(Draw or insert a picture of your

organism here.)

Name of Organism

Name
 EXAMPLE

Bonobo
of the
Congo Basin

Mrs. Davies
 Name of your organism

What ecosystem were What other organisms hunts

you given to research?
your organism for food?

What temperatures does it

have to live in? Does it have
to have trees, a body of water,
etc?
Does it swim, fly, slither, crawl,
etc.?

(Sleeps during the day)

(Sleeps at night)
What is different or unique
about this organism compared
Where does it normally live? (i.e. river,
ocean, trees, forest, etc.)
to other organisms?

Does it eat other

(Eats only meat)
animals (meat),
plants, or both? (Eats only plants)
(Eats both meat
and plants)
 EXAMPLE

Name of your organism

Congo Basin They aren’t normally hunted, but they

may be eaten by crocodiles if they get
too near water and it is possible that
other larger primates can prey on
them.
They live in equatorial temperatures
(warm temperatures) where there are
plenty of trees for them to sleep in and
find food. There must also be enough
rain for trees to produce food for them.
They walk on two feet or
“knuckle-crawl.” They also climb and
swing through trees.

X
Forests with warm climates. They build nests
in the canopy of the trees.
They build nests. They are peaceful
compared to many other primates.
They whine when upset and laugh.
They make facial expressions and
communicate using hand gestures.
Females are the dominant gender of
the species.

They mostly eat fruit

from the trees, but
will also eat insects X
and other animals if
convenient.
Label different
parts of its (i.e. wings to
body and help it fly, or
describe how fins to help it
they helps the swim, etc.)
organism
survive.

(Insert a drawing or diagram of

your organism here)

(i.e. claws to
catch prey, a
(i.e. webbed
sharp beak to
feet to help it
eat, etc.)
swim,
camouflage to
protect from
predators, etc.)
 EXAMPLE

They expressive
facial features
that allow them
to communicate
with each other Skeleton and musculature
non-verbally. build enable it to hang
from tree branches.

Shoulder joints are

very flexible allowing
them to easily move
Arms are much
throughout the tops of
longer than its
trees.
legs; helps it climb
and swing through
trees.

Long fingers to help it Hands are built for

grab ahold of objects "knuckle-walking,"
and move through trees. This allows them to
move quickly on
the ground and
through trees.
Can stand upright which
makes it easier to climb
trees or reach for food
How does it behave that helps What do they do to find food?
it survive?

How do they attract mates? Do they live alone or in groups?

Why?

Do they sleep during the day or The answers to these questions

at night? Why? are most likely types of
behavioral adaptations. There
are many others also.

They like to live and travel in
large groups, sometimes up to
100 individuals and form
subgroups of 15-20. This helps
with protecting each other and
finding food.
Female bonobos leave the
group they were born in around
seven years-old and join
another group where they will
produce their first offspring by
the age of 13 or 14.
Males stay close to their mother
so they can establish
dominance. The sons of
ranking females become
leaders among the males.
EXAMPLE
They build nests high in the
canopy of the forest away from
danger and gather with their
groups at night to nest.
Females are superior which
reduces the act of males killing
their young. They care for their
young for up to 5 years which
also increases the survival rate
of young bonobos.
They hoot over long and short
distances to alert others when
they arrive at feeding or nesting
sites. They also use their voices
during feeding and in response to
danger.
Color in or add a map that shows where the
ecosystem is that your organism is found.
Congo Basin

Africa
EXAMPLE
 The ecosystem you were given (i.e.
Arctic, Sumatra, Gulf of California, etc.)

List different types of producers (usually,

but not limited to, plants) that are found in
your specific ecosystem. Especially ones
that are unique to that ecosystem.

*Be specific; don’t just say trees, flowers,

bushes...what kinds of trees, flowers,
bushes?

List different types of consumers (don’t

forget to list your organism) that are found
in your specific ecosystem. Especially
ones that are unique to that ecosystem.

*Be specific; don’t just say birds, fish,

etc...what types of birds, fish, etc.?

List different types of decomposers

(usually, but not limited to, bacteria and
fungi) that are found in your specific
ecosystem. Especially ones that are
unique to that ecosystem.

