Tropical levels. Tropical forests are “the second lungs of the Earth”

The rainforest consists of numerous layers of a variety of evergreen plants. In the upper tier the trees reach 100 meters in height. Here you can also find palm trees - lianas, which, being the longest plants on Earth, grow 300 or even 400 meters.

some animal species are the most common. For example, it is in the tropical forest that the largest number of species of monkeys are found, and among them there are apes.
Among birds, there are about 150 species of parrots alone. A lot in
butterflies in the tropical forest and some of them are truly gigantic in size, such as tizania (the largest moth), the width of the wings reaches 30 cm.
The tropical forest is rich in water and, as a result, a variety of reptiles. Among them are crocodiles, snakes, lizards, and turtles. These animals come in truly gigantic sizes. For example, tropical crocodiles are found up to ten meters in length, and the anaconda (South American boa constrictor) reaches a length of nine meters.

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To the very large rodents living on the planet are beavers (Castor). Their length reaches 130 cm, and their weight is from 20 to 30 kg. The beaver's tail, quite wide and flattened, is shaped like a boat oar and covered with horny formations similar to fish scales. Beavers lead a semi-aquatic lifestyle. The beaver family (Castoridae) includes only two species: the European beaver (Castor fiber) and the Canadian beaver (C. canadensis). They differ slightly, primarily in the width of the tail (the “Canadian” has it larger).

Report on the constellations Orion and Scorpio

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IN Spanish There is a word “sabana”, which means wild plain. It is from this word that the name of the tropical steppes - savannas - comes from. Savannas are located in the equatorial zones of the northern and southern hemisphere Earth.

Presentation "Structure of the human body"

Our presentation “Structure of the Human Body” will tell you in an interesting and fascinating way younger schoolchildren about what our body consists of, about the main internal organs using beautiful, bright slides and explanations for them that second-graders can understand. The presentation contains interactive riddle slides with which children can test their acquired knowledge. Our presentation can be used not only in lessons on the surrounding world using Pleshakov’s textbook in grade 2, but also in any other lesson where they study basic concepts about the human body.

Presentation "Tropics"

Our presentation will introduce students to geographical location tropics, from tropical climate, will talk about natural areas included in tropical zone. Children will consider amazing plants, growing in tropical forests, learn about the animal world of this zone from the example of its most interesting representatives.

Wet equatorial forests– home to some of the richest flora in the world, as well as a huge treasure trove valuable wood, many useful and medicinal plants. Due to the difficult terrain, the vegetation of tropical forests has not yet been studied enough. Scientists have found that over 20 thousand flowering plants and about 3 thousand tree species. The forests of South America have a richer flora than those in Africa and Southeast Asia.

General characteristics of the vegetation of equatorial forests

The tropical forest has a complex multi-tiered structure. The trees are distinguished by weakly branching, tall trunks with poorly developed bark, reaching up to 80 m in height and having elongated plank-shaped roots at the base. Most trees are densely entwined with vines.

Mid-tier plants and shrubs have wide leaves that help them absorb light sun rays under dense crowns more tall trees. The surface of the leaves is mostly leathery, shiny and dark green in color. The grass cover under the forest canopy is represented by subshrubs, mosses and lichens. Another one characteristic feature tropical vegetation- thin tree bark with fruits and flowers growing on it.

Let's look at some wet plants equatorial forests more details:

The vegetation is represented by a huge variety of extra-tiered plants - epiphytes and lianas. More than 200 species of palms and ficus trees, about 70 species of bamboo plants, 400 species of ferns and 700 species of orchids grow here. Vegetable world the tropics differs on different continents. In the tropics of South America, ficus and palm trees, bananas, hevea brasiliensis, and fragrant cedrela grow widely (cigarette cases are made from its wood). Ferns, vines and shrubs grow in the lower tiers. Of the epiphytes, orchids and bromeliads are widely found. In African tropical forests, the most common trees are the legume family, the coffee tree and the cocoa tree, as well as the oil palm.

