Tropical Rainforests High Productivity & Biodiversity
Tropical Rainforest Objectives:
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Describe the location, climate, and biodiversity characteristics of a tropical rainforest.
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Explain how tropical rainforest soils can be relatively nutrient-poor while the ecosystem has high productivity and biodiversity.
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Define what an epiphyte is, explain why they have this strategy, and provide examples.
Until recently, tropical rainforests had low densities of humans and remained relatively under-explored. This is in part due to the physical hazards of moist and warm environments dripping with potential parasites.
This video introduces tropical rainforest characteristics and poses an interesting apparent paradox.
The same characteristics that assist shrub and leaf litter plants in surviving low-light conditions make them popular house plants.
The layer names used in tropical rainforests are the same used in temperate forests and Taiga.
From the plant classification in the previous guide, is a palm tree an angiosperm or gymnosperm?
Epiphytes
A plant or fungus that grows on the surface of a plant instead of on the ground is called an epiphyte.
Orchid epiphytes can grow meters above the forest floor.
This video demonstrates how epiphytic Hoya plants can be grown as house plants.
Epiphytic Communities
Moss plants, lichens, and ferns can cover the bark of trees in forests, particularly if there are low levels of air pollutants. This is a Douglas Fir tree at Cascadia State Park, covered in a variety of species.
People sometimes use moss growth to assist in navigating in the woods, the idea being that away from the equator moss would grow on the cool moist side of a tree that receives less direct sunlight. This does not always work.
This is the end of the Latitudes lecture guide. This material and the next Evidence lecture guide material are on the quiz.
Check your knowledge. Can you:
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Describe the location, climate, and biodiversity characteristics of a tropical rainforest?
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Explain how tropical rainforest soils can be relatively nutrient-poor while the ecosystem has high productivity and biodiversity?
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Define what an epiphyte is, explain why they have this strategy, and provide examples?
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Latitudes Lecture Guide Contents
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