*Be specific; don’t just say bacteria, fungi,

worms...what kinds of bacteria, fungi,
worms?
 EXAMPLE

The Congo Basin

Over 10,000 species of tropical plants;

30 percent are unique to the region including:
● Many tall trees of the rainforest such as
mahogany, ebony, limba, wenge, agba, iroko,
sapele, raffia and sisal. Other fruit-bearing trees
such as guava and garcinia
● Flowers such as bromeliads and orchids
● Several endangered plants including: Egyptian
Starcluster, Gabon Ebony, Emin's Strophanthus,
Sjambok Pod, Lubbers' Oeceoclades Orchid,
African Jensenia Liverwort, Black Guarea,
Wooden Pear, Haut-Katanga Dayflower

● Endangered wildlife found in the Congo Basin include forest elephants,

chimpanzees, bonobos, and lowland and mountain gorillas
● Over 400 species of mammals including okapi, sun-tailed monkey, bongo, and
giant pangolin
● 1,000 species of birds including pelicans, parrots, many species of sunbirds,
pigeons, ducks, geese, eagles, vultures, cuckoos, owls, cranes, storks, and
swallows
● 700 species of fish; 80% of which are found nowhere else in the world including
elephant fishes , cichlids , characins, the Distichodontidae and upside-down
catfishes and bagrid catfishes.
● There are also reptiles such as crocodiles, tortoises, and river snakes
● There are hundreds of butterfly species, bees, grasshoppers, caterpillars,
praying mantises, dragonflies, mosquitoes, spiders

Vermilion Waxcap Mushrooms, Oyster Mushrooms, Leaf

Beetles, leafcutter ants, termites, Velvet Worm, Partula
Snail, bacteria, banana slug, and cup fungus, scorpions,
centipedes and millipedes
 Name of your ecosystem

How many hours of sunlight does the ecosystem receive each day? Does it
stay the same throughout the year?
Are there seasons?
What are the average high and low temperatures for each season?
What are the daytime temperatures? What are the nighttime temperatures?

How many inches or millimeters of rain/snow does the ecosystem receive

annually on average?
Does the amount of precipitation change throughout the year?
What are the average high and low amounts of precipitation for each
season?
What is the humidity?

What is the land like? Is it mountainous, desert, grasslands, etc.? Are there
lakes, marshes, rivers?
Is the soil nutrient-rich? Is it dry? Thick? Good for growing plants?
 EXAMPLE

Congo Basin

● Annual average temperatures range between the high 60s and low 80s °F (low and
high 20s °C), although in the south the cooling effect of the Benguela Current may
produce temperatures as low as the mid-50s °F (low 10s °C).
● There is little difference in temperature between seasons.
● More noticable changes in temperature happen between day and night, when the
difference between the highs and lows average about 27 °F (15 °C).
● The average daily humidity is about 80 percent.
● Because it is located along the equator, it receives 12 hours of direct sunlight per
day throughout the year.

● The Congo Basin receives more than 48 inches (1200mm) of rain annually, but is
often more than 80 inches.
● Rainfall varies between seasons and regions (north and south of the equator).
There are two wet and two dry seasons in each region that happen at opposite
times of year.

● The Congo River basin is a combination of rivers, forests, savannas, swamps, and
flooded forests.
● Natural resources include timber diamonds, petroleum, gold, and coltan.
● About 60% of the land contains sand and gravel, with the lower lying areas having
a high level of iron and aluminum oxides. In other areas the soils are rich and
heavy, as organic matter decomposes rapidly because of the hot and humid
climate, and also topsoil is washed away regularly by rains. Certain parts are
lacking nitrogen therefore producing nitrogen-fixing plants such as the Acacia tree.
 Name of your ecosystem

Draw or insert a picture of your ecosystem. This should illustrate the

information you presented on the previous pages. It should include the
different landforms, and show the other abiotic factors the best you can. Also
include many of the biotic factors. Make sure you include producers,
consumers, and decomposers. Make sure you include your organism. Label
the different parts of your drawing.
 EXAMPLE

Congo Basin

Clouds/Precipitation/Humidity

Rainforest

River Toucan

Fish River basin

Trees
Tropical Pitcher
Plants Bonobo

Lowlands

Elephant

Bongo
Grass/Swamp

Eastern
Lowland Gorilla
Decomposers
 Draw or insert pictures of your
Another picture could be a distant
organism in its natural habitat--the
view of the habitat.
place it most commonly lives. One
picture could be a close up view.

Describe the environment in which your organism lives. Is it wet, dry, hot, cold,
etc? Are there lots of trees, grass, mountains, etc.?
 EXAMPLE

Forest

Bonobo Mom
and Baby

Group of Bonobos
Gathered in Forest
Trees

Bonobo eating
fruit
Rainforest
Bonobo Nest in
Forest Canopy

Group of Bonobos
Gathered on
Lowland Floor

Bonobos prefer to live in tropical rainforests (warm temperatures) with moist,

undisturbed old-growth forests, where trees bear fruit throughout the year
because fruit is their main food source. They can also be found in secondary
forests, seasonally-flooded swamp forests, and forest savannah woodlands
common to the entire Congo River Basin. They are not found anywhere else
in the world.
 (Within your ecosystem)
If you can, find examples that include your
organism. If you can’t, at least make sure they
are organisms that are found in your ecosystem

