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Rain Forest Ecosystem Article
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An Ecosystem is a functioning community of plant and animal life and their surrounding environment.
from:An ecosystem relates to the specific environment that contains a specific diversity of plant and animal life. The ecosystem must include the living and non living influences, from flora, fauna and fungi to the influences of their surroundings. Things such as humidity, elevation, salinity, and drainage will impact on the conditions of the living organisms right down to bacteria.
The study of an individual ecosystem will involve the interaction between all the species that inhabit the area, even if they only move through the area on a seasonal basis. The physiognomic-ecological classification system has been implemented to identify ecosystems in order to help protect them. The classification system takes into account all the living organisms and how they interact with the non living organisms and the overall environmental conditions the ecosystem exists within.
The living organisms in an ecosystem will include the larger animals, mammals, insects, plants, and fungi right through to the smallest bacteria and moulds. The environment and non living aspect of an ecosystem include the landscape, from the formation and types of rocks, soils, underlying water table, climate, elevation, exposure and location.
In the study of an ecosystem the number and condition of the living organisms will help in forming a classification for the type of ecosystem. The location of the landscape will also effect the ecosystems classification. There are many types of ecosystem. A desert landscape with its flora and fauna, the marine environment and the mountain landscape all are individual ecosystems. Human interaction will effect an ecosystem and must be taken into account in the protection of any fragile ecosystem.
As with any environmental factors effecting life on earth, studies of any given ecosystem will include the life cycle of the trees, grasses, fungi and moulds. Each living species within the ecosystem must be taken into account. To study an ecosystem the interaction between species and their environment and the unique conditions must be explored. Every ecosystem has a climate, culture, environmental impact and symbiotic relationship between living and non living organisms. It is this relationship and the number and diversity of the life forms involved that give an ecosystem its unique value in our world.
An ecosystem exists within its own parameters but outside influence can impact upon the species and landforms involved. Changing climate conditions, human encroachment, flood famine and fire can all alter a specific ecosystems balance and sustainability.
An ecosystem may vary from one side of a mountain to the other, from one part of a stream to another. Any change in soil type, drainage, salinity or even human encroachment can change the whole ecosystem. They are delicate and balanced in nature, and many will not stand the impact of change.
Rain Forest Ecosystem Specific links
Rain Forest Ecosystem News
Rain barrels offered to residents
MIDDLEBORO — The town of Middleboro is partnering with the Great American Rain Barrel Company in Hyde Park to offer recycled rain barrels to residents as part of a community wide conservation and sustainability program.
Read more...Rain barrels available at DPW
MIDDLEBORO — The town of Middleboro is partnering with the Great American Rain Barrel Company in Hyde Park to offer recycled rain barrels to residents as part of a community wide conservation and sustainability program.
Read more...KELT partners with 7th-graders to scour Sewall Preserve in hunt for invasive plant species
BY BECKY KOLAK Special to WoRD BATH Through the rain, mud and underbrush, Kylie Forest, a seventh grade student at Bath Middle School, came upon a wall of twisting vines with bright orange roots. “We found the mother lode of bittersweet!” read more
Read more...Bugs Help Measure Impact of New Transoceanic Highway on Amazon
Scientists deploy "leaf packs" to survey threatened water quality in Peru.
Read more...Endangered woodpeckers on the road to recovery
After being on the endangered species list for several decades, the American bald eagle was taken off the list in 2007. Wildlife biologists, such as Jonny Fryer from the Kisatchie National Forest, have hope that the same can happen for the red cockaded woodpecker.
Read more...