Rainforests

What is a Rainforest?

A rainforest is an environment that receives high rainfall, and has many tall trees.

There are two types of rainforests: Temperate and Tropical.

Temperate Rainforest

 are coniferous or broadleaf forests that occur in the temperate zone and

receive high rainfall.

Tropical Rainforestan ecosystem type that occurs roughly within the latitudes 28 degrees north or south of the equator (in the equatorial zone between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. This ecosystem experiences high average temperatures and a significant amount of rainfall.Rainforests can be found in Asia, Australia, Africa, South America, Central America, Mexico and on many of the Pacific, Caribbean, and Indian Ocean islandscan be characterized in two words: warm and wet.

Types Of Tropical RainforestSeveral types of forest comprise the general tropical rainforest biome:•Lowland equatorial evergreen rain forests are forests which receive high rainfall (more than 2000 mm, or 80 inches, annually) throughout the year. These forests occur in a belt around the equator, with the largest areas in the Amazon Basin of South America, the Congo Basin of Central Africa, Indonesia, and New Guinea.•Moist deciduous and semi-evergreen seasonal forests, receive high overall rainfall with a warm summer wet season and a cooler winter dry season. Some trees in these forests drop some or all of their leaves during the winter dry season. These forests are found in parts of South America, in Central America and around the Caribbean, in coastal West Africa, parts of the Indian subcontinent, and across much of Indochina.•Montane rain forests, some of which are known as cloud forests, are found in cooler-climate mountain areas. Depending on latitude, the lower limit of montane rainforests on large mountains is generally between 1500 and 2500 m while the upper limit is usually from 2400 to 3300 m.

Flooded forests, seven types of flooded forest are recognized for Tambopata Reserve in Amazonian Peru:

Permanently waterlogged swamp forest—Former oxbow lakes still flooded but covered in forest.

Seasonally waterlogged swamp forest—Oxbow lakes in the process of filling in.

Lower floodplain forest—Lowest floodplain locations with a recognizable forest.

Middle floodplain forest—Tall forest, flooded occasionally.

Upper floodplain forest—Tall forest, rarely flooded.

Old floodplain forest—Subjected to flooding within the last two hundred years.

Previous floodplain—Now terra firme, but historically ancient floodplain of Tambopata River.

World Rainforests

This map shows tropical rainforests

Australian Rainforests

Minnamurra Rainforest

Minnamurra Rainforest is near Jamberoo.It is a warm temperate rainforest.

Luzon rainforestه moist broadleaf forest that

contains the lowlands (below 1000 m) of Luzon and the montane rainforests located on a several volcanic and non-volcanic mountains of the island

Palanan Rainforesta large tract of undisturbed forest which forms a large part of the combined nature preserve of the Northern Sierra Madre National Park and Peñablanca Protected Landscape and Seascape.found in  Isabela

Palawan rainforest

ه The climate of the Eco region is tropical wet.

Bohol Rainforest

Mindanao

RainforestThe climate of the Eco region is tropical wet (National Geographic Society 1999), with temperature and rainfall modified by the elevation, which reaches up to 2,700 m. 

Rainforest LayersRainforests can be divided into “layers” from the top to the bottom.

Emergents

Canopy

Understorey

Forest Floor

Emergent LayerThe tallest trees are the emergent, growing as much as 50 meters above the forest floor with trunks that measure up to 4 meters around.   Most of these trees are broad-leaved, hardwood evergreens. This layer receives a lot of sunlight.

Canopy LayerThis is the main layer of the forest, and forms a roof over the lower layers. Most canopy trees have smooth, oval leaves that come to a point. Many animals such as snakes, toucans and tree-frogs live in this area, since there is a lot of food.

Understorey Layer

Not very much sunshine reaches this area, so the plants have to grow larger leaves to reach the sunlight.  Many animals live here, including jaguars (not in Australia), tree frogs and lots of insects.

Forest Floor Layer

Down here it’s very dark, so almost no plants grow.On the forest floor things begin to decay quickly - for example a leaf can decompose in 6 weeks. Bush Turkeys and Lyrebirds live in this layer.

FaunaLife in the rainforest is filled with predator/prey relationships.

This helps to keep the food chain balanced.

Fauna is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora. Flora, fauna and other forms of life such as fungi are collectively referred to as biota

Zoologists and palaeontologists use fauna to refer to a typical

collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the

"Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess Shale fauna".

Palaeontologists sometimes refer to a sequence of faunal stages,

which is a series of rocks all containing similar fossils.

"Fauna" comes from the Latin names of Fauna, a Roman goddess

of earth and fertility, the Roman god Faunus, and the related forest

spirits called Fauns. All three words are cognates of the name of the Greek god Pan, and panis is the Greek equivalent of

fauna. Fauna is also the word for a book that catalogues the

animals in such a manner. The term was first used by Linnaeus in the title of his 1745 work Fauna Suecica.

ENDEMIC FAUNA Hyelaphus calamianensis

also known as Calamian hogه

deer.

endangered species of deer foundهonly in the Calamian Islands of Palawan province of the Philippines.

