Selected habitat: tropical rainforest

Question 1

What percentage of earths land is covered by tropical rainforest?

Answer 1

10%

Question 2

What is the climate like in tropical rainforest

Answer 2

Relatively stable over a long time periods

Question 3

What has a stable climate Allowed for in tropical rainforest

Answer 3

Species have adapted for the local abiotic and biotic factors

Question 4

What is the problem with being adapted to relatively stable conditions

Answer 4

Make species vulnerable to extinction as a small change in the environmental conditions may move them outside of their range of tolerance

Question 5

What are photosynthesis rates in tropical rainforests?

Answer 5

High due to high light levels

Question 6

Why is it good to have a high photosynthesis rate?

Answer 6

Providing a lot of food energy to support a rich food web

Question 7

Are there seasonal changes in tropical rainforest

Answer 7

No there are constant warm temperatures and regular high rainfall

Question 8

What Is the benefit for species due to the lack of seasonal change

Answer 8

Reliable food supplies are available to animals for all the year and there’s no need to hibernate or migrate

Question 9

What migratory species are present in the tropical rainforest

Answer 9

Migratory species often of come from other areas that have fluctuating seasons

Question 10

Is there any need for species to evolve in tropical rainforests

Answer 10

No because the abiotic conditions have been stable for a long time and do not fluctuate seasonally and the biotic factors have been adapted to

Question 11

What is the main survival pressure in tropical rainforests

Answer 11

Biotic factors: getting food, avoiding being eaten, and evolving better inter-species relationships

Question 12

What competition is there between plants?

Answer 12

Competition for light

Question 13

How have plants evolved to to get to light quickly?

Answer 13

Have a tall trunk (but this requires a lot of energy)

Question 14

How do smaller plants need to adapt?

Answer 14

Evolve methods of utilising lower light levels

Question 15

What sort adaptions to plants have for low light levels?

Answer 15

Denser chlorophyll or additional pigments to absorb wavelengths of light that pass through taller plants

Question 16

What are epiphytes?

Answer 16

plant that grows on another plant

Question 17

What are the characteristics of epiphytes?

Answer 17

have no attachment to the ground or other obvious nutrient source and are not parasitic on the supporting plants

Question 18

What is an example of an epiphyte?

Answer 18

Tiger orchid
Spanish moss

Question 19

What are the layers of the rainforest from top to bottom?

Answer 19

Emergent layer
Main canopy
Understory
Shrub layer
Ground layer

Question 20

Why might epiphytes struggle?

Answer 20

Less reliable water and nutrient supplies

Question 21

Why do the stable conditions reduce competition for animal services (plants)?

Answer 21

Plants don’t have to flower or produce seeds or fruit at the same time so less competition for seed dispersal

Question 22

How is animal survival increased by the stability of conditions and lack of seasonal change?

Answer 22

Food in the form of nectar,seeds or fruit is available to animals throughout the year

Question 23

What is the common tree type in tropical rainforests?

Answer 23

Deciduous so they lose their leaves

Question 24

Do all trees in the tropical rainforest shed their leaves at the same time?

Answer 24

No they do it at different ties in the year

Question 25

Why is it important that trees don’t all lose their leaves at the same time?

Answer 25

As an animals that feed on vegetation with have a reduced or no food supply at all.

Question 26

Does high biodiversity on its own make an area important

Answer 26

No

Question 27

What does higher biodiversity Increase the chances of

Answer 27

Finding species that are useful to humans

Question 28

What type of species are useful to humans

Answer 28

New food species, medical discoveries, biomimetic applications

Question 29

What adaptations of plants have to protect themselves

Answer 29

Most commonly done by producing toxic chemicals such as alkaloids

Question 30

How can humans benefit from the toxic chemicals produced by plants and animals

Answer 30

Alkaloids which are produced by plants may have medical value for humans Animals also produce medically viable chemicals to avoid predation

Question 31

In what ways do animals produce medically valuable substances

Answer 31

 Those that want to avoid predation especially those that can’t protect themselves with teeth and claws Those that use venom to catch prey

Question 32

What are the uses of timber?

Answer 32

House construction, furniture, tools

Question 33

What are the uses of fibres?

Answer 33

Cotton Hemp – rope Raffia-rope, baskets Wood cellulose- rayon 

Question 34

What are the uses of rubber?

Answer 34

Latex gloves and vehicle tyres 

Question 35

What are the uses of waxes?

Answer 35

Carnuba wax- Floor in the car polish, confectionery coating

Question 36

What are the uses of oils?

Answer 36

Palm oil – processed foods, cooking oil, biofuels

Question 37

What are the uses of food? (food from tropical forests)

Answer 37

Chocolate from Cacao Pineapples, lemons, Brazil nuts, vanilla, coffee, bananas, oranges Spices (Pepper) Bush meat New food species Genetic resources for crossbreeding

Question 38

What medicines come from the rainforest?

Answer 38

Cinchona trees produce quinine to prevent malaria Mexican war yams produce disogenin Used to treat arthritis an asthma

Question 39

How do tropical rainforests increase downwind rainfall?

