In science we were studying ecosystems. As a fun project, we got to chose our own ecosystem to create a food web on. I chose to do a rain forest. I did research to figure out what producers (Plants) live in the rain forest, what consumers (Animals) live in the rain forest, and what decomposers (Animals, bacteria, or fungi that breaks down dead plant matter and dead animal carcasses so that they can recycle nutreince back into the soil) live in the rain forest.
Here is my rain forest food web!
Hope you like it!
Consumers
I had many consumers, many of which I could not fit on my food web! Some of the consumers I found were the ball python, which eats small mammals and birds, the common marmoset, which eats fruits, flowers, tree sap, insects, spiders, bird eggs, and frogs. I have to have a consumer’s food on the food web. For example, if an animal does not have food, it will starve. Then there is an animal that used to eat the animal that starved. The animal may go hungry and starve too or adapt to the situation and begin to eat other species of animals.
Producers
Some of the producers I found was the cacao tree, the orchid, the dragon fruit, the rubber tree, and the heliconia flower. Plants do not eat other plants or animals. They produce their own food through a process called photosynthesis, which is why they are called producers. Many of the plants in the rain forest have not even be discovered yet, there are so more!
Decomposers
Decomposers are animals, fungi, or bacteria that helps break down dead plant matter, and dead animals. Decomposers help them break back down into the soil. When they do this, it gives minerals, salts, and nutrients back to the plants. One of the decomposers in the rain forests that I found was the cutter and. Cutter ants cut leaves which helps them decompose quicker.
Human Impact
I learned that humans are having a very bad impacts on all ecosystems, but there are so many bad things that people are doing to the rain forest! One example is that people burn down rain forest land for good, lush farmland. People also cut down trees (lumber) to build houses, ships, and other man – made structures and goods. Since we keep clearing away rain forest land for our own good, animals that live in the rain forests are losing their habitat and food. We can help by not chopping down trees for lumber, and we can find good, lush farming land elsewhere where we do not have to clear away plants and animals’ habitat.
Location
Rain forests is located in many places. Some of the places that rainforests are located in are Africa, The Amazon, Australia, Central America, South America, and Southeast Asia. Rain forests are largest in Central Africa and along The Amazon river in South America.
Rain forests covered most of the land one hundred million years ago. Sixty million years later Earth got colder and rain forests began to shrink. Now, since humans are chopping down rain forest land, rain forests are becoming even smaller. Experts say that eighty million acres of rainforest land are lost each day.
In the rain forest, there is normally one hundred sixty, to four hundred inches of rain a year! The temperature never drops below sixty four degrees fahrenheit! Rainforests are always located on or near the equator!
Unique Facts
Rain forests provide clean air and water. They provide fresh food and new medicines. Many people think that there is a cure for cancer somewhere in the rain forest! Burning fossil fuels damages the atmosphere, but the rain forests help fix it. Rain forests hold many unknown insects and plants. Many treatments and cures for diseases have been discovered in the rain forest. There was even a cure for headaches found in the rain forest! Most of the animals and plants in the rain forest have many different vivid colors! There is wildlife in all different layers in the rain forest!
The rain forest is very interesting to learn about! It is very unique, and there are so many animals and plants!