Pre-Activity Preparation Before you start, record down these pieces of information.
Assigned biome:
Rainforest
Team member/Job distribution:
Angie, Cassandra, Shi Jie, Marcus, Tyrell
Task master
Shi Jie
Time keeper
Scribe
[Session 1]
Task #1 My Ecology Glossary List (10 min)
Make a glossary list of the following important terms by finding their definitions. Give only the definition that you deem best.
Task #2 My Biome Profile (50 min)
In this task, you will collect information on the physical factors of your assigned biome.
You may collect useful pictures, links and videos that you found to help you explain your answers clearly to your teachers and friends.
You must provide the link that you used by adding a caption.
Section
Guiding Questions
1. Brief description of biome
· Where is your biome found? Show the location of your biome on a map. · What are the countries that have your biome? List them down. · What are their locations on Earth?
2. Physical factors in the biome
· What is the most special part about each of the physical factors in your biome that is different from others? · Briefly describe the physical features of your biome. Keep your description for each physical factor to three lines only.
3.Organisms and plants in biome
· What are some organisms and plants that are found in your biome typically? · Name and show some pictures of the animals that can be found in your assigned biome. Select and show about five outstanding examples that you find most interesting.
4. Adaptations of the plants and animals to the biome
· How do the physical factors affect the type of organism living there? · What are some special features or adaptations that the organisms have that helps them live in their habitat? · Name and show some pictures of the animals that can be found in your assigned biome. · Select and show about five outstanding examples that you find most interesting.
Task #1 Ecology Glossary List
Biome
- Major biotic community characterized by the dominant forms of plant life and the prevailing climate.
Habitat
- The type of environment in which an organism or group normally lives or occurs.
Curare
- Tubocurarine: a toxic alkaloid found in certain tropical South American trees that is a powerful relaxant for striated muscles.
Hectare
- A unit of surface area equal to 100 ares (or 10,000 square meters).
Emergent
- Occurring unexpectedly and requiring urgent action.
Canopy
-The transparent covering of an aircraft cockpit .
Organic
- Relating or belonging to the class of chemical compounds having a carbon basis.
Tendrils
- A twisting, threadlike structure Of a twining plant.
Buttress
- A structure, usually brick or stone, built against a wall for support or reinforcement.
Dipterocarp
- Dipterocarpaceae, family Dipterocarpaceae - chiefly tropical Asian trees with two-winged fruits; yield valuable woods and aromatic oils and resins.
Biodiversity
- The diversity of plant and animal life in a particular habitat
Transpiration
- The passage of gases through fine tubes because of differences in pressure or temperature
Mildew
- The process of becoming mildewed
Mildewed
- A superficial coating or discoloration of organic materials, such as cloth, paper, or leather, caused by fungi, especially under damp conditions./A Disease Caused by fungi.
Climate
- The weather in some location averaged over some long period of time.
Precipitation
- The quantity of water falling to earth at a specific place within a specified period of time.
Task #2 My Biome Profile
My Biome: 1. Brief description of biome:Location
rainforest locations
rainforest locations
Rainforests are found in more than forty countries around the equator. They are located in the tropics. The tropics can be found from the Tropic of Capricorn, south of the equator, to the Tropic of Cancer, which is north of the equator. Rainforests can be found in parts of Brazil, Venezuela, the Amazon Basin, Zaire, Indonesia, the Neotropics in Brazil, Cherrapunki in India, Colombia, French Guinea, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Southeast Asia, Suriname, Douala in Cameroon, Costa Rica, New Guinea, the Philippines, Kenya, Borneo, Madagascar, Trinidad, Thailand, Australia, and Belize.
2. Physical factors in the biome:
Physical factors
Description
Light
Because of the thickness of the canopy of a rain forest, only 2% of the sunlight that hits the upper layers of the rainforest reaches the forest floor.
Or depends on seasons.
Temperature
The temperature in a rain forest rarely gets higher than 93 °F (34 °C) or drops below 68 °F (20 °C).
