Rainforest vs Desert
The planet earth is the only
planet with life in the solar system. Earth has a great diversity of ecosystems
in where different kind of animals and plants live. The rain forest and the
desert are ecosystems that are the opposite. The rain forest is an ecosystem
rich in animals and plants because the water and food are abundant. Unlike the
rainforest; the desert is an ecosystem in where the food and water are more
difficult to find because the temperatures are extremely high during day and
very low during the night, and the desert is an arid place. The animals and
plants that live in the rainforest and desert have special adaptations that
allows them to survive.
Picture taken by me last saturday
Rainforests are very
dense, warm and wet. They are heavens for millions of plants. This ecosystem is
extremely important in the ecology of the earth because the plants of the
rainforest generate much of the earth’s oxygen. Most of the plants are large
trees and ivy but vegetation can become dense at ground level near hillsides;
those plants are adapted to live in a wet and hot environment. Approximately
25% of the worlds medicine is derived from rainforest plants. Different from
the rainforest vegetation the plants of the desert have adapted to extreme
temperature and to the aridity to the land by using physical and behavioral mechanisms.
Most of the plants are succulent such as cacti or rock plants; for example, by
survive dry spells by accumulating moisture in their fleshy tissues. They have
shallow roots to capture soil t water and by presenting columnar growth with
leafless, vertically erected and green trunks. Both ecosystems have plants that
can’t be found in another place on the planet only in those ecosystems.
Picture by Brenda Rosales
Even though tropical
rainforest covers less than 6 percent of the earth’s surface, this ecosystem
has at least half of the animal species of the planet earth. The reason there
are so many animals living in the Rainforest is that the conditions are optimal
for survival. Common characteristics found among mammals, birds, reptiles, and
amphibians include adaptations to a life in the trees. Animals are always in
danger of being eaten and have developed many methods of protecting themselves
from hungry animals. Camouflage is a way of hiding which the animal blends into
its environment. Poisonous animals openly advertise their defense methods,
usually with bright colors and flashy patterns. The animals that live in the
Desert usually have special adaptations that allow them to survive the extreme
temperatures. It can be hot or cold. A camel can drink very large amounts of
water in one day or survive for a long time without drinking any water. Birds
and large mammals can scape critical dry by migrating along the desert or into
the mountains. Many rodents, invertebrates, and snakes avoid heat by spending
the day in caves and searching out for during the night. Some animals get all
the water they need from insects, bulbs, and seeds they eat. Both ecosystems
have animals that developed tactics to survive.
The rainforest is as
important as the desert because both ecosystems have a great diversity of
plants and animals. Overpopulation and pollution are the responsible for the
destruction on the Desert and the Rainforest each year. The human king has to
start to protect the environment because in the future there will not be
Rainforest or Desert for the next generation. When a animal gets exiting, it be
gone forever.
