Ecosystem key services, Tropical rainforest ecosystem, how and why humans use the rainforest Flashcards
What do we mean by the term ‘key services’?
The way in which ecosystems provide benefits for people.
Give 5 key services that ecosystems provide?
Maintain a steady supply of clean water to rivers, Prevent soil erosion, Reduce the risk of river floods, providing natural materials for building or for medicine, Providing foodstuff such as honey, fruit & nuts, Huge stores of carbon dioxide this helps regulate the greenhouse effect.
Where are tropical rainforests found?
Along the equator e.g Brazil, Congo, South East Asia.
Why is there a continual growing season in the rainforest?
Because the rainfall amount is often larger than 2000mm per year and the temperatures are high averaging 25 degrees C.
What are the different layers of the rainforest?
Emergent Layer Canopy Undercanopy Shrub Layer Ground Layer
80% of the rainforests nutrients come from trees and plants, only 20% of the nutrients are stored in soil. Why is this?
Rapid decomposition due to heat this is easily absorbed by plants, The nutrients are in high demand from the fast-growing plants so they stay near the soils surface, Consumers eat plants when the consumer dies the nutrients are returned to the soil by decomposers so are recycled quickly.
Where is most of the rainfall intercepted in the rainforest?
Canopy
How does convectional rainfall happen in the rainforest?
Hot rainforest temperatures causes water to evaporate into the atmosphere and together with transpiration mix to form clouds.
Is the rainforest a good store of water?
Yes
Give a named example of a river in a tropical rainforest.
Amazon
If the rainforest water cycle were to be broken why would water supply to people be at risk?
Water flowing into the rivers would be more uneven as convectional rainfall would be reduced.
Rainforests store less carbon than other ecosystems?
False
The soils of the rainforest are important stores of carbon.
True
When rainforests are cleared what happens to the carbon?
It is lost to the atmosphere
Give 5 reasons why the rainforest is being destroyed in the Amazon?
Monoculture (Big scale farming - Oil palms & Bananas), Subsistence farmers (Individuals/families) using slash and burn and then moving on once nutrients have gone, Iron ore mining, Roads & Railways, Logging, Hydro electric dams.