Answer 39

Overhaul the rainfall in the Amazon rainforest resultant transpiration elsewhere in the forest rather than coming directly from evaporation of seawater

Question 40

What makes dead vegetation decay rapidly

Answer 40

The warm moist conditions

Question 41

What is the thinkness of soil in tropical rainforests

Answer 41

Soil in tropical rainforest often very shallow

Question 42

How is soil erosion prevented in the rainforest

Answer 42

Vegetation cover in trees are important in preventing present soil from being eroded

Question 43

How does Foilage and roots protect the soil

Answer 43

Foilage protects the soil from heavy rain and the roots hold the soil together

Question 44

What is the most important domestic fuel in rural areas of LEDCs

Answer 44

Wood

Question 45

Why is fuelwood collection unsustainable

Answer 45

The rate of word collection as usually faster than the rate of replanting and natural regrowth

Question 46

What are the two ways harvested timber is used?

Answer 46

Use in origin country for construction furniture Export to MEDCs For use in products such as furniture, doors, windows, decking and plywood

Question 47

What is subsistence agriculture?

Answer 47

practice of growing crops and raising livestock sufficient only for one's own use, without any surplus for trade.

Question 48

What techniques are used for subsistence agriculture in the rainforest?

Answer 48

Slash and burn or shifting field

Question 49

What would happen to an area once its nutrients have been depleted by farming?

Answer 49

They were abandoned as soil nutrients were depleted and forest regrowth reclaim the clearing

Question 50

What makes the subsistence agriculture technique Sustainable?

Answer 50

As long as there is enough time for the forest to recolonise the cleared area and for the soil for fertility to recover before it is clear again

Question 51

What can make subsistence agriculture in the rainforest unsustainable?

Answer 51

If the human population is too high and the time gap between an area abandoned and cleared again will be too short

Question 52

What happens over time if subsistence agriculture isn’t sustainable

Answer 52

The family could not farm the area for as long as previously if this continues then the forest will be degraded and soil fertility will decline

Question 53

What causes a high demand for farmland

Answer 53

Human population growth

Question 54

Where is most of this demanded farmland going to be

Answer 54

Habitats such as rain forests 

Question 55

Why is rainforest clearance for cash crops and cattle often unsustainable

Answer 55

The poor tropical soils may become infertile fail to provide high yields indefinitely

Question 56

How does commercial agriculture make it hard For Forest recolonisation

Answer 56

If there are no surviving forest nearby from which species could recolonise

Question 57

What are some examples of cash crops?

Answer 57

Palm oil, soya bean and coffee

Question 58

 What is valuable deposits of metal minerals are present under tropical rainforests

Answer 58

Aluminium, iron, gold, silver and copper

Question 59

What is the problem with mineral extraction in the rainforest

Answer 59

Extraction results in a habitat loss I can cause water pollution when the mineral is processed

Question 60

What can cause water pollution from mineral extraction

Answer 60

Discharge of turbid drainage water, Cyanide and mercury

Question 61

What is the problem with hydroelectric power schemes?

Answer 61

Can flood large areas of forest and create a barrier to mobile species such as migratory fish and river dolphins

Question 62

What is the problem with a static water held in reservoirs

Answer 62

Decomposition of the dead organic matter can produce acidic deoxygenated water that may be harmful to aquatic life downstream

Question 63

How can using a Dam to generate electricity be damaging?

Answer 63

Fluctuating river levels downstream can affect wildlife

Question 64

 What will the temperature change affect in the rainforest

Answer 64

Wind and precipitation patterns

Question 65

What is the problem if a drought occurs in the rainforest

Answer 65

Increase number of forest fires in the area of a fire covers

Question 66

What is the difference between a short and long fire in a rainforest

Answer 66

Short fire may just burn off vegetation and leaf litter Long fire may boil tree sap and kill the trees

Question 67

Why is the population of many frogs and toads in cloud rainforest declining?

Answer 67

Rising temperatures are reducing condensation in clouds forming higher up the mountains  reducing the area of habitat that is sufficiently humid for them to survive

Question 68

What will happen to epiphytic plants and air plants if humidity decreases?

Answer 68

Their populations decline if the air is less humid 

Question 69

What do super computers predict will happen to the rainforest?

Answer 69

It will be replaced by savannah grassland

Question 70

how does tourism damage the rainforest?

Answer 70

Development- expansion of tourism facilities threaten habitats and wildlife

Question 71

How can tourism be sustainable?

Answer 71

Ecotourism is an important way of generating income without having to destroy the forest

Question 72

Where is the Rio Bravo conservation and management area?

Answer 72

Belize, Central America

Question 73

How large is the Rio Bravo area?

Answer 73

Covers 100,000 hectares

Question 74

When was the Rio bravo area established?

Answer 74

1988

Question 75

How is money raised in the Rio bravo conservation area?

Answer 75

Eco tourism projects Sustainable exploitation of high value timber from trees

Question 76

What is debt for nature swap?

Answer 76

When a country isn’t able to pay a debt back to another the lender may cancel the debt for partial repayment or that some rainforest is protected

Question 77

What are the key features of the Korup national park Cameroon?

Answer 77

1260km*2 forest protected 600 tree species 160 mammal species 1000 butterfly species New malaria drug from endemic species

Question 78

What are some examples of conservation areas in Brazil?

Answer 78

Alto Maues reserve Tucumucumaque national park- largest global reserve

Question 79

What are some features of the Alto Maues reserve?

Answer 79

6680km*2 protected 600 species of bird