It is one of three species of deerهnative to the Philippines, the other being the Philippine sambar and Visayan spotted deer.

 Calamian hog deer

Crateromys schadenbergi

• Giant Bushy-tailed Cloud Rat or Luzon Bushy-tailed Cloud Rat

• a large, endangered species of rodent in the family Muridae. 

• It is only found in pine and mossy forest at altitudes of 2,000–2,740 metres (6,600–8,990 ft.) in the Central Cordillera of Luzon, the Philippines.

• Relatively little is known about its behavior, but it is nocturnal, mainly arboreal and feeds on various types of vegetation. Cloud Rat

Pithecophaga jefferyi

• also known as the Monkey-eating Eagle, is an eagle of the family Accipitridae endemic to forests in the Philippines.

• It is considered the largest of the extant eagles in the world in terms of length, with the Steller's Sea Eagle and the Harpy Eagle being larger in terms of weight and bulk.

• Among the rarest and most powerful birds in the world, it has been declared the Philippine national bird.

• It is critically endangered, mainly due to massive loss of habitat due to deforestation in most of its range. Philippine Eagle 

Naja phi l ippinensis

• also called northern Philippine

cobra.

• a stocky, highly venomous spitting

cobra native to the northern regions

of the Philippines.

• The Philippine cobra is

called ulupong in

Tagalog carasaen in Ilocano

and agawason in Cebuano-Bisaya.

Philippine cobra 

E. concinnus

• is endemic to

the Philippines and

listed as "Least

Concern" on the IUCN

Red List.

Philippine pygmy squirrel 

Flora

More then 2/3 of the world’s plant species are found in tropical rainforests.

Scientists have used many rainforest plants to make medicines.

Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animal life is fauna. Flora, fauna and other forms of life such as fungi are collectively referred to as biota. Bacterial organisms, algae, and other organisms are sometimes referred to as flora, so that for example the terms bacterial flora and plant flora are used separately.

"Flora" comes from the Latin name of Flora, the goddess of plants, flowers, and fertility in Roman mythology.

Flora classif ications Plants are grouped into floras based on region, period, special environment, or climate. Regions can be geographically distinct habitats like mountain vs. flatland. Floras can mean plant life of a historic era as in fossil flora. Lastly, floras may be subdivided by special environments:

Native flora. The native and indigenous flora of an area.Agricultural and Horticultural flora (garden flora). The plants that are

deliberately grown by humans.Weed flora. Traditionally this classification was applied to plants

regarded as undesirable, and studied in efforts to control or eradicate them. Today the designation is less often used as a classification of plant life, since it includes three different types of plants: weedy species, invasive species (that may or may not be weedy), and native and introduced non-weedy species that are agriculturally undesirable. Many native plants previously considered weeds have been shown to be beneficial or even necessary to various ecosystems.

Samples of f lora, not necessary unique in the Phi l ippines but abundantly grow in the country.

ه Gumamela in Filipino

ه can grow up to 4 meters high

ه a medicinal plant

ه Filipino children use Gumamela for bubble-making leisure

Hibiscus rosasinensis

Phalaenopsis amabil is

ه Known as butterfly

orchids in the Philippines

ه Native of Indonesia, Taiwan, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines

Caesalpinia pulcherrima

ه Caballero in Filipino

ه can grow up to 12 meters high

ه a medicinal plant

ه can be found in tropics and subtropics

Coleus scutel larioides

ه Mayana

ه Lapunaya (Visayan)

ه can grow up to a meter high

ه introduced in the Philippines

ه medicinal/ornamental plant

Allamanda cathartica

ه Yellow Bell

ه Kampanilya in the Philippines

ه Can grow up to 4 meters high

ه Cultivated as an ornamental plant

ه Introduced from tropics of America

Tabernaemontana pandacaqui

 

Kampupot in theهPhilippines

Can grow up to 4هmeters high

Medicinal plant ofهvarious uses

,Fragrant white flowersه1-5cm in diameter

Paphiopedi lum fowliei

ه species of plant in the Orchidaceae  family.

ه endemic to Palawan  in the Philippines.

ه Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

ه It is threatened by habitat loss.

Euanthe sanderiana

ه Waling-waling in the Philippines.

ه endemic to Mindanao in the provinces of Davao, Cotabato, and Zamboanga.

ه In 2013, a bill was passed by the Philippine Senate declaring the Waling-waling as a national flower alongside the Sampaguita.

Aerides lawrenciae

ه It is endemic to the Philippines.

ه Growing in brightly lit environments at low altitude, on the islands of Mindanao and Cebu.

ه Flowering occurs during autumn.

Why are they important to us?

Rainforests turn carbon dioxide into oxygen and reduce the greenhouse affect.Rainforests plants provide sources of medicines.Rainforests are the only home of many rare animals.

Why are they becoming extinct?

The biggest causes of rainforest destruction are logging and mining, and clearing for farming.

The End