scatter their seeds, many canopy plants, lacking wind, encase their seeds in fruit. Sweet fruit entice s animals, which eat the fruit and deposit seeds on the forest floor as droppings. With so much food available, more animals live in the canopy than any other layer in the rainforest. The dense vegetation dulls sound, so many—but not all—canopy dwellers are notable for their shrill or frequent vocalizing.
In the Amazon rainforest, canopy fruit is snatched up in the large beaks of screech ing scarlet macaw s and keel-billed toucan s, and picked by barking spider and howler monkeys. The silent two-toed sloth chews on the leaves, shoots, and fruit in the canopy.
Thousands and thousands of insect species can also be found in the canopy, from bees to beetles, borers to butterflies. Located several meters below the canopy, the understory is an even darker, stiller, and more humid environment. Plants here, such as palms and philodendron s, are much shorter and have larger leaves than plants that dominate the canopy.
Understory plants often produce flowers that are large and easy to see, such as Heliconia , native to the Americas and the South Pacific. Others have a strong smell, such as orchids.
The fruit and seeds of many understory shrub s in temperate rainforests are edible. The temperate rainforests of North America, for example, bloom with berries.
Animals call the understory home for a variety of reasons. Many take advantage of the dimly lit environment for camouflage. The spots on a jaguar found in the rainforests of Central and South America may be mistaken for leaves or flecks of sunlight, for instance.
Climate Very wet with over 2, mm of rainfall per year. The atmosphere is hot and humid. The climate is consistent all year round. There are no seasons. Soil Most of the soil is not very fertile. A thin layer of fertile soil is found at the surface where the dead leaves decompose. It is red in colour because it is rich in iron. Due to heavy rainfall the nutrients are quickly washed out of the soil. Plants and animals The warm and very wet climate provides perfect conditions for plant growth.
The wide range of plant species supports many different animals, birds and insects. Species have adapted to the conditions of the rainforest, eg trees and plants have shallow-reaching roots to absorb nutrients from the fertile top layer of soil Structure of a tropical rainforest A tropical rainforest is made up of the following layers.
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