Lianas. The most famous representatives of the tropical forest flora. They are distinguished by strong and large woody stems, reaching a length of over 70 m. Among them, the most interesting are the bamboo vine with shoots up to 20 m long, the medicinal strophanthus vine, as well as the poisonous physostigma, which grows in West Africa. The legumes of this vine contain physostigmine, which is used for glaucoma.

Ficus stranglers. The seeds germinate, falling into the crevices of the trunks. The roots then form a dense framework around the host tree that keeps the ficus alive, inhibiting its growth and causing its death.

Hevea brasiliensis. Rubber, extracted from the milky sap of the tree, accounts for about 90% of its production in the world.

Ceiba. It reaches a height of up to 70 m. Oil for soap production is obtained from the seeds, and cotton fiber is extracted from the fruits, which is used to stuff upholstered furniture, toys and is used for heat and sound insulation.

Oil palm. From its fruits they extract " Palm oil", from which candles, margarine and soap are produced, and the sweet juice is drunk fresh or used for the production of wines and alcoholic beverages.

IN equatorial belt, encircling the entire Earth On both sides of the equator, evergreen, permanently moist tropical forests dominate for thousands of kilometers. These forests are better known to us under the capacious and sonorous name - jungle. The word "jungle" is translated from Hindi as " dense thickets"or simply "forest".

Jungles occupy vast areas Equatorial Africa, Central and South America, the southwestern coast of India, the Indochina peninsula, the islands of Indonesia, the Greater Sunda and Philippine Islands, part of the island of New Guinea.

The equatorial belt receives more solar energy and heat than other belts of the Earth. Annual precipitation here ranges from 1,500 to 12,000 mm. It rains in the afternoon, and most often it is heavy showers - a continuous wall of water. The air is saturated with water vapor, and therefore relative humidity its very high - 80-90%, which at constant high temperatures(annual average +24...+28 °C with fluctuations between the warmest and coldest months of 2-3 °C) creates excess moisture. The air is humid and warm, so it is difficult to breathe, as in the steam room of a bathhouse. There is no cooling evaporation, not even a light breeze, and the heat of the day does not subside even at night.

Dense vegetation interferes with normal air circulation, and this contributes to the formation of hot and thick ground fogs, like cotton wool. There is constant damp twilight here, as the dense crowns of trees prevent sunlight from penetrating the soil and drying it out.

As a result of strong putrefactive processes in fallen leaves, the percentage of carbon dioxide in the ground layers increases sharply. Therefore, in the tropical forest there is not enough oxygen, and a person who ends up there constantly complains of suffocation.

Ancient evergreen forests are lush, dense, diverse and rich species composition. The evergreen vegetation of a permanently humid tropical forest consists of several tiers. The first tier consists of giant trees 30-50 m high with smooth, knot-free trunks and a wide crown. In the second tier, the trees have a height of 20-30 m, and the third consists of various palm trees with a height of 10 to 20 m. The fourth tier is an undergrowth of bamboo, bushes, ferns and mosses. All this is wrapped around an incredible number of intertwined vines, forming a continuous green, almost impenetrable network.

Tropical rainforests are divided into primary and secondary. The primary tropical forest is quite traversable, even despite the wide variety of woody vegetation and vines. But secondary forests, located along river banks and in places of frequent fires, form impenetrable thickets of a chaotic pile of bamboo, grasses, various shrubs and trees, intertwined with numerous vines. In the secondary forest, multi-layering is practically not expressed. Here, at a great distance from each other, huge trees grow that tower above the lower general level vegetation. Such forests are widespread throughout the humid tropics.

The fauna of the constantly humid evergreen tropical forests is very diverse. From large mammals there are a lot of elephants, hippos and crocodiles here. There are a lot of birds and various insects. But still in each specific tropical zone different continents both flora and fauna sometimes differ significantly from each other. Therefore, it is advisable to consider these territories each separately, taking into account their potential danger for a person caught in an extreme situation.

As a biogeographical unit of subdivision of living land cover at the global level, biome types are distinguished that are to a certain extent close to zonal types of vegetation and animal populations. The types of biomes formed under different hydrothermal conditions differ in the range of life forms and the most important features of the structure of the communities included in them. Each type of biome has its own variants of community structure, characteristic only of this type, and territorially and dynamically related series of biogeocenoses are formed. The main types of land biomes are presented in Fig. 60.

