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Aaliyah Alvarez
Basilio Gonzalez
Christopher Bassett
02/03/2022

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Tropical rainforests are lush forests that experience ever-wet and warm conditions all year long. Found 23.5°N and 23.5°S  of the equator and at elevations 3000 feet below sea level. Temperatures vary from 21 to 30°C year-round and experience annual precipitation of 79 to 394 inches. Soils are primarily Oxisols and Ultisols and are rich in iron and aluminum oxides. Tropical rainforests are heavily layered, starting at ground level and proceeding up through shrubs, under canopy, main canopy and finally emergent trees layers.

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Scarlet Macaws are curious, strong, and highly intelligent birds that are capable of mimicking sounds and even human speech.

Ecological Role: These birds prey on fruits and nuts and disperse seeds and influence the next generation of trees and plants, and feed on insects. These birds are also prey to snakes, birds of preys, monkeys, and jaguars.

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These large trees can grow up to 150 to 200 feet tall with a large crown that functions as a canopy. These trees also bloom flowers and fruit.

Ecological Role: These trees work as a canopy that absorbs large amounts of sunlight and rainfall. These trees also provide shelter and work as a source of food for many organisms.

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Native to Australia, the anemone stinkhorn was first described in the 18th century. It has a distinctive star shape, but is more notable for producing a foul-smelling brownish slime which attracts flies to spread it's spores in the slime.

A saprotrophic fungus, the anemone stinkhorn breaks down decaying plant matter in it's environment, recycling essential nutrients and reducing leaf litter. There is a mutualistic relationship with flies, which feed on the sugary slime before  dispersing fungal spores to other locations with decaying organic matter.

Image: (c) Lon&Queta, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/lonqueta/4109088251/

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Dominated by a vast array of producers, the trophic structure of tropical rainforest is incredibly complex due to the massive species diversity found there. Even more than most food webs, many species occupy multiple trophic levels.

Producers: Algae, Epiphytes, Lianas, large trees, bamboo, moss and ferns, orchids

Primary Consumers: a wide variety of insects, grasshoppers, beetles, slugs, and sloths

Secondary Consumers: woodpecker, frogs, toads, sloths, bats

Tertiary Consumers:  crocodiles, jaguars, birds of prey, boa constrictors and other snakes

Detrivores / Decomposers: fungi & microorganisms

Image from https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/ztcch39/revision/4

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Conversion of forest to agricultural or pastoral uses is one of the primary human disturbances in the tropical rainforest biome. Palm oil plantations are a growing aspect of this larger issue. Malaysia and Indonesia are home to around 90 percent of the world’s palm oil production as well as examples of direct correlation between loss of tropical rainforest and growth of monoculture plantations. The European Union estimates that five percent of tropical forest loss between 1990 and 2015 was directly due to palm oil.

Use of fire to clear tropical forest is a common practice, which impacts air quality over a wide area, as well as increasing the risk of uncontrolled fires spreading into the forest. The loss of plant cover increases erosion. The loss of forest habitat as well as the fires used to clear it all contribute to climate change.

Palm oil is an ingredient in a wide array of foods, cosmetics, and detergents, which provide a few ways to decrease the destruction of remaining tropical rainforest for palm oil plantations. Pressure on companies that consume palm oil to only use certified sustainable oil is one approach. Removal of incentives for deforestation to produce palm oil is another avenue being pursued by the World Wildlife Fund among others. Mandatory labeling of palm oil when used in products, instead of including it under the generic “vegetable oil”, has been a third strategy pursued in the European Union and elsewhere. All of these tactics aim to influence demand and make unsustainable land use practices unprofitable.

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The Tropical Rainforest – a large scale ecosystem - Ecosystems - WJEC - GCSE Geography Revision - WJEC. (n.d.). BBC Bitesize. Retrieved February 11, 2022, from https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/ztcch39/revision/4

Guardian News and Media. (2014, December 12). EU labelling changes force industry action on Palm Oil. The Guardian. Retrieved February 10, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2014/dec/12/eu-labelling-changes-palm-oil-consumer-change

Anemone stinkhorn fungus (Aseroe rubra). iNaturalist. (n.d.). Retrieved February 10, 2022, from https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/381310-Aseroe-rubra

Mijal, M. (n.d.). Ara Macao (Scarlet Macaw). Animal Diversity Web. Retrieved February 8, 2022, from https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Ara_macao/#:~:text=Scarlet%20macaws%20are%20important%20seed,generation%20of%20forest%20tree%20species.

Mahogany facts. Math. (n.d.). Retrieved February 8, 2022, from https://www.softschools.com/facts/plants/mahogany_facts/1311/

National Geographic Society. (2015, April 30). Rainforest. Retrieved February 10, 2022, from https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/rain-forest/

Smith, J. M. B. (n.d.). Tropical rainforest. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved February 8, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/science/tropical-rainforest

World Wildlife Fund. (n.d.). What is Palm Oil? facts about the palm oil industry. WWF. Retrieved February 10, 2022, from https://www.worldwildlife.org/industries/palm-oil