Amazon Rainforest

1
Amazon Rainforest

• By
• Kelsey Cooper Melissa Meier

2
Where is the Rainforest?
Amazon Rainforest
3
Landscape
Emergent Layer
Canopy
Understory
Forest floor
4
Layers of the Rainforest

• Emergent Layer- Highest level of the Rainforest
• Brightest layer receiving the most sunlight
• Worlds finest Natural Aviary
• Home to nearly 1/3 of the planets bird species
  including hummingbirds and eagles. Bats, monkeys,
  and butterflies also seek food, shelter, and
  protection from predators.
• Canopy Layer- directly beneath the Emergent Layer
• Consists of a thick branching system with vines
  and limbs creating a natural umbrella
• Absorbs ultra-violet rays from the sun protecting
  the plant and animal species beneath.
• Many Epiphytic Plants like Orchids and
  Bromeliads, grow here.
• Home to many animal species- butterflies, tree
  frogs, sloth, jaguars, toucans, parrots, and
  monkeys

5
Layers of the Rainforest

• Understory Layer- directly beneath Canopy Layer
• Growth- very dense, entwined with vines, shrubs,
  and broadleaf trees.
• Provides camouflage for species who cross over
  with Canopy Layer.
• The leaves of trees, avg. height of 12 ft,
  compensate for lack of sunlight.
• Bats, owls, tree frogs, and a wide variety of
  insects live here.
• Forest Floor- ground layer
• Very dark, almost no sunlight reaches layer.
• Quality of soil is very poor and few plants grow
  here.
• Rich in microorganisms as well as snakes such as
  Anaconda, lizards, beetles, Giant Anteaters, and
  Termites.

6
Climate

• Lie in the intertropical convergence zone
• The rainforest receives constant sunlight 12 hrs.
  a day 365 days per year.
• Due to the constant solar energy the temperature
  is warm year round, usually 72-93 F.
• Rainforests are subject to heavy rainfall, 80
  inches and in some areas 430 inches per year.
• Equatorial regions may not have differentiated
  wet and dry seasons.
• Seasonal forests may slightly differentiate with
  seasons. Even during the dry season the clouds
  sustain the air moisture to prevent the plants
  from drying out.
• Creates intense humidity. Each canopy tree
  transpiring roughly 200 galloons per year.
• The constant rainfall results in evergreen
  forests- keeping their leaves year round.

7
Plant Life

• 30 of the planets species live in the
  rainforest
• 40 of Earth's oxygen is produced here
• Within a four mile square area of a tropical
  rainforest, you would find
• Over 750 species of trees
• 1500 different kinds of flowering plants

8
Animal Life

• The Amazon Rainforest is home to 2.5 million
  insect species and 2000 birds and mammals.
• Currently there are at least 3,000 fish, 1,294
  birds, 427 mammals, 427 amphibians, and 378
  reptiles species.
• One in five of all birds in the world live in the
  Amazon rainforest.
• Macaw- most common, gathers by clay cliffs and
  feeds on minerals to protect themselves from
  toxins in seeds.
• Frogs are most abundant amphibians in the
  rainforest.
• Live in the trees and lay eggs in vegetation or
  the ground.
• Colored poison dart arrow frog- best
• well-known, secrete intense toxins from
• glands on their backs.

9
Animal Life

• The Amazon Basin contains the largest number of
  freshwater fish species in the world.
• The Amazon has over 1,100 tributaries, some 1,000
  miles long.
• Tambaqui- fish in the Amazon that are important
  for dispersing seeds.
• The Pirarucu- one of the world's largest
  freshwater fish reaching up to 16 ft in length.
• Also contains saltwater species- dolphins,
  stingrays, and sponges.
• Over 90 of the animal species in Amazon are
  insects
• Scientists estimate 30 of animal biomass of
  Amazon is ants

10
Endangered Specie

• Spixs Macaw- Worlds rarest bird.
• Dark blue head, blue body, green belly, a black
  mask, and yellow eyes.
• Has always been rare, living in palm groves and
  river edges in Brazil.
• The specie has dramatically declined due to
  deforestation, the importation of Africanized
  bees (invaded the hollows of trees and killed
  breeding individuals), and over collection of
  humans.
• In 1987 only four birds remained in the wild
• In 2000 the species became extinct in the
• wild when last individual disappeared in Brazil.
• Captive population is roughly 68.

11
Human Impact Deforestation

• Each day at least 80,000 acres of forest
  disappear, and another 80,000 are degraded
• As these forests fall, more carbon is added to
  the atmosphere, climactic conditions are further
  altered, and more topsoil is lost to erosion.
• deforestation rates increased 8.5 from 2000-2005
• The Cause farming, mining operations, logging,
  some forests are being burned to make charcoal to
  power industrial plants, urban expansion
• At the current rate of destruction, it is
  estimated that the last remaining rainforests
  could be destroyed in less than 40 years.

12
WOW! That is interesting.

• Rainforests have many uses in the medical field
• One in four pharmaceuticals comes from a plant in
  the tropical rainforests
• 1,400 rainforest plants are believed to offer
  cures for cancer
• many of the plants are sources for new drugs for
  AIDS, diabetes, arthritis, and Alzheimer's.
  Quinine, muscle relaxants, steroids, and caner
  drugs have already been discovered.
• Although 25 of all drugs are derived from
  rainforest ingredients, scientists have tested
  only 1 of tropical plants.

13
References

• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Rainforest
• http//rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/
• http//www.blueplanetbiomes.org/amazon.htm
• http//www.amazonrainforest.org/
• http//www.rainforestweb.org/Rainforest_Regions/So
  uth_America/
• http//www.leslietaylor.net/gallery/gallery.htm
• http//www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A925913
• http//www.guardian.co.uk/conservation/story/0,133
  69,1597398,00.html