Tropical moist evergreen forests

These forests are distributed in humid areas with annual precipitation from 1500 to 12000 mm and above and a relatively even distribution throughout the year. Characterized by smooth annual course air temperatures: monthly averages fluctuate between 1 - 2 °C. The daily temperature amplitude is much greater and can reach 9 °C. Under the forest canopy, especially on the soil surface, daily amplitudes sharply decrease. Thus, the hydrothermal regime of the areas of humid evergreen tropical forests throughout the year is optimal for the development of living organisms.

Tropical evergreen or evergreen rain forests are concentrated in three large regions of the world: northern South America (including a large tract in the Amazon) and adjacent Central America, western equatorial Africa and the Indo-Malayan region.

Vegetation. Forests of this type are among the most complex plant formations on Earth. One of the striking features is their amazing richness of species, enormous taxonomic diversity. On average there are from 40 to 170 tree species per hectare; There are significantly fewer herbs (10-15 species). Considering

Rice. 60. Zonal types of land biomes (G. Walter, 1985): I - evergreen tropical rain forests, almost without seasonal aspects; II - tropical deciduous forests or savannas; III - subtropical desert vegetation; IV - subtropical sclerophyllous forests and shrubs sensitive to frost; V - temperate evergreen forests, sensitive to frost; VI - broad-leaved deciduous forests, resistant to frost; VII - steppes and deserts of areas with cold winters, resistant to frost; VIII - boreal coniferous forests (taiga); IX - tundra, usually on permafrost soils; filled contours - alpine vegetation

diversity of lianas and epiphytes; the number of species in a relatively homogeneous forest area can be 200 - 300 or more. The predominant group of life forms are phanerophytes, represented by evergreen hygromorphic and megathermal crown-forming trees with slender and straight smooth trunks of light green or white color, not protected by bark, branching only in the uppermost part. Many are characterized by a shallow root system, which assumes a vertical position when the trunks fall. Over 70% of tropical rainforest species are phanerophytes.

The change of leaves in trees occurs in different ways: some plants shed them gradually throughout the year, while others are characterized by alternating periods of leaf formation and dormancy. The change of leaves at different times on different shoots of the same tree is also very remarkable. Leaves often lack bud scales and are sometimes protected by appressed petiole bases or stipules.

Tropical trees can bloom and bear fruit continuously throughout the year or periodically, several times a year, many species annually. Among the important ecological and morphological features, the phenomenon of cauliflory should be noted - the development of flowers and inflorescences on the trunks and large branches of trees, especially those located in the lower tiers of the forest.

Perennial herbs and groups of plants, often called extra-tiered or inter-tiered, are also represented: lianas, epiphytes, semi-epiphytes. Each of these groups of life forms is distinguished by its unique environmental adaptations.

Among the lianas and climbing plants, mainly woody ones are developed, but herbaceous forms are also found. Many of them have rather thick trunks (up to 20 cm in diameter), which, climbing the trunks of supporting trees, wrap around them like ropes. As a rule, the leaves of vines are developed at the level of tree crowns. Lianas are diverse in the way they climb onto support trees. They can climb on them, clinging with their antennae, wrapping around a support, or leaning on the trunk with shortened branches. Among the large vines there are species comparable in height to

the tallest trees. They sometimes grow so quickly and develop such a mass of branches and leaves in the upper part of the trunks that they destroy the trees that support them. Often the vines are so intertwined with the branches of the crowns of several trees that the dead tree does not fall, supported for a long time by the vines. Dense crowns of vines sharply reduce the amount of light penetrating under the forest canopy. Lianas grow in abundance along the edges, along river banks, and in cleared areas.

Equally diverse are epiphytes, which use trunks, branches and even leaves of trees as a substrate for settlement, but do not absorb water and mineral nutrition from living organisms. All of them are saprophytes, receiving nutrients from dead organic matter, sometimes with the help of mycorrhiza.

Based on their growth forms, epiphytes with cisterns, nesting epiphytes, and sconce epiphytes are distinguished.

