Tropical rainforests (Aj)

Téma prezentace: Tropical rainforests
Typ souboru: prezentace PPTX
Přidal(a): Adriena Redlová
 

• What is a Tropical Rainforest?
• Location
• Plants & Animals of Tropical Rainforests
• Rainforest People
• Summary: Importance & Destruction of TRF

 
What Makes a Rainforest?
Location: the tropics
Rainfall: 2000 mm of rain per year
Canopy: leafy layer 30 m above the ground
Biodiversity: high level; ½ of the plants and animals found on Earth’s land live in TRF
Symbiotic relationships between species: species in the rainforest often work together
 
Location
The countries with the largest areas of tropical forest:
1)Brazil
2)Democratic Republic
of Congo
3)Indonesia
4)Peru
5)Colombia
 
Rainforest Rivers
Amazon
Mekong
Orinoco
Congo
 
Structure: Vertical Layers

• Overstory
• Canopy
• Understory
• Shrub Layer
• Forest Floor

 
Vertical Layers
The Forest Floor
Dark and Humid
Decomposition
Canopy
“the leafy world“
30 m above the ground
60 – 90% of life in TRF
 
Canopy walkways
 
Biodiversity
Biodiversity in numbers
Less than 2% of Earth’s surface -> more than 50% of the plants and animals on Earth
US: 81 species of frogs -> Madagascar: 500 species
Area of 2 football fields in a TRF: more than 400 species of trees -> an equal area of forest in the US fewer than 20
Reasons
Climate (a lot of sunlight -> energy made by photosynthesis)
Canopy (sources of food, shelter and hiding place)
 
Rainforest Plants
Only few ground plants
Constant battle for access to sunlight -> straight and tall trees
Epiphytes (air-plants): orchids, bromeliads
 
Trees
Timber: Ebony, Mahogany, Rosewood (palisandr), Balsa Tree, Teak, Cedar
-> high-quality, durable furniture
Diversity -> deforestation
of large areas for timber
Minimal seasonal differencies
->  only indistinct annual rings
 
Buttress Roots
Large roots on all sides of
a shallowly rooted tree
 
Mangroves
Trees growing in
-“brackish water“ = seawater + freshwater mixed in a river
-seawater
 
Rainforest Animals
Rainforest people
 
Medicinal Plant Knowledge
Shaman = Medicine man
Knowledge of medicinal plants: incredible healing power
Going “extinct“
 
Great Civilizations
Mayas, Incas, Aztecs
 
The Importance of the Rainforests
Tropical Rainforests:
Stabilize the world’s climate
Provide a home to many plants and animals
Maintain the water cycle
Provide protection against erosion, drought, flood
Are source for medicines, foods, wood, minerals, natural resources and recreation
Are an interesting place to visit!
 
The Destruction of Rainforests
Rainforests are cut down for:
wood for both timber and wood fuel
agriculture for farms
land for poor farmers
land for cattle
pulp for making paper
road construction
minerals and energy
 
Deforestation
Agriculture
Poor farmers
Agricultural companies
Extraction of minerals and energy
Gold, copper, diamonds, precious metals, gemstones