T ROPICAL R AINFOREST Nick M., Holly B., Leah S.

W HERE IS ECOSYSTEM LOCATED ? Tropical Rainforests are located in South and Central America Also in Africa 50 percent of rain forests are in Latin America 25 percent of Rainforests are in Asia Rainforests are also found in Southeast Asia

D ESCRIBE THE ABIOTIC FACTORS OF YOUR ECOSYSTEM 12 hours of daylight 160 inches of rain each year Others may get up to 400 inches of rain The forest floor gets lots of shade

P RODUCER : B ROMELIAD. H OW DOES YOUR PRODUCER RELY ON OTHER ORGANISMS IN THE TROPICAL R AINFOREST TO SURVIVE ? Pools form around the bromeliad and frogs lay their eggs in them Tadpoles give nutrients to the bromeliad from their droppings Bromeliads are attached to trees to grow

H OW DO OTHER ORGANISMS OF YOUR ECOSYSTEM RELY ON YOUR PRODUCER TO SURVIVE ? Pools form around the bromeliad and frogs lay their eggs in them Frogs, snails, flatworms, tiny crabs, and salamanders spend their whole lives in the bromeliad Bacteria attracts tiny crustaceans which attract the bigger insects

H OW DO HUMANS AFFECT YOUR ECOSYSTEM ? People work with government to educate people to save rainforests Some governments block people from visiting certain parts of the rainforests Logging and fires destroy rainforests

C HOOSE ONE BIOTIC OR ABIOTIC FACTOR IN YOUR ECOSYSTEM & DESCRIBE HOW A CHANGE IN ONE OF THESE COULD AFFECT YOUR ECOSYSTEM. Change: People cut down trees so there is nothing to hold the soil Other trees can’t grow There are no homes for the bromeliads that live on the trees There are no homes for worms, insects, crabs, snails, frogs, and small rodents

O THER INTERESTING FACTS : The rainforest houses half of the world’s estimated 5 million species The rosy periwinkle, a flower now in danger of vanishing from the rain forest, is an ingredient in the most effective drug for treating leukemia in children Strangler fig tree blocks sunlight from the highest tree until the original tree dies, thereby “strangling” it

S OURCES U SED Clarke, Penny. Scary Creatures of the Rain Forest. New York: The Salariya Book Company Ltd, Print. Levy, Janey. Discovering Rain Forests. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group Inc., Print. Lundgren, Julie K. Forest Fare: Studying Food Webs in the Forest. Vero Beach, CA: Rourke, Print. Pulley-Sayer, April. Tropical Rain Forest. New York, NY: Scholastic, Print. Taylor-Butler, Christine. A Home in the Rain Forest. New York, NY: Scholastic, Print.