Epiphytes with cisterns accumulate water in leaf rosettes and use it with the help of adventitious roots that penetrate them. In the rosettes, peculiar microcenoses of the second order arise, with algae and numerous aquatic invertebrate animals. This group of epiphytes includes representatives of the bromeliad family, living in the forests of Central and South America.

Nesting epiphytes and sconce epiphytes are characterized by the ability to accumulate nutrient-rich soil between roots that form a "nest", such as the bird's nest fern.

Semi-epiphytes evolved from vines that climb with the help of roots, through a gradual loss of connection with the soil as a necessary condition for existence. Hemiepiphytes remain alive if all the roots connecting them to the soil are cut.

Epiphytes play an important role in the life of tropical rainforests: they accumulate up to 130 kg/ha of humus and intercept up to 6000 l/ha of rainwater, more than tree leaves absorb.

The number of families (as well as species) of herbaceous plants is much smaller than that of woody plants. Among them, Rubiaceae are well represented, a small number of grasses are constantly present, and Selaginella and ferns are common. Only in clearings in the forest does the grass cover acquire a closed character; usually it is sparse.

A huge variety of trees and interlayer plants determines the complex structure of the forest. The height of the tree canopy varies different types forests from 30 to 50 m, the crowns of individual trees rising above the general canopy, reaching a height of more than 60 m, these are the so-called emergents. The trees that form

the main canopy from its upper to lower boundaries is numerous, and therefore the tiers in the vertical structure are poorly expressed.

The shrub layer is practically absent. At the corresponding height, woody plants with a main trunk, the so-called dwarf trees, and tall grasses are represented. Among the latter are species of herbaceous phanerophytes, i.e. herbs with perennial stems.

The herbaceous cover of a tropical rainforest consists of representatives of two groups: shade-loving, living in a significant degree of shade, and shade-tolerant, normally developing in areas with sparse stands and oppressed under a closed forest canopy.

The structure of the forest is further complicated by numerous vines and epiphytes, the vegetative organs of which are located at different heights.

Animal population. The fauna of tropical rainforests is as rich and diverse as the flora. Here, complex in territorial and trophic structure, rich polydominant animal communities are formed. As with plants, it is difficult to identify dominant species or groups among animals on all “floors” of the tropical rainforest. In all seasons of the year, environmental conditions allow animals to reproduce, and although the reproduction of individual species may be associated with any period of the year, in general this process occurs constantly in the community. The polydominant structure of communities and year-round reproduction correspond to the smooth dynamics of animal numbers, without sharp peaks and declines.

In the structure of the animal community, soil, litter and ground layers can be clearly distinguished; above is a series of intersecting tree layers.

The abundance of animals in tree layers is ensured by the mass of green food, the presence of a “hanging” layer of soil under epiphytes and many “above-ground reservoirs” in their rosettes, leaf axils, hollows and all kinds of depressions on tree trunks. Therefore, various semi-aquatic and soil animals widely penetrate into tree layers: crustaceans, centipedes, nematodes, leeches, and amphibians. Based on their functional role in tropical forest biocenoses, a number of leading trophic groups can be distinguished, some of them noticeably predominate in one or another layer of the forest. Thus, with the general abundance and diversity of saprophages - consumers of dead plant matter - the dominance of these animals is strongly expressed in the soil-litter layer, where leaf, branch and stem litter is abundant, coming from all the upper layers. Various groups of phytophages - consumers of living plant mass -

distributed mainly in the middle and upper “floors” of the forest.

The leading group of saprophages in the tropical forest are termites. These social insects build nests both on the soil and on tree branches. The size of ground termite nests in forests is much less impressive than the well-known termite buildings in savannas. Often, terrestrial termite mounds have a mushroom shape - a kind of roof that protects insects from daily tropical downpours. Termite nests located in trees are located at the base of a thick branch near the trunk. Such a high placement of termite nests is a protection against waterlogging. However, no matter how the nests are placed, the main food tier of termites is soil and litter. These layers are literally penetrated by their feeding passages. They eat plant litter, dead wood, animal excrement and wood from growing trees. Digestion of fiber in intestinal tract carried out with the help of single-celled flagellates, which decompose it into simpler carbohydrates - sugars, which are absorbed by termites. The flagellates themselves, whose body weight is up to a third of the host's body weight, can only exist in the intestines of the termite. Termites lacking flagellates cannot cope with the digestion of food and die. Thus, a relationship of obligate (obligatory) symbiosis develops between termites and flagellates. In a humid tropical forest, the number of termite mounds per 1 hectare can reach 800-1000, and the termites themselves number from 500 to 10 thousand individuals per 1 m 2.

