Tropical Veg Flashcards
What dominates tropical flora?
- Trees(angiosperms and Gymnosperms), ferns (pteridophytes) and Mosses (bryophytes)
What is climate?
- temp, precip, solar rad and wind
What is canopy stratifitcation?
- variation in tree height creating layers of tree canopies
- Trees in lower canopies have needle-like leaves due to the lack of sun light
-tree stems are straight to reach top of canopy - Emergent
- Closed canopy I,II
- low veg and ground cover
- biota specific to each strata
Emergent
height, light, growth rate, biota
- widely spaced tall trees, 30m +
- above rest of forest
- umbrella-shaped canopy
- small leaves
- some species are deciduous during dry periods
Closed Canopy I,II
height, light, growth rate, biota
- I at 20 m
-light readily available - II at 10 m
- little air movement
- high humidity
- high biodiversity , birds, sloths, monkeys, ant eaters
- many epiphytes (orchids, mosses)
- many insect types
Shrub and sapling layer
height, light, growth rate, biota
- 5m height
- 3 to 5% light passes through
- slow growth
- gaps have faster growth
- small mammals, birds, insects
- ## shrubs, sapplings, woody vines
Ground layer & forest floor
height, light, growth rate, biota
- sparce plant growth
- rapid decay due to humidity
- 1% light
- shade tolerant plants
- only get 2/3 of precip
- large mammals, gorilas reptiles, amphipbians
what stratifiies birds?
the canopy layers verticaly stratify the birds
Tree stature
height shape, location
- straigh, long, slender trunks
- tallest tress grow in lowlands
- 25m to 90m height
Buttress
- roots flairing out from trunk
- 2 to 3m radius
- may provide suport in shallow soil
Proproots
- stilit roots
- radiate from base
- pushes tree base above waterline to beat anoxia
- common in flood plains abd mangrove forests
Surface roots
- shallow widespread roots system
- common in area with poot/thin nutrient soils
- roots extended from the tree 30m to find nutrients
Tree bark
- differencieates species of tree
- smooth pale and dark patched
- some trees have distinct colour bark
Emergent tree crown
umbrella shaped , flattend
Factors effecting Tree Crown
- light availability
- crowding
tree height and crown diameter relationship
as tree height increases crown height decreases
Tropical leaves
shape, size,ablilities
- no distinct lobe like in NA
- Leaves are larger and longer
- can fix N2
- radiate like spokes from center
Tropical leaves
- oval
- un-lobed
- Waxy
- Smooth margins rather than
- sharp pointed ends to facilitate with drip mechanics
Why do tropical Trees drop their leaves?
- increaesed shading due to competition and shading in crown
- damage caused by herbivores wind or fallinmf debris
- Dry szn
Tropical Flowers
look and polination
- large colourful, fragrant, blossoms
- Red, yellow, orange(pollinated by birds)
- others pollinated by incects
- some rely on wind
Tropical fruits and seeds
- animial shit them out
- size range from small to large dependent on aniaml ment to conume it
- winds dispured seeds are unapealing, taste ass
vines
- use other plants for supoet, no woody mats
- grow in vairing tropics both soil and water extreams
- no value
Vines in dry tropics
- old fields, roadsides, swampedges , forests
- grow rapildy in rain szn
- rapid regen, fire retardant
- can become woody and is deciduous
vines in humid conditions
- 20cm in diameter
- 4cm/day
- when trees die vines may prevent them from falling due to to entangelment
Lianas
- Woodly vines
- when old trees fall they can take down healthy trees too
- dense occurance of lianas can prevent productivity
Strangeler fig (hemi-epipytes)
- start as ephities but become rooted to the ground
- use tree as support
- strangles tree
- reduces photosynth capacity
- suport tree can die, leaving skeleton fig
epiphytes
- grow off of the soil
- grow on other plants ,moist habitat
- nutirents from rain water
- Occupy specific habitats, inside crown, above ground, away form other epiphyes
- produe small seeds
Plant reproduction in the tropics
- asexual
- regeneration of new plants from vegitiative part of parent plant
- roots, stems or plants can reproduce vegitatively