Water
In one year the rainfall is at least 1,500 mm, however some forests receive as much as 10,000 mm.
Air
at least 75 degrees Fahrenheit, but it can change as high as 86 degrees fahrenheit depending on the altitude.
Mineral salt and salinity
N/A
pH
The average PH level is between 4.17 and 4.94.
3.Organisms and plants in biome:
Orgainsms:There six type of animals live in the rainforest
1.amphibians Poison Dart Frog Red-Eyed Tree Frog 2.Arthropods Blue Morpho Butterfly Leafcutter Ant Queen Alexandra's Birdwing Butterfly 3.Birds Great Hornbill Harpy Eagle Hoatzin 4.Mammals Bengal Tiger Capybara Common Chimpanzee
5.Reptiles Anaconda Black Caiman Boa Constrictor 6.Aquatics Manatee Piranha
4.Adaptations of the plants and animals to the biome
1. Bark In drier, temperate deciduous forests a thick bark helps to limit moisture evaporation from the tree's trunk. Since this is not a concern in the high humidity of tropical rainforests, most trees have a thin, smooth bark. The smoothness of the bark may also make it difficult for other plants to grow on their surface.
2. Lianas Lianas are climbing woody vines that drape rainforest trees. They have adapted to life in the rainforest by having their roots in the ground and climbing high into the tree canopy to reach available sunlight. Many lianas start life in the rainforest canopy and send roots down to the ground. 3. Drip Tips The leaves of forest trees have adapted to cope with exceptionally high rainfall. Many tropical rainforest leaves have a drip tip. It is thought that these drip tips enable rain drops to run off quickly. Plants need to shed water to avoid growth of fungus and bacteria in the warm, wet tropical rainforest. 4. Buttresses Many large trees have massive ridges near the base that can rise 30 feet high before blending into the trunk. Why do they form? Buttress roots provide extra stability, especially since roots of tropical rainforest trees are not typically as deep as those of trees in temperate zones. 6.Leafcutter ants climb tall trees and cut small pieces of leaves which they carry back to their nest.
The leaf pieces they carry are about 50 times their weight.The ants bury the leaf pieces,
and the combination of the leaves and the ants' saliva encourages the growth of a fungus, which is the only food these ants eat.
6.Some animals became very specialised. This means that they adapted to eating a specific plant or animal that few others eat.
For example, parrots and toucans eat nuts, and developed big strong beaks to crack open the tough shells of Brazil nuts 7.Sometimes there are relationships between animals and plants that benefit both.
Some trees depend on animals to spread the seeds of their fruit to distant parts of the forest.
Birds and mammals eat the fruits, and travel some distance before the seeds pass through their digestive systems in another part of the forest.
Task #1 Compare and contrast the biomes (30 minutes)
Go about the wikipages that your friends have compiled.
Based on the information on your wikipage and that found in your partner group’s wikipage, compare and contrast the two biomes to decide on the physical factor that could have caused the difference.
An example can be seen here.
Adaptation
My biome: Temperate forest
My partner biome: Tropical rainforest
Reason
Leaf shape
Many tropical rainforest leaves have a drip tip. It is thought that these drip tips enable rain drops to run off quickly
Conifer needles have a thick, waxy coating of cutin that significantly reduces water loss. Needles also have much tighter stomatal closure.
Tropical rainforests experiences high rain fall. However, in temperate forests, plants experiences extreme cold and low rainfall in the winter.
Task #3 Virtual gallery walk (30 minutes)
Go about looking at your friends’ biome and the compare and contrast table.
Ask them any questions that you may have and make suggestions for them on how to improve their work. Use the discussion tab above.
Pre-Activity Preparation
Before you start, record down these pieces of information.
[Session 1]
Task #1 My Ecology Glossary List (10 min)
Task #2 My Biome Profile (50 min)
· What are the countries that have your biome? List them down.
· What are their locations on Earth?
· Briefly describe the physical features of your biome. Keep your description for each physical factor to three lines only.