The processing of plant litter is also carried out by a variety of insect larvae (diptera, beetles, aphids), adult forms (imagoes) of various small beetles, hay beetles and aphids, larvae of herbivorous millipedes, and the nodule millipedes themselves. Earthworms are also abundant in the litter. In the tropical forests South Africa and Australia is home to giant soil earthworms, reaching several meters in length, which are rare everywhere and are included in the International Red List of Endangered Animals.

The tree layer contains a variety of phytophages: beetles, butterfly caterpillars, stick insects, gnawing leaf tissue, as well as cicadas,

sucking juices from leaves, leaf-cutter ants. A feature of the tropical forest are anthills built from tree leaves, not only in the natural forest, but also on citrus, hevea, and coffee plantations.

Adult forms of beetles: beetles, weevils, and longhorned beetles feed on pollen and nectar of flowers, along with leaves. Many of them simultaneously act as plant pollinators, which is especially important in conditions of a closed forest canopy, where wind pollination is practically excluded.

A large group of consumers of green plant matter, as well as flowers and fruits of trees, is formed by monkeys living in trees. In African rain forest these are brightly colored colobus monkeys, or gverets, various monkeys. In the South American Hyla, plant foods are consumed by large howler monkeys, and in South Asia by langurs, gibbons and orangutans.

In the forests of New Guinea and Australia, where there are no monkeys, their place is taken by arboreal marsupials - cuscus and tree kangaroos, and in Madagascar - various lemurs.

Other representatives of the group of arboreal phytophages are two-toed and three-toed sloths that inhabit the forests of South America, and frugivorous fruit bats, widespread in the tropics of the eastern hemisphere.

In the humid tropical forests of South America in the ground layer, the largest herbivorous animal is the lowland tapir, whose mass reaches 250 kg. Here you can find boar-like peccaries, as well as several species of small, primitive, spoked-horned Mazama deer. In the terrestrial layer of the South American Gila, large rodents are common, ecologically replacing ungulates here. The capybara reaches its largest size (length up to 1.5 m, weight up to 60 kg). These long-legged rodents live in large herds, swim beautifully and often graze in riverine marshy meadows.

Gorilla apes live in the ground layer of the African rain forest. Their food is mainly bamboo shoots, shoots of various herbaceous plants, and less often - tree fruits. Ungulates in the African tropical forest are few in number. Among them, the brush-eared pig, large forest pig, bongo antelope and pygmy hippopotamus stand out in size.

Birds of the tropical rainforest, consuming plant foods, inhabit all layers of the forest. Typical consumers of fruits in the African Hyla are turacos, or banana-eaters, from the order Cuckoo-shaped.

Large, with a huge thick beak, often equipped with an outgrowth on top, hornbills are found in the tropical forests of the eastern hemisphere. They, like banana eaters, are poor flyers and

They collect fruits from the terminal branches using a long, powerful, but hollow beak inside.

In the Amazonian Hyla, a similar ecological niche is occupied by toucans from the order Woodpeckers. These birds also have a long and thick beak, but without outgrowths on the beak. Their main food is the fruits of trees, but on occasion they also eat small animals. Toucans nest in hollows abandoned by woodpeckers or in natural hollows, but do not hollow them themselves.

Big-footed, or weedy, chickens inhabit the tropical forests of Northern Australia, New Guinea and the islands of the Malay Archipelago. These birds hardly fly; they stay under the forest canopy, collecting seeds, fruits and small invertebrates.

In the tropics of the Old World, small bright birds that feed on the nectar of flowers are common - sunbirds from the order passerines. The Amazon rain forest is home to hummingbirds from the order Long-winged, which are distant relatives of swifts and look similar to them.

