Biotic Factors (definition)*

What lives in the tropical rainforest?

 The combination of heat and moisture makes the tropical rain forest the perfect environment for more then 15 million types of plants and animals. Some of the animals of the tropical rain forest are the jaguar, the anteater, lemur and many others, among the many plant species such as bamboo banana trees and rubber trees.

The Tropical Rainforest biome is the richest source of plant life in the whole entire earth, with temperatures around 70-90 degrees and lots of water supply, this makes this biome a perfect place for large amounts of plant life. In the Tropical Rainforest there is so much different and unique plants, that scientists don’t even know all of them. Here are just a few plants that are now commonly grown and sold to people across the world that originally came from the rainforest. Avocado, bananas, coffee, lemon, orange, peanut, peppers, and pineapples

      Plants from the rain forest are very useful in many different uses around the world. Such as hundreds of different medical supplies, many foods (fruit etc.), timber,

Producers:

 The rain forest grows in three levels, the Canopy, which is the tallest level it has trees between 100 and 200 feet tall. The second level called the understory contains a mix of shrubs, ferns, palms, small trees and vines. The third and lowest level is the Forest floor where herbs, mosses and fungi grow.

   A producer is an organism that makes it’s own food from light energy or chemical energy. Most green plants that are one-celled organisms like slime molds and bacteria are producers. Producers are the base of the food chain.

  Here is a List of  Producers:

·        Bamboo

·        Banana Trees

·        Rubber Trees

·        Cassava

·        Bromeliads

·        Avocado

·        Many tropical fruit trees such as lemon, orange etc.

·        Air plants

·        Vines

·        Shrubs

·        Ferns

·        Epiphyte

·        orchids

A consumer is a living thing that eats other living things to stay alive. It cannot make it’s own food like a producer but relies on producers for their source of food. There are more Primary Consumers then Secondary Consumers.

Here is a list of primary consumers:

·  Colobus Monkey

·  Sloth

·  Most bats

·  Humming birds

·  Bees

·  Wasps

·  Lemurs

·  Pygmy

·  Marmosets

·  Opossum

·  Red-shanked douc Langur

Secondary Consumers:

Predators in the tropical rain forest use skill, force, poisons and traps to kill their prey. Since the tropical Rain Forest has over 15 million different species of both plants and animals, and also being more primary consumers, means the secondary consumers can find food very easily. These Predators have very unique adaptations, for example the Orb-Weaving Spider found along the coast has a web so thick and strong, the web can take down a normal sized bird. Also the Boa constrictor can strangle a human. These adaptations help these secondary consumers able to hunt and survive in the forest.

Here is a list of Secondary Consumers:

·        Anteater

·        Spiders

·        Scorpions

·        Jaguar

·        Snakes

·        Even a select few monkeys

·        Tigers

·        Golden Lion

·        Vampire Bats

·        Toco Toucan

·        Sumatran Rhinoceros

·        Acacia Ant (can a humans body with one bite)

·        Loris

·        Flavus

Decomposers

They may look like they don’t do a thing but decomposers are the most important kind of species. Without Decomposers the Tropical Rain Forest would be piled high with branches, rotting trees decaying fruits. All of the decomposers team up and work together to decompose plant matter. In six weeks all of the litter would be composed, the Tropical Rain Forest Biome has the fasting working decomposers out of all other biomes. For example to decompose a log you would have termites eating it so eventually their wouldn’t be any fallen branches on the ground to rot, or any organic litter. So as you can see the decomposers are very important!

Here is a list of Decomposers:

·        Earthworms

·        Fungi

·        Termites

·        Bacteria

·        Protozoans

·        Other single cell creatures

·        Other Insects and parasites 

Biotic Factor-Any Factor that is living and in a biome ( animal or plants)

Abiotic Factor- Anything not living that is present in a biome. (does not include dead animals or plants)         (ex air, water, sunlight, soil)

Producer-An organism that produces it's own food through photosynthesis. (plants)

Consumer- There are two types, Primary and Secondary. Primary-eats plants secondary eats meat

Decomposers- An organism that breaks down dead animals and plants and provides nutrients to the         soil. (worm)

Food Web-A diagram explaining how energy from food or prey is transferred through animals and plants.

Biome-  Large areas of land that is similar but not necessarily connected. eg the tropical rainforests are in South America but also in other continents.

Author of this page:Ben         Home

Work Sited : http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/education/projects/webunits/biomes/rainforest.html

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/rnfrst_plant_page.htm

Time for Kids Almanac 2005

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/rainforest/glossary/indexp.shtml#producer

http://library.thinkquest.org/C0113340/text/biomes/biomes.rainforest.animals.html