The Rainforest

1. Sights and Sounds of the Rainforest The Rainforest Shelly L. Ray EDTC 659

2. Rainforests Click once on the dark green areas to read about the rainforests of the world • High rainfall, temperatures, and humidity • 6% of the Earth’s surface • Amazon jungle- world’s largest rainforest • Within 25° north or south of equator

3. The Amazon • World's largest tropical rainforest.  • The forest covers the basin of the Amazon, the world's second longest river. • Home to the greatest variety of plants and animals on Earth. 

4. Central America • Once entirely covered with rainforest, large areas have been cleared for cattle ranching and for sugar cane plantations. • Contain many plants and animals found nowhere else.  • Famous for its large number of tropical birds, including many kinds of parrots.

5. Central Africa holds the world's second largest rainforest.  Madagascar was once intensively forested, but now much of it is gone. Areas of high cloud forest, mangrove swamps and flooded forests.  The island of Madagascar is home to many unique plants and animals not found anywhere else. Africa

6. Southern Asia • Largest area of mangrove forests in the world. • Hot and humid all year round • Torrential monsoon rains followed by a drier period.

7. Australasia • Contain many different species of animals that occur nowhere else. • Undergrowth is dense and lush.  The forests lie in the path of wet winds blowing in from the Pacific.

8. Layers of the Rainforest • Top layer of the rainforest • Receives greatest amount of sunlight • Trees as tall as 200 feet • Monkeys, butterflies, and macaws Emergent Layer

9. Layers of the Rainforest • Treetops have leaves so densely packed they form a "green blanket” in mid air • Most plants and animals live here • 60-90 feet above ground • Home to toucans, sloths, and snakes Canopy Layer

10. Layers of the Rainforest • 2-15% of sunlight • Dark- small plants and vines that need little light • Many houseplants come from here • Jaguars, leopards, and insects spend much time here Understory Layer

11. Layers of the Rainforest • Less than 2% of sunlight reaches here • Fallen leaves, fruits, and seeds decay quickly here • Tarantulas, leaf cutter ants, and giant anteaters would be seen here. Forest Floor Layer

12. Layers of the Rainforest Emergent Layer • Very much sunlight • Trees as tall as 200 feet Canopy Layer • Primary layer 60-90 feet above floor • Very dense • Many animals Understory Layer • Little sunlight • Many animals and insects • Animals devise unique survival skills Forest Floor • Very dark • Few plants • Decomposing material

13. Questions • B • C • D • E • A C

14. A

15. b

16. c

17. d

18. Animals of the Rainforest Tapir Jaguar Howler Monkey Click on any of the names of rainforest mammals to learn more. Capybara Sloth

19. Birds of the Rainforest Toucan Hummingbird Macaw

20. Reptiles and Amphibians

21. Macaws • largest of all parrots • sharp, hooked bills which are perfect for eating nuts, fruits, and seeds • use their feet to grasp food and bring it to their mouth • found in canopy and emergent layers of the rainforest • nest in holes in trees • on endangered species list

22. Leaf cutter ants tear portions of leaves from trees with their scissor like jaws and carry the leaves to their nest. Leaf cutter ants can carry 50 times their weight. The ants leave an invisible scent on the trails they use in order to find their way back because sometimes they travel several hundred yards away from the nest. Once in the nest they then proceed to chew the leaves into a pulp-like material, which soon sprouts a fungus and the ants grow and cultivate “fungus gardens”. The fungus, in turn, is food for the ants. What is left over is organic matter in the form of leaves, fungus, and waste, which helps to add nutrients to the soil. The nests can be 3,000 to 4,500 square feet and may be 8 feet or more deep. Thousands of chambers will contain the fungus gardens and the nest can house millions of ants. A colony of Leafcutting Ants is comprised of several castes. Two of the castes include queens and drones, (males, who hatch from unfertilized eggs and die shortly after mating with the queen). Only queens and drones can mate and queens and drones are the only ants in the colony that can fly. Most colonies have only one queen, but sometimes there are two or three, especially in large colonies. Other castes include minors ('nursers'), medians ('workers'), and majors ('soldiers'). These are all essentially workers, but they have specialized jobs and are different sizes. The queen's main responsibility is to lay eggs and develop new colonies. When a queen wants to start a new colony, she takes a piece of fungal hyphae from one of the gardens and tucks it into a small area in her head. She then flies away in search of a drone. When she finds a drone she mates with it and then looks for a suitable spot to start a colony. She then digs her nest and begins to lay her eggs. A queen is capable of laying thousands of eggs every day. The ants go right to work once hatched. The workers, which are the largest caste in the colony, strip leaves off of trees with their scissor like jaws and take them back to the nest. Once workers deposit the leaves, the nurse workers chew them up and lay them down. The nurse workers also tend to the larvae and eggs in the colony. The large soldiers defend the colony and provide protection to the workers from enemy ants and predators. Leaf Cutter Ants

23. Nostrils on top of snout, letting snake breathe easily when in water Smells with tongue Habitat is marshes, brushes, and swamps Nocturnal carnivores (meat-eaters) Kill by constricting (squeezing) the prey Eat pigs, deer, caiman, fish, birds, and rodents. Anacondas • Natives use anacondas in ritual dances

24. Poison Arrow Frogs • About the size of a man's thumbnail • Lay eggs on leaves. When hatched, babies live in bromeliads and eat small insects, ants, spiders, crustaceans, and tiny water animals. • Bright colors warn other animals that they are poisonous. • Carries enough poison to kill about 100 people. • Native hunters use it on the tips of their arrows which is how it got its name.