A variety of pigeons, which are usually green in color to match the color of the foliage, feed on the fruits and seeds of trees. There are many colorful parrots in the tropical forests.

The dominant group of predators in tropical rainforests are ants, most of which feed primarily or exclusively on a variety of animal foods. Pronounced predatory ants belong to the subfamily of bulldog ants. The basis of their diet is termites. Bulldog ants live in ground nests and actively protect them from any enemy. Constantly wandering, destroying all living things in their path, stray ants - dorilins. During the day they travel, and at night they cling together in a large ball, inside of which are placed larvae, pupae and the ancestor of the family - the female queen. Tailor ants are common in Africa and South Asia. They build nests in the crowns of trees from several green leaves glued together at the edges with a thin sticky thread. Ants receive this thread from their larvae.

Amphibians in tropical rainforests inhabit not only the ground layer, but also the tree layers, and move far from bodies of water due to high air humidity. Even their reproduction sometimes takes place far from water. The most characteristic inhabitants of the arboreal layer are the bright green, bright red or blue tree frogs, common in the Amazon and tropical forests of South Asia.

IN South America Marsupial tree frogs live, the females of which carry eggs in a special brood pouch on their back. In Africa, where tree frogs are absent, as well as in Southeast Asia, copepods are widespread. Some species are capable of making gliding jumps up to 12 m long thanks to the widely spread membranes between their toes. In

All large regions of tropical forests are inhabited by legless amphibians - caecilians, slowly rummaging through the litter and soil in search of food. In South America and Africa, unique reptiles are found - legless and almost blind amphisbaenas, or two-year-olds. Some of them (for example, the South American Ibijara) settle in termite mounds or anthills and collect a constant “tribute” from their population, and the special secretions of amphisbaena reliably protect them from ant bites. The most characteristic lizards of the tropical forest canopy are the gecko family. The toes of geckos are equipped with expanded discs with many microscopic hooks, with which these lizards easily cling to the surface of trunks and even smooth leaves.

Chameleons have developed unique adaptations to life in the forest canopy. There are especially many of these amazing animals in Africa and Madagascar. The sizes of chameleons range from a few centimeters to half a meter. The diet of chameleons changes according to their size: from ants, termites, small flies and butterflies to lizards, large cockroaches and even birds.

In the ground layer of the tropical rainforest live large snakes, hunting rodents, reptiles, amphibians, and small ungulates. In the reservoirs of the Amazon lives the largest snake in the world - the anaconda, reaching a length of 5 - 6 m. Snakes of tree tiers are especially diverse, usually painted in different shades of green and completely invisible among the foliage. Tree snakes have a thin, whip-like body; they skillfully camouflage themselves by hovering among the branches, becoming like vines or thin branches.

Birds that consume animal food occupy all its floors in the rain forest, especially many of them in the upper, sparse tiers. Insectivorous birds belong to various families: flycatchers, drongeaters and larva-eaters in the tropics of the Old World, trogons living on all continents, tyrants and wood warblers of South America. Coraciiformes are diverse in all regions - kingfishers, bee-eaters. Some kingfishers are associated with bodies of water and hunt for fish and other aquatic inhabitants, but many live away from water and feed on lizards, insects, and small rodents.

There are many real birds of prey in tropical forests that hunt large rodents, snakes, and monkeys. In the forests of the Amazon lives the monkey-eating harpy, whose name indicates its food specialization. However, in addition to monkeys, this large, up to 1 m long, predator catches sloths, agoutis, opossums, and sometimes birds.

Among tropical forest mammals, many species consume ants and termites. In the African Hyla and Southeast

In Asia, they are eaten by the pangolin, which is covered with large horny scales instead of fur. The arboreal anteater lives in the Amazon forests. These animals have powerful front paws with strong claws, with which they destroy the walls of termite mounds.

Large predators are represented by cats: in the Amazon these are jaguar and ocelot, in Africa and South Asia - leopard. In the tropics of the Old World, there are numerous representatives of the civet family - genets, mongooses, civets. All of them lead an arboreal lifestyle to one degree or another.

