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Physical Geography > Rainforests > Flashcards

Rainforests Flashcards

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1
Q

What is a biome?

A

An ecosystem on a continental scale

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2
Q

What pattern does biomes follow?

A

-Lines of lattitude on the earth because of the amount of solar radiation each point receives

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3
Q

What kind of biomes are found at a higher lattitude?

A
  • Cooler and drier
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4
Q

Why is it hotter and wetter near the equator?

A

-Air warmed by the sun rises at the intercontinental convergence zone and forms cumulonimbus clouds due to the moisture it carries

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5
Q

What is the climate of a Tropical Rainforest?

A
  • Hot and humid
  • Very minimal variation in temperature
  • No seasons
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6
Q

Where are tropical rainforests found?

A
  • Between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn
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7
Q

What is an ecosystem?

A
  • A community of plants and animals living together in a habitat
  • The lives of the plants and animals are interdependent on eachother
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8
Q

What is an abiotic factor?

A
  • Something non living

- Such as sunlight, water pH, temperature etc

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9
Q

What is a biotic factor?

A
  • A factor caused by something living

- Omnivores, herbivores etc

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10
Q

What are the layers of a rainforest?

A
  • Forest floor
  • Under-storey
  • Canopy
  • Emergent layer
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11
Q

What are the features of the forest floor?

A
  • Very dark due to thick canopy
  • Lots of plant life due to sun further up as well as shrubs but minimal leaves
  • Lot of small organisms and detritivores
  • Buttress roots and Amphibians
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12
Q

What are the features of the under-storey?

A
  • Light is let in when a tree dies but mostly dark
  • Fastgrowing leafless and straight trunks
  • Minimal animals due to them mostly being in canopy
  • Macaranga plants
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13
Q

What are the features of the canopy?

A
  • Light as is close to the tree tops
  • Dense with life with lots of leaves to catch as much sun as possible
  • Tamarins, fig trees, spider monkeys etc
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14
Q

What are the features of the emergent layer?

A
  • Very light as is in the free area with visible sky
  • Tallest trees gathering all the light with lots of branches
  • Less animals because it is really high up
  • Kapoc trees, Epiphytes and small mammals such as monkeys
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15
Q

Where is the South East Asian rainforest and how large is it?

A
  • On the islands between mainland Asia and Australia
  • It covers twice the size of Alaska
  • made of 20,000 tiny islands
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16
Q

Why is the temperature so humid in the SEA rainforest?

A
  • it is completely surrounded by ocean making it an incredibly constant temperature
17
Q

How old is the SEA rainforest?

A
  • 100 million years old
18
Q

What is the concentraion of animals/plants that are native and how are they adapted in the SEA rainforest?

A
  • 20 % of the worlds animal and plant species
  • Contains three of the most diverse countries for biodiversity
  • 4 of 25 biodiversity hotspots
  • Dipterocarp trees are the main tree which are heavily relied on by epiphytes such as strangler figs
19
Q

How is the SEAR used economically?

A
  • Commercial wood and logging trade
  • Medicinal purposes
  • 6.7 billion to be made in cancer drugs
  • Fishing provides 33.3% of GDP on the smaller islands
20
Q

Who lives in the SEAR?

A
  • Very few live fully isolated due to historic migration and encroachment of modern world
  • People are being forcibly moved from crowded countries to the rainforest
  • Dani tribe are the main isolated tribe and they hav their own way of life completely without modernity
21
Q

What are the standard soil horizons?

A
  • Organic- Dead things, worms etc
  • Top soil- where organic layer is breaking down into soil
  • Sub soil- Thickest layer with lots of processes
  • Soil and broken bedrock- Broken mostly through water
  • Bedrock- Solid rock with no soil
22
Q

What a re the soil horizons like in a rainforest?

A
  • Organic and top soil is thin and infertile due to high rates of decomposition (hot, humid conditions)
  • Subsoil and soil and bedrock are heavily leached of nutrients due to rainfall
  • Bedrock has soft sands and clay deposits which are nearly 13,000 feet deep in some places
23
Q

What are the causes of tropical deforestation?

A
  • Growing population
  • Logging industry
  • Energy production
  • Transport (e.g trans Amazonian highway)
  • Agriculture
  • Quarrying
24
Q

What are the main impacts of tropical deforestation?

A
  • Contributes to climate change: Massive carbon stores, logs burned release CO2, machinery burns fossil fuels
  • Loss of biodiversity: Destroys habitats,animals no longer have a home and die
  • Economic development: Gives lots of people jobs initially but when profits dry up they move on and there is suddenly no infrastructure
  • Soil erosion: No roots holding soil together causes it to erode, reduces fertility and loses nutrients

Physical Geography (8 decks)

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