Introducing
Your new presentation assistant.
Refine, enhance, and tailor your content, source relevant images, and edit visuals quicker than ever before.
Trending searches
Wetlands make up some of the most unique and biologically diverse places on the planet. They are characterized by shallow fresh waters and an abundance of diverse species. They are also very important to surrounding areas and the organisms that live there.
Let's visit the world's largest freshwater wetlands, located in South America.
The Pantanal wetlands are a very unique location, and several factors affect the conditions there:
Plant Species
Water
Resident Animals
Soil
Invasive Species
Temperature
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1095-8649.2007.01365.x/abstract;jsessionid=0FDB575F93F81FA70AEFB0E9218C6395.d01t02?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false
Weather
The capybara is a unique mammal that lives in the Pantanal Wetlands. It is the largest member of the rodent family and has webbed feet adapted for swimming.
Bolivia
It is an important piece of the wetlands ecosystem in which it exists. The capybara lives in low, wet habitats like lakes in the Pantanal. They are very good swimmers and spend a lot of time in the water - they are even able to sleep there!
Capybaras live in large groups as some other rodents do, and graze in the wetlands eating select types of marsh grasses and seeds (they are heterotrophs). Unfortunately their niche, or role, in the community is that of the primary consumer and the prey. They are hunted by a type of crocodile (the caiman) and are the favorite food of the jaguar and anaconda.
Brazil
Biomass, by definition, is the total amount of organic matter that makes up a group of organisms in a habitat. There is always more biomass and energy at lower levels because only a fraction (10%) of that energy can be transferred on to the next level to support higher organisms (some is lost as heat).
the sun
While the Pantanal wetlands is a rich, diverse environment, there are still (as always) limits on the amount of life it will be able to support.
Scientists realized a long time ago that a population will always grow faster than the resources that support it. In addition, predators control the number of primary consumers in an area.
Even with the ability to break down and reuse organic material, an ecosystem will always have some limit to the amount of life it is able to support within itself. The Pantanal is large and complex, so it can support a multitude of organisms.
In a community, it is vital for different species to interact. These are a few different types of relationships between organisms:
Mutualism is a relationship in which both organisms benefit. For example, the capybara often allows the black caracara bird to clean its fur. In return the bird gets a meal of parasites like ticks.
In commensalism, one of the organisms benefits from the relationship while the other is not affected one way or the other. For example, marsh birds often nest in wetland cattails, but it does not cause any harm to the cattails. Also, algae often makes its home on turtles' shells without hurting them.
One organism benefits while the other (the host) is harmed in parasitism. For example, ticks thrive in wet, grassy areas and latch on to mammals like the capybaras to feed off of them. Parasites can also carry diseases that make the host sick or even kill it.
Wetlands in general are disappearing fast, in part because of humans. The Pantanal is no exception; it has some concerns of its own like erosion, sedimentation, and several of its unique species on the endangered list.
As with parasitism, one organism benefits while the other is harmed (killed) in a predator - prey relationship. Unlike parasitism, there is no "host". One organism simply kills another for food. For example, the capybaras mentioned above are hunted by jaguars.
As stated in the article, many of the Pantanal's problems are direct results of humans polluting, poaching, and destroying the habitats in the wetlands.
Not many people live there, but the Pantanal is a popular tourism spot, which unfortunately causes people to disturb and disrupt life in the wetlands.
We need to work harder to protect places like these: wetlands are extremely important for biodiversity, water filtration, and proving a home for countless species.
Paraguay