The amazon rainforest

1. Tropical Rainforest
LAUREN DREESE
PARKER LEIRO
VALERIA TEFEL

2. Also Known As :
- Jungle
- Coniferous forest

3. Location/Climate
Located in South America (Brazil, Colombia, Peru) with a warm year-round
Tropical Climate (Equatorial Climate).
Avg. rainfall is 108 Inches per year…
that’s why it’s so diverse!
68F ≤ Temperature≤ 93F

4. The Amazon is
the most
biodiverse place
on Earth
Ironically, there is
not a lot of litter in
the amazon
because it is a
tropical coniferous
forest. This means
that the leaves do
not fall off year
round
There is not a lot of soil here,
or good soil, because the vast,
tall trees restrict sunlight from
reaching the bottom of the
forest floor
Nutrient Flow Diagram

5. Biodiversity= The variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or
ecosystem.
Habitat= The natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism.
Niche= The physical environment to which it has become adapted as well as its
role as producer and consumer of food resources.

6. Animals of the Rainforest
Tropical Rainforests are home to over 427 mammals, 1,300 birds, 378 reptiles, more than 400 amphibians.
- Anaconda: Live in water mostly found in the amazon river basin. They swim/stay in the streams and rivers of
south america.
- Glass frog: Live in subtropical moist lowland, forests, and rivers. The glass frog is a heterotroph, a
consumer.
- Macaw: Depending on the type of macaw depends on their niche. For example, the macaw that feeds on
palm fruits have a niche of palm trees.
- Sloths: Sloths enjoy warmer weather. The three toed sloth, which eats mainly fruits and leaves, is a
herbivore. The two toed sloth, mainly eats birds and insects, is an omnivore.
- Jaguars: nocturnal meaning they are awake during the night and that's when they feats. They are carnivores.
- Golden lion tamarin: They sleep in tree holes during the night and is active during the day time, living in
groups 2 to 8. Lives in the trees most of life.

8. Sloth appreciation slide

9. Plants of the Rainforest
- Corpse Flower:One of the world's largest and rarest flower. This particular
flower only blooms for a short amount of time but when it blooms a scent is
released. This scent is similar to rotting meat or dead body.
- Strangler Figs: The reason it gets the name strangler is because it “strangles”
the host. Eventually after years these strangler figs squeeze the tree
continuously and kills the host.
- Amazon water lily: This water lily is the perfect example of adapting to your
surroundings. It changes to the rise and fall of the rivers by growing rhizomes
and new leaves.

11. ENERGY FLOW
● Food Pyramid
● Pyramid of Numbers
● Food Chain
● Food Web
● Biomass Pyramid

12. Food Pyramid
Primary Producers-
bananas, cacao,
kapok tree, comet
orchid
Primary Consumers
(Herbivores)- Howler
Monkeys, Fruit Bats,
Butterflies
Secondary Consumers
(Carnivores/Omnivores)- River
Otters, Tapir
Tertiary Consumers (Apex/Top
Predator)- Pumas, Poison Dart Frogs

13. Number Pyramid
Fern: 25,600,000
Caterpillars:
2,560,000
Macaw:
256,000
Ocelot:
25,600
-Used to see the structure
of an ecosystem, the
number of organisms,
biomass, and productivity
at each trophic level.

16. Food Web

17. Biomass Pyramid
-Biomass: amount of
living/organic matter found
in an organism
-Biomass Pyramid: how
much biomass present in
each trophic level
-Only 10% of energy from
each trophic level is
transferred to the next

18. GPP & NPP
-Gross Primary Productivity (GPP): total amount of energy produced by primary
producers
-Net Primary Productivity (NPP): What is left over from the GPP available to the
rest of the ecosystem (measures incoming energy and carbon dioxide)
Tropical Rainforests have a high GPP and NPP due to their warm climate,and
abundant rainfall and sunlight, resulting in a
productive recycling of nutrients.

19. Photosynthesis
Tropical Rainforests are divided into 4 main layers. The Emergent Layer, Canopy,
Understory, and Forest Floor. The Emergent Layer receives the most sunlight, but
also the most heat and wind. This makes the Canopy layer the place where
photosynthesis goes to work for the forest. All of the leaves from the 60-90ft tree
tops work like solar panels and the rate of photosynthesis here is extremely high.
This results in massive production of fruits, flowers, seeds, and more, also
resulting in this being the most biodiverse section of the forest. Sunlight doesn’t
reach the understory and forest floor nearly as much, so biodiversity is scarce and
soil produces only a small amount of plant growth.

20. Succession- How does it occur?
Primary Succession is part of the rainforest when natural disturbances occur,
such as trees dying of old age or trees falling due to weather conditions. In the
amazon, there are few of these catastrophic events so forest regeneration is
usually just small parts of the land where trees have died.
Secondary Succession is part when farmers and people cut down large areas
of the trees to grow crops or to use the trees minerals.This causes deforestation
and a decrease in the soils fertility, so once it is fertilized and the trees start to
grow, the forest will take hundreds of years to grow back.

21. Brazil’s Amazon Rainforest experiences
deforestation as a result of agriculture,
urbanization, infrastructure (ex. new roads),
logging (ex. cutting trees for timber).
HOW IS IT HANDLED?
Now, organizations (such as Greenpeace) have
assisted in stopping the progression of the
Amazon’s deforestation. Rules have been made
such as, the Amazon Soy Moratorium, that prohibits
it from being destroyed for soybean farming.
This has greatly decreased Amazon deforestation.
MDC:
BRAZIL
LCD:
AFRICA
Africa’s Rainforests are deforested for their
resources, road construction, and are part of
logging and slash-and-burn farming (cutting and
burning the land to use nutrients to fertilize crops)
HOW IS IT HANDLED?
There are conservation organizations you can
contribute to save the Congo Basin. It is now
recommended to not buy timber products that have
not been substantially grown, to lessen the cause
of deforestation from logging.

22. LDC:
BORNEO
Australia’s forest are being deforested
by logging, burning and land clearing
to replace with plantations.
HOW IS IT HANDLED?
Greenpeace Australia has created policies to stop
its deforestation rate. For example, there is one to
ensure that Australians buy wood legally
from well managed sources. However, many
of the policies are being forgotten throughout the
years.
Borneo rainforests are affected by deforestation
as they are being cut for timber, palm oil, rubber
and other minerals. Also, wildfires have formed
that clear their rainforests.
HOW IS IT HANDLED?
It has committed to the Heart of Borneo Initiative
which protects the remaining forests across the
island. Efforts are made to reverse the
deforestation trend, such as the plan to convert
10 percent of the Yayasan Sabah to oil palm
plantations so they can generate revenue and
then restore it.
MDC:
AUSTRALIA

23. Sad Howler Monkey :(