25. Toucans • Narrow, feather-like tongue • Bill is sharp and has saw-like edges, used to squash the many kinds of fruit and berries it eats. Also eats small birds and lizards • Make their homes in holes in trees • Lives in the canopy • Very important to rainforest because they help disperse seeds from fruits and berries they eat. • large, colorful, yet lightweight bills help attract mates

26. Tapirs • Eat fruit and plants • Related to horses and rhinoceroses • Swim very well and love water • 4 toes on each front foot, 3 on each back foot • Run to water when hunted or scared • Often hunted by humans • Live 30 years, but are endangered

27. . Slow-moving mammals found in the rainforest canopies Two kinds: two-toed and three-toed Hair is grayish brown but, at times look grey-green in color because algae grows on their coats Feed on fruit, leaves, buds, and young twigs Sleep upside-down up to 18 hours at a time. Mothers give birth to babies upside-down Sloths

28. Largest New World monkeys Male’s howl loudest sound of any land animal. Good swimmers Canopy specialists, eating leaves, fruits and other vegetation. Sleep 15 hours a day in the tallest trees Hang from their tails and can stop their fall by grabbing with their tail. Howler Monkeys Male Female

29. Largest predator, but rarely seen Prefers riverbanks, but frequents the understory Its spots act as camouflage Carnivorous, feeding on deer, monkeys, and capybaras Jaguars

30. Capybaras • Capybaras are the world’s largest rodent. • Adults may weigh as much as 200 pounds when full grown. • Its feet are partially webbed which is an advantage in the swampy, aquatic habitat in which they live.

31. Plants of the Rainforest

32. Bromeliads • The bromeliad is a kind of tropical plant with leaves like a pineapple. • Collects water in its center • Water forms a pool for frogs, lizards, and insects to live in. • Some grow on the ground, and others are epiphytes.

33. The strangler fig tree uses another tree to climb up to the sunlight. As they grow, they wrap around the old tree until it dies and only the strangler fig remains. Strangler Figs

34. Orchids are flowering plants that come in different shapes, sizes, and colors. They attract birds and insects with their beautiful colors and wonderful smell! Can grow on ground and others are epiphytes Orchids

35. Kapok Trees • may grow to 150 feet high • long roots reach down from the tree's crown • Kapok is one of the few rainforest trees that are wind-pollinated. It is widely used to make plywood and trees this large are becoming rare. It is also the subject of a popular children's book about the rainforest.

36. Kapok Trees • The Kapok (Ceiba petandra) is a rainforest giant. It may grow to 150 feet high. This individual is growing near Ceiba Tops, a tourist resort near Iquitos. Note the person standing at the base of the tree. The abundance of epiphytes on upper branches and the long roots reaching down from the tree's crown show how other plants are dependent on these large trees. Kapok is one of the few rainforest trees that are wind-pollinated. It is widely used to make plywood and trees this large are becoming rare. It is also the subject of a popular children's book about the rainforest.

37. Stilt or Prop Roots • Prop and stilt roots help give support to trees growing in shallow, wet soils. • Although the tree grows slowly, these above-ground roots can grow 28 inches a month.

38. Epiphytes • Epiphytes, or air plants, can be found on branches, trunks, and leaves of trees. • Different types may grow on same tree, including orchids, cacti, bromeliads, mosses and ferns. • Begin life in canopy from seeds or spores transported by birds or winds. • Grow on trees to take advantage of sunlight in canopy.

39. Some plants are adapted to obtain nutrients from animal matter. The best known of these is probably the Venus fly trap, but more impressive is the pitcher plant Nepenthes rafflesiana, found in southeast Asia. This plant grows to 30 feet tall and may have pitchers 12 inches in length, usually crammed full of digested insects. Pitcher plants also eat small mammals and reptiles that attempt to steal the insects from the pitcher. Carnivorous Plants

40. Buttress Roots • Massive ridges near the base of trees that can rise 30 feet high before blending into the trunk • Provides extra stability, since roots of tropical rainforest trees are not very deep

41. Lianas • Vines that live all over the rain forest. • Link trees to each other and animals use them to  get from tree to tree. • Tarzan used these vines to swing through the forest! • Used to make baskets, ropes, and furniture