The rainforest ecosystem

• Where do rainforests occur?

Why is the

rainforest both an ecosystem and a biome?

A biome isAn ecosystem is

The rainforest is both because

What are the two main factors that affect where different biomes occur?

What climatic conditions do rainforests need to grow?

Productivity in the rainforestWhat is the climate of the rainforest?What causes it to rain so much?

Which area of the world has the sun overhead?

Which area (Africa or Europe) did we say had the sun directly overhead?

Which area has the sun spreading out over a larger area?

Which area is hotter then?

Why does it rain so

much in the rainforest?

So, based on what you have just found out, what causes the lush vegetation in the

rainforest?

How do we

measure biomass?

To construct pyramids of biomass: need biomass.

To get it:

Measure mass of one organism/average of a few organisms x total of all organisms present

Biomass = total energy within a living being

So, biomass = mass of organisms – water content

(water contains no energy and is not organic)

Weigh organisms, put in hot oven, reweigh etc 2 readings the same = finish

Measured: / unit area e.g. /m2

Can do flora or fauna

Equipment: quadrat, container, oven, weighing scales.

Why do these four layers grow up?

• Does a forest with four layers have more or fewer habitats than a forest with two layers?

• If there are more habitats does that mean there are more niches?

• If there are more niches what does that mean about species diversity?

Why is a rainforest so stable?

More than 50% of the world's plant and animal species inhabit the 7% of the world that is covered in

rainforest.

A four-square mile patch of rainforest contains as many as 1500 species of flowering plants, 750 species

of trees, 125 species of mammals, 400 species of birds, 100 species of reptiles, 60 species of amphibians, and 150 species of butterflies.

• Using what you now know, explain why the rainforest has such a high species diversity.

What is primary productivity?

What is secondary productivity?

DefinitionsPrimary productivity: the energy or biomass gain by producers per

unit area per unit time

Secondary productivity: the gain in biomass by consumers per unit area per unit time

Which one is to do with animals eating vegetation?Which one is to do with solar energy becoming vegetation?Which one involves photosynthesis?Which one involved absorption by animals?

GPP = gross PP (the total gain)NPP = net PP (the gain in energy – that lost through respiration)

Which ecosystems have the greatest gross primary productivity?

• What does this bar graph show about NPP?

What role do the producers

(plants) have in this ecosystem?

What role do the decomposers

have?

What role do the consumers have?

What would happen to the food web if poachers killed ocelots?

How do we measure the number in a population?

Lincoln IndexMarks animals caughtReleases themCatches animals againCount markedTo estimate population

Also called: capture-mark-release-recapture

N = total no. of animalsn1 = no. on first dayN2 = number recaptured M = no of marked ones on 2nd day

On the ES field capture grasshoppersPaint all of them

Release them

Recapture all grasshoppers on fieldCount number of painted ones

If all the recaptured ones are painted then that must be the whole population

How do we measure species diversity?

Diversity means – a) the no. of different speciesb) the evenness each species

Ecosystem A 25 24 21Ecosystem B 65 3 4

A:3.07B:1.22

High value = diverse/stable, low value = not diverse

Where are nutrients stored in this cycle?

Where do nutrients come from?

How can nutrients be lost from this system?

Is this the water cycle or the nutrient

cycle?

Why is there so much photosynthesis in the rainforest?

What are the inputs and outputs in photosynthesis and respiration?

What are the energy transformations in photosynthesis and

respiration?

What happens to light energy?

Photosynthesis and respiration: How is a tree a system?

Is it open, closed or isolated? Why?

Where does the world’s energy come from and where does it go to?

How is energy transferred and transformed as it flows through the rainforest ecosystem?

How is carbon transferred and transformed as it moves around the rainforest ecosystem?

How is nitrogen moved around the rainforest ecosystem?

How does the water cycle work?

Water cycle

• Which of the processes are transfers and which are transformations?

What would happen if the rain became more acidic?

How would the productivity of the forest change?

• What happens to the rain that falls in a rainforest?

• What will happen in the short term if the trees are cut down?

• And in the long term?

Water cycle