· Name and show some pictures of the animals that can be found in your assigned biome. Select and show about five outstanding examples that you find most interesting.
· What are some special features or adaptations that the organisms have that helps them live in their habitat?
· Name and show some pictures of the animals that can be found in your assigned biome.
· Select and show about five outstanding examples that you find most interesting.
Biome
Habitat
Curare
Hectare
Emergent
Canopy
Organic
Tendrils
Buttress
Dipterocarp
Biodiversity
Transpiration
Mildew
Mildewed
Climate
Precipitation
Task #2 My Biome Profile
My Biome:
1. Brief description of biome:Location
2. Physical factors in the biome:
Or depends on seasons.
Orgainsms:There six type of animals live in the rainforest
1.amphibians
Poison Dart Frog
Red-Eyed Tree Frog
2.Arthropods
Blue Morpho Butterfly
Leafcutter Ant
Queen Alexandra's Birdwing Butterfly
3.Birds
Great Hornbill
Harpy Eagle
Hoatzin
4.Mammals
Bengal Tiger
Capybara
Common Chimpanzee
5.Reptiles
Anaconda
Black Caiman
Boa Constrictor
6.Aquatics
Manatee
Piranha
Plants:
Bromeliads
buttress roots
Carniverous Plants
Epiphytes
Lianas
orchids
4. Adaptations of the plants and animals to the biome
1. Bark
In drier, temperate deciduous forests a thick bark helps to limit moisture evaporation from the tree's trunk.
Since this is not a concern in the high humidity of tropical rainforests, most trees have a thin, smooth bark.
The smoothness of the bark may also make it difficult for other plants to grow on their surface.
2. Lianas
Lianas are climbing woody vines that drape rainforest trees.
They have adapted to life in the rainforest by having their roots in the ground
and climbing high into the tree canopy to reach available sunlight.
Many lianas start life in the rainforest canopy and send roots down to the ground.
3. Drip Tips
The leaves of forest trees have adapted to cope with exceptionally high rainfall.
Many tropical rainforest leaves have a drip tip.
It is thought that these drip tips enable rain drops to run off quickly.
Plants need to shed water to avoid growth of fungus and bacteria in the warm, wet tropical rainforest.
4. Buttresses
Many large trees have massive ridges near the base that can rise 30 feet high before blending into the trunk.
Why do they form? Buttress roots provide extra stability,
especially since roots of tropical rainforest trees are not typically as deep as those of trees in temperate zones.
6.Leafcutter ants climb tall trees and cut small pieces of leaves which they carry back to their nest.
The leaf pieces they carry are about 50 times their weight.The ants bury the leaf pieces,
and the combination of the leaves and the ants' saliva encourages the growth of a fungus, which is the only food these ants eat.
6.Some animals became very specialised. This means that they adapted to eating a specific plant or animal that few others eat.
For example, parrots and toucans eat nuts, and developed big strong beaks to crack open the tough shells of Brazil nuts
7.Sometimes there are relationships between animals and plants that benefit both.
Some trees depend on animals to spread the seeds of their fruit to distant parts of the forest.
Birds and mammals eat the fruits, and travel some distance before the seeds pass through their digestive systems in another part of the forest.
5. Bibliography
List down all the resources that you have used. An example has been listed for you.
http://www.rainforestanimals.net/guide.html
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/personnel/krubal/rainforest/Edit560s6/www/plants.html
http://www.mbgnet.net/sets/rforest/plants/adapt.htm
http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/biomerainfor4.htm
[Session 2]
Task #1 Compare and contrast the biomes (30 minutes)
- Go about the wikipages that your friends have compiled.
- Based on the information on your wikipage and that found in your partner group’s wikipage, compare and contrast the two biomes to decide on the physical factor that could have caused the difference.
An example can be seen here.Task #3 Virtual gallery walk (30 minutes)
- Go about looking at your friends’ biome and the compare and contrast table.
Ask them any questions that you may have and make suggestions for them on how to improve their work. Use the discussion tab above.