The tropical coral reef and tropical rainforests are found at similar latitudes.
ID: 233163 • Letter: T
Question
The tropical coral reef and tropical rainforests are found at similar latitudes. The waters surrounding the coral reefs are very low in nutrients. This is also true of tropical rainforest soils. Both types of community exhibit very high diversity and very high productivity. Explain why in each case. Coral reefs are produced by living organisms found in shallow, tropical marine waters, and have little to no nutrients in the water. Rainforests are assorted heights containing high biodiversity, with minimal nutrients in the soil and high rainfall.Explanation / Answer
Tropical rainforests are forests in the tropics that receive over 100 inches of rainfall per year. Most types of forests can support large populations of plants and animals; however, tropical rainforests support the greatest number of species of any other type of biome on the planet. This incredible species richness is due largely to the combination of a tropical climate and high, year-round rainfall, which provide optimal growing conditions for the largest number of plant species. In turn, the high number of plant species can support a high number of animal species.
With such high productivity in the tropical rainforest, you might expect the soil to be rich with nutrients; however, it's just the opposite. The warm, wet conditions in the tropical rainforest cause rapid decomposition of any detritus, and because sunlight and water are plentiful, any nutrients released into the soil are rapidly used by the fast-growing vegetation, leaving the soil amazingly poor considering the high productivity of the biome. However, as long as the forest remains intact, nutrients will quickly cycle through the ecosystem. This rapid cycling produces a steady input of nutrients into the soil that plants can use, and that is how the poor soil can support such a massive amount of biomass.
Coral reefs are often called the rainforests of the sea, both due to the vast amount of species they harbour, and to the high productivity they yield. Aside from the hundreds of species of coral, reefs support extraordinary biodiversity and are home to a multitude of different types of fish, invertebrates and sea mammals. Covering less than one percent of the ocean floor, reefs support an estimated twenty-five percent of all marine life, with over 4,000 species of fish alone. Reefs provide spawning, nursery, refuge and feeding areas for a large variety of organisms, including sponges, cnidarians, worms, crustaceans (including shrimp, spiny lobsters and crabs), molluscs (including cephalopods), echinoderms (including starfish, sea urchins and sea cucumbers), sea squirts, sea turtles and sea snakes.
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