Thus, the animal population of tropical evergreen forests is extremely diverse, with representatives of different taxonomic groups in each of the above three large regions convergently adapting to similar environmental conditions, forming a complex system of territorial and trophic relationships.

Ecosystems of tropical rainforests in different regions, despite sharp differences in floristic and faunal composition, are very similar in structure and represent the richest and most saturated communities within the Earth's biosphere. With a significant diversity of tropical forest communities, its biomass is represented by values ​​of the same order of magnitude. It is usually 350 - 700 t/ha in primary forests (mountain rainforests of Brazil), in secondary forests - 140 - 300 t/ha. Of this biomass, which is the most significant compared to the biomass of all terrestrial communities, the predominant part is in the above-ground organs of plants, mainly trees, and the smallest part is in the root systems. The main part of the root systems of trees is located in the soil at a depth of 10 - 30, rarely more than 50 cm. The leaf area ranges from 7 to 12 hectares for each hectare of soil surface. Annual production values ​​vary greatly among different forest types. Net production can be 6 - 50 t/ha, or 1 - 10% of biomass.

Despite the apparent abundance of animal organisms, the latter constitute an insignificant part of the total biomass, approximately 1000 kg/ha, or 0.1% of its reserves, and, as in temperate forests, approximately half of the zoomass consists of earthworms.

Tropical rainforests, although they have a strong and balanced structure, are easily destroyed by anthropogenic influence. In the place of cleared tropical forest, secondary forest communities arise, significantly different from the primary ones in species composition and inferior to them in biomass, productivity and structural complexity. It takes several centuries for the primary forest to recover under favorable conditions.

Jungle, or scientifically, rainforests, from the treetops to the forest floor, are filled with life. Found here animals, about each of which you can write a separate report: a crocodile, an anteater, a hippopotamus, bat, sloth, koala, chimpanzee, porcupine, gorilla, armadillo. Insects: termites, tropical butterflies, mosquitoes. Tarantula spiders, hummingbirds and parrots. Hundreds of species of plants, birds, and animals feel comfortable in the tropical forest.

Select a report about a tropical forest dweller:

What does "tropics" mean?

The tropics are the forests that grow near the equator. These forests are the most important ecosystem on Earth. The coast of the Gulf of Mexico and Brazil, the South American coasts, the islands of the West Indies, part of Africa, the island of Madagascar, and some Asian countries and islands Pacific Ocean- occupied by tropical thickets. The tropics make up only 6 percent of the landmass.

High humidity and hot climate- the main features of the fabulous diversity of forms of local life. Constant warmth, frequent, heavy, short-lived tropical downpours contribute to rapid growth and flora development. And the fauna, thanks to the abundance of water, also does not suffer from drought. Tropical forests have red or spotted soils, and the forest itself is multi-tiered, with each level densely populated. Such a diversity of flora and fauna is possible due to ideal living conditions.

Who lives in the tropical forest and how?

The wilds of the forest are inhabited by a variety of animals. Giant elephants and small insects, birds and medium-sized animals can live simultaneously in one area of ​​the forest, but at different levels, finding their own forest areas shelter and food. No other place on land has such a wealth of ancient life forms - endemics. Thanks to the dense foliage cover, the undergrowth in the rainforest is weak and animals can move freely.

The diversity of animals in the tropical forests is amazing: along with reptiles (turtles, crocodiles, lizards and snakes), there are many amphibians. The abundance of food attracts herbivores. Predators come after them (leopards, tigers, jaguars). The color of the inhabitants of the tropics is rich, since spots and stripes help to better camouflage in the forest. Many species of ants, tropical butterflies and spiders provide food for hundreds of bird species. The tropics are home to the largest number of monkeys on the planet; there are more than one and a half hundred parrots and 700 species of butterflies, including giant ones.

Unfortunately, many representatives of the jungle fauna (antelope, rhinoceroses, etc.) were exterminated by humans during colonialism. Now many animals that previously lived freely in tropical forests remain only in nature reserves and zoos. Human destruction of forests leads to a reduction in fauna and flora, soil erosion, and loss of the ecological balance of our planet. Rainforests- “the green lungs of the planet” - have been sending us a message for decades now, signaling that a person must be responsible for his actions.

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