Page 20 - Weaver Magazine | Volume 17 - January 2023

VOLUME 17 I JANUARY, 2023

Largest Biodiversity :
Biodiversity describes the differences and variations For the sake of our lives, we should take
exist between all living beings: plants, microscopic
bacteria, insects, animals etc. The balance between a step towards protecting the rainforest.
all the components of a biodiverse system helps to
keep the ecosystem and its inhabitants healthy. The
Amazon is one of the most biodiverse places on Fauna :
earth. Over 3 million species live in the forest and Amazonia is inhabited by 125 mammal
over 2500 tree species help to create and sustain this species , 400 species of birds , 100 of reptiles ,
vibrant ecosystem. 60 of amphibians and 150 different species of
Flora : butterflies. The jaguar, the biggest feline in
These trees of the Amazon have special features the Americas, is at the top of the food chain in
that set them apart, for example from those of the jungle. The tapir, one of the animals the
temperate forests. These adaptions include : thin jaguar feeds off of, is the largest herbivore in
bark, flowers and fruits that grow directly from the the Amazon rainforest and it is a very ancient
trunk. And the development of large fruits that mammal. Their nose represents an elephant
attract animals to consume them, also assists with trunk. They eat very often, but do not digest
the dispersal of seeds. There are five different types food. Because of this the Tapir became a
of growth forms that tropical plant species have major player in the dissemination of plants in
come to utilize as combatants for survival. To the Amazon region. The Anaconda, one of the
combat the lack of sunlight and nutrient poor soil , longer and heavier snakes in the world could
plants have adapted to be able to compete. For be found in Amazon. It is not poisonous but it
example, some plants have taken to living off of the hunts by entrapping the victim and coiling
branches of trees in the various layers of the forest itself around it, crushing it. The anaconda is
to gain an advantage. Another form of adaption is one of the highlights of the Amazon rainforest
oily or waxy coating on their leaves to shed excesses fauna. Some species of animal can be found in
water. Many of these plants take the form of vines ; no other place in the world. The Pink River
there are over 2500 species like that , that grow in Dolphins of the Amazon are of pale pink
the forest. Plants like Venus fly trap and the pitcher colour, and are different from other dolphins
plant can produce their own energy, but have also in that it has a flexible neck , which allows it
taken to carnivory. When opportunity strikes , they to move its head left and right. They were able
can digest insects and small mammals as an to adopt to the water, because before the
alternative to photosynthesis. Other plant species Andes formed, the river moved from east to
have given up on being autotrophs and have become west, and once the movement of tectonic
heterotrophs, meaning they no longer use the plates occurred, the Andes rose and the river
process of photosynthesis to manufacture their food moved from west to east, which cause the
and instead use alternative methods. An example of fresh and salt water to mix, and over time the
heterotroph is saprophytes, which is a plant that dolphins adapted. The insect population
receives its nutrients from organic decaying matter. thrives in the Amazon. Adaptions include
The plant itself cannot break down the organic large pinchers that are large in size. Leaf –
matter so instead forms a symbiotic relationship cutter ants are responsible for harvesting a
with certain fungi. This adaptive nature present in sixth of the area’s leaves, bringing leaf
the rainforest is not only restricted to the flora – fragments to their underground nests. 7500
plant life, however, also include the fauna – animal species of butterflies in the Amazon basin are
and fungi life. evolving at very different rates.
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