**C6 Tropical Rainforest**
**Producer :** autotroph
**Consumer :** heterotroph
**Decomposer :** (eg termites, earthworm, microscopic organisms)
- Break down organic matter into inorganic matter
- Release nutrients to the soil (release energy)
- Absorb by plants (nutrient recovery by nitrogen xation)
- Litter is broken down into humus
### **TRF Characteristics**
- high annual mean temp >26
- High annual rainfall > 2000mm
- Complicated ecosystem
- Microclimate (forest oor): darker, lower daily range of temp, high RH(strong transpiration), low
wind speed
- Standard (without trees) : higher daily range of temp, lower RH, higher wind speed, higher light
intensity
- Perennial streams
- Large discharge
- Large base ow
- High water table
- Large underground water storage
- Infertile soil
- Rapid uptake of plants
- Precipitation > evaporation
- Bases and humus leached away
- Deep soil (usually over 30m)
- Strong leaching brings water to great depth, chemical weathering
- Little litter and humus
- Dark red colour soil
- Sesquioxide cause red soil
- Humus cause dark soil
- Luxuriant, dense, evergreen vegetation
- Huge biomass
- Layered structure
- High species diversity
- Plants are hydrophytes (need a lot of water to grow)
- Shallow root
### **Adaptation of vegetation**
1. **Five layers**
- emergent layer (up to 50m) (sparse vegetation)
- Canopy layer (up to 20-35m) (continuous layer, blocks most sunlight and rainfall)
- The most competitive
1. **Roots**
- Buttress root
- Shallow root
1. **Leave**
- Drip-tip leaves
1. **Branch and trunks**
- Tall and straight trunk
fl fl fi
, - Broad and large crowns
- High branching
- Epiphytes are found on their trunks
### Energy ow
- **Sun :** source of energy
- Transfers to producer
### In TRF
- abundant solar energy due to hot and wet climate, many producers
- From one tropic level to another up the food chain
- Energy is loss through respiration, excretion, metabolic activity
- Decomposition by decomposer
- Each trophies level some parts are not consumed
- Is not perfectly e cient because of the Ten Percent Law, where energy losses by 90% when it
passes to each higher level
### Nutrient storage
**Largest in biomass**
- huge biomass storage
- Hot and wet climate, rapid uptake of nutrients by vegetation
**Smallest in litter**
*Although*
- large supply of litter by dense vegetation
- Heavy rainfall bring rainwater and dissolved nutrients to soil
*However*
- hot climate cause rapid decomposition
- Wet climate cause large amount of runo
**Small in soil**
*Although*
- hot and wet climate cause rapid chemical weathering
- Rapid decomposition into humus
*However*
- intense leaching as precipitation is greater than evapotranspiration
- Rapid uptake by plants as vegetation develops shallow root to uptake more nutrients
fl ffi ff
**Producer :** autotroph
**Consumer :** heterotroph
**Decomposer :** (eg termites, earthworm, microscopic organisms)
- Break down organic matter into inorganic matter
- Release nutrients to the soil (release energy)
- Absorb by plants (nutrient recovery by nitrogen xation)
- Litter is broken down into humus
### **TRF Characteristics**
- high annual mean temp >26
- High annual rainfall > 2000mm
- Complicated ecosystem
- Microclimate (forest oor): darker, lower daily range of temp, high RH(strong transpiration), low
wind speed
- Standard (without trees) : higher daily range of temp, lower RH, higher wind speed, higher light
intensity
- Perennial streams
- Large discharge
- Large base ow
- High water table
- Large underground water storage
- Infertile soil
- Rapid uptake of plants
- Precipitation > evaporation
- Bases and humus leached away
- Deep soil (usually over 30m)
- Strong leaching brings water to great depth, chemical weathering
- Little litter and humus
- Dark red colour soil
- Sesquioxide cause red soil
- Humus cause dark soil
- Luxuriant, dense, evergreen vegetation
- Huge biomass
- Layered structure
- High species diversity
- Plants are hydrophytes (need a lot of water to grow)
- Shallow root
### **Adaptation of vegetation**
1. **Five layers**
- emergent layer (up to 50m) (sparse vegetation)
- Canopy layer (up to 20-35m) (continuous layer, blocks most sunlight and rainfall)
- The most competitive
1. **Roots**
- Buttress root
- Shallow root
1. **Leave**
- Drip-tip leaves
1. **Branch and trunks**
- Tall and straight trunk
fl fl fi
, - Broad and large crowns
- High branching
- Epiphytes are found on their trunks
### Energy ow
- **Sun :** source of energy
- Transfers to producer
### In TRF
- abundant solar energy due to hot and wet climate, many producers
- From one tropic level to another up the food chain
- Energy is loss through respiration, excretion, metabolic activity
- Decomposition by decomposer
- Each trophies level some parts are not consumed
- Is not perfectly e cient because of the Ten Percent Law, where energy losses by 90% when it
passes to each higher level
### Nutrient storage
**Largest in biomass**
- huge biomass storage
- Hot and wet climate, rapid uptake of nutrients by vegetation
**Smallest in litter**
*Although*
- large supply of litter by dense vegetation
- Heavy rainfall bring rainwater and dissolved nutrients to soil
*However*
- hot climate cause rapid decomposition
- Wet climate cause large amount of runo
**Small in soil**
*Although*
- hot and wet climate cause rapid chemical weathering
- Rapid decomposition into humus
*However*
- intense leaching as precipitation is greater than evapotranspiration
- Rapid uptake by plants as vegetation develops shallow root to uptake more nutrients
fl ffi ff
