Amazon Rainforest Ecosystem
Amazon rainforest ecosystem
is a very complex and species-rich ecosystem, where millions of plants
and animals interact with each other.
As in other tropical rainforests, Amazon rainforest plants grow in distinctive layers. Canopy trees and extremities make up the highest layer. When a tree falls the canopy opens and other plants start growing quickly upwards towards the sun to fill the gap. Trees are often covered by epiphytes such as orchids and bromeliads. Vines also use trees to grow high up to the sunlight.
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In an Amazon rainforest food chain, lowest down are plants and insects, which are eaten by birds and herbivorous animals. These are are eaten by smaller carnivorous animals such as small cat animals, or large, top predators such as large birds of prey, large crocodiles and large cat animals.
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How else do animals interact in an ecosystem? Animals interact within population by altruism (helping each other), mating, communication; and between species by parasitism, competition (that's why they try to find different niches), predation (as already mentioned) and symbiosis, which means that different species of animals benefit from each other. Some of the most common examples on symbiosis are plant-pollinator and plant-seed spreader relationships, where the pollinator eats nectar and plants get pollinated, and the seed spreader eats fruits and the plants get their seeds spread.
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