I’ve always loved learning and have thought the different ecosystems around the world are so very interesting. It’s so amazing how varied places around the world can be from rainforests to deserts and tundra’s to savannas. Most of the ecosystems I’m going to be sharing are slowly disappearing. We as humans are destroying the many unique and diverse ecosystems that contribute a great amount to the survival of our Earth. This is why I will also be focusing on the conservation of the different ecosystems in my blogs.

Tropical Rainforests, one of the most interesting ecosystems, are specialized in the fact that they are only found 28 latitude degrees north and/or south of the equator. As you can tell by its name, tropical rainforests do in fact get large amounts of rain, over 100 inches each year that help with the large diversity of life growing in these forests. They get relatively high temperature, but not usually above 93 degrees Fahrenheit or below 68 degrees. Now these temperatures may sound amazing but with humidity always between 77 and 88%, these do not seem like the ideal weather conditions for humans. This is why humans are rarely found occupying these lands all over the world from Asia, Australia, Africa, South America, Central America, Mexico, and many islands in the Pacific, Caribbean and Indiana Oceans.

I always remembered how complicated the rainforests were due to the different layers created. Each layer hold many niches that differ greatly from those in other layers. This is why tropical rainforests are able to support so many species. The four layers include the emergent, the upper canopy, the understory, and the forest floor. The emergent layer consists of the tallest trees, around 100 to 240 feet in the air that create umbrella-shaped canopies above the rest of the forest. Surprisingly the roots of these trees are shallow even though they support branches and leaves up to a distance of 30 feet wide! The upper canopy is where most of the forests animals live due to the fact that it receives the most sunlight. Any further below, and it is very difficult to reach any source of light. However, the animals never need to leave the upper canopy because so much food is readily available in this layer. The next layer of the rainforest is the understory, or lower canopy, that contains shrubs, small trees, and the trunks of canopy trees. There is little movement or life in this layer compared to the rest because of its constant high humidity and no sunlight. The forest floor is alive with life, although receives little to no life. Not much plant life can survive on the forest floor which I was very shocked at, until I discovered the poor quality of soil that exists.

It is amazing how the variety of plants have adapted to fit this crazy environment. These adaptations include shedding water off their leaves in order to help them survive the large amounts of rain they encounter. Trees in the upper canopy have been changed to grow smaller leaves because it’s easy to absorb light from the sun. On the other hand, trees in the lower canopy grow very large leaves so that they can absorb as much sunlight as possible in the dimly lit layer of the lower canopy.
These forests are filled with so many species of animals from mammals to reptiles and birds and amphibians! How have all these different species survived? They have also adapted to the different layers of the forest. These adaptations can include bright skin colors with sharp patterns, loud vocalizations to announce territories and to fend off predators, and diets focused on fruits since this food is so easily attainable. Although the diversity of animal species is very large, insects make up the largest group of animals including butterflies, colonies of ants, mosquitoes (we all know about these), and camouflaged stick insects just to name a few.

These forests cover only about 6% of the world’s surface but are home to over half of the world’s plant and animal species! On top of that, these rainforests produce about 40% of all the Earths oxygen! How could such a small percentage of the world contribute to its thriving? And at the same time how can humans continuously keep destroying an ecosystem that no doubly helps us survive. Due to the large deposit of precious metals (including gold, silver, and coltan) and fossil fuels (such as oil and natural gas), mining and drilling has become popular in tropical rainforests. However, these processes take a large amount of land space that results in the deforestation of these rainforests. Surprisingly, land being used for agriculture is another large culprit of the loss of the rainforests. Even with this thin layer of soil, farms still find ways to grow and produce crops. Farmers have a difficult time because of the constant rain that continuously washes out and leaches the nutrients from the soil.

This beautiful ecosystem of the tropical rainforest has so many hidden wonders that many people do not know about. Its value is so much greater than what we give it credit for. For example, did you know that “About 1/4 of all the medicines we use come from rainforest plants.” (blueplanetbiomes) Or that “More than 1,400 varieties of tropical plants are thought to be potential cures for cancer.”(blueplanetbiomes) How do we continue to destroy an environment that has and always will contribute to the survival and flourish of the human race?

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/rainforest.htm
http://my.nature.org/wallpaper/?filter=Rainforests
http://www.fao.org/docrep/u3500e/u3500e08.htm