Rainforests and Savannas
Tropical Rainforests
In order for a biome to be tropical it has to fall somewhere between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.
-Any biome between the two tropics can be referred to as tropical. For example; tropical deserts, tropical savanna, etc.
-To be considered a rain forest there needs to be between 250-450cm (98-177in) of annual rainfall.
Locations of tropical rainforests
Tropical rainforests are one of our most important biomes in regards to biomass
-Biomass is the density or amount of living material in a given area
-Biomass can refer to plant mass, fungi mass, animal mass, bacteria mass, or even protist mass
-Only 7% of the world is covered in rain forest but they house 50% of all living things on the planet
-One Acre of rain forest a second is destroyed. An acre is almost the size of a football field.
-One species of animal goes extinct every year. Soon it will be three or four species every year.
Map of countries with largest biomass
You will notice that the map of countries with the largest biomass looks very similar to the map of tropical rainforests
-Some of the differences in the two maps is caused because of the size of some countries. Usually the largest countries also have the largest biomass just because of their size.
The Biomass is so large in Tropical Rainforests that there is fierce competition for light
-The dense forest is categorized by layers
The layers are so thick that many animals can fit in the same area and take up completely different niches by living in different vertical levels
-Because of the thick layer system of tropical rainforests, the food webs in these biomes are very complex
Class activity:
Get into groups of 4
You have 5 minutes to write down as many tropical rainforest animals as your group can think of
The group that has the most after 5 minutes will win extra credit
We will be doing this for each of our biomes
Homework:
-You need to have a picture of a tropical rainforest and you need to have 15 unique animals that live in that biome. For each of those animals you need to label their taxonomy, where they live, what they eat, and a fact about them. They need to be from at least 3 different phyla and 6 different orders
-If you chose you can draw the 15 animals in the tropical rainforest biome like in this example
Videos:
Now we will be watching some videos on Tropical Rainforests
Video of Mr. Bird Canyoning in Costa Rica
A fun way to get a good view of the rainforest canopy is by zip-lining over it
Planet Earth: Jungles
Savannas
-A Savanna is a tropical grassland
-A Savanna is usually characterized by lots of grass, a few bushes, and spars trees
-Because a Savanna is tropical it does not experience seasons
-The temperature is relatively the same all year
Map of Savannas
-Savannas are also known for having large amounts of biomass
-Savannas are also home to many of the worlds large mammals
-The abundance of grass provides food for large herbivores and insects
-The large herbivores provides food for the many carnivores
Class activity:
Get into groups of 4
You have 5 minutes to write down as many tropical savanna animals as your group can think of
The group that has the most after 5 minutes will win extra credit
We will be doing this for each of our biomes
Homework:
-You need to have a picture of a tropical savanna and you need to have 15 unique animals that live in that biome. For each of those animals you need to label their taxonomy, where they live, what they eat, and a fact about them. They need to be from at least 3 different phyla and 6 different orders