Both organisms benefit (i.e. a bee benefits

by taking pollen from a flower for food, and
in turn pollinates flowers so they can
reproduce)

One organism harms the other one by

taking nutrients from it (i.e. a mosquito
sucking blood from an elephant; the
mosquito is benefiting by getting blood,
but it is harming the elephant)

Organisms that live in the same ecosystem

but do not harm each other (i.e.Tree frogs
use plants as protection, but neither
organism is harmed.)
 EXAMPLE

Within the Congo Basin

Bonobos eat fruit and other vegetation from more

than 91 species of lianas, grass, trees and shrubs.
The bonobos in turn transfer the seeds several
kilometers from their parent plant where they can
grow into new plants.

Bonobos may get fungal infections such

as ringworm where the ringworm benefits
by harming the bonobo and taking
nutrients from the bonobo.

Bonobos build nests in the forest canopy,

but the trees are not harmed by this.
 (Name of your organism)

List the different types of List the different types of

food that your organism organisms that obtain
eats. Be specific. energy from, or eat, your
organism. Be specific.

(Circle your choice)

 EXAMPLE

Bonobo

Bonobos mainly eat fruit, Bonobos are rarely hunted

but they also eat leaves, by other animals, but
flowers, bark, stems, roots, possible predators include:
insect larvae, worms, African Crowned Eagle
crustaceans, honey, eggs, Crocodiles
and soil. Leopards
Occasionally they hunt Snakes
small mammals like flying Larger primates
squirrels or small Decomposers
antelopes.
 (In your ecosystem)

● Draw or insert pictures to create a food web of your

ecosystem.
● Include your organism and the organisms you included on the
previous page (organisms it eats or organisms that eat it).
● Make sure you also include producers, consumers, and
decomposers
● Use arrows to show the flow of energy.
● Label the organisms and tell if they are producers,
consumers, or decomposers.

*You don’t need to include every single organism in the ecosystem.

 EXAMPLE

Congo Basin
 (Name of Your Ecosystem here)

Before it became a threatened ecosystem, and

humans began interrupting the ecosystem, what
was it like? How big was it? What did it look like
compared to now? Were there more animals or
plants? Are the temperatures the same?

What are some of the major changes that have

happened? (i.e. climate change, pollution,
deforestation, erosion, etc.) These can be
natural causes or human causes. List all major
events that have influenced dramatic changes in
the ecosystem and caused it to become
threatened.

How big is it now? How many species of animals

and plants live there? Do the forests, wetlands,
or other major habitats cover the same amount
of land? What does it look like now compared to
before it became endangered?
 EXAMPLE

Congo Basin

The Congo Basin is drained by the Congo River and covers approximately 3.7
million km2. A vast forest of 1.5 million km2 covers the area. About 10,000 years
ago, at the end of the last Ice Age, glaciers receded and rainfall increased causing
a change in climate that allowed trees to regrow in savannas, and the forest grew to
reach its current size. The mosaic aspect of the forests in several areas is likely the
result of climate changes that have affected forests over the last 3,000 years. Some
400 mammal species, 1,000 bird species and quite likely over 10,000 plant species
are reported to live in the Congo River Basin. The Congo Basin has been inhabited
by humans for more than 50,000 years and the region’s Ba’Aka people are among
the most well known representatives of an ancient hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Their
lives and well-being are linked intimately with the forest.

● The savanna-forest mosaic to the south of the Congo Basin forests, has been
historically attributed to denser agricultural populations of humans burning the
savanna, which has prevented the growth of the rainforest.
● When the region’s countries gained their independence, the colonial powers in Central
Africa left an unstable foundation to build modern states. Economic structures
favoured foreign investment, particularly in the extractive industry, and little had been
achieved to empower and build the capacity of citizens. The political division of
African territories may have facilitated resource extraction and tax collection, but it
also seriously disrupted traditional governance, land use, trade networks and
population movements.
● Between 1990 and 2000, approximately 91,000 km2 of forests were lost in Central
Africa.
● More than 12 million hectares of tree cover lost between 2001 and 2018
● In 2018, Small yet rapid clearing has affected approximately 500 hectares within the
Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Virunga National Park. The clearing appears
to be caused by charcoal production and small-scale agriculture
● 2019 3.6 million hectares of primary rainforest, an area the size of Belgium
● Mojor causes of forest removal over the past 20 years have been small-scale
subsistence agriculture, clearing for charcoal and fuelwood, urban expansion, and
mining
● Industrial logging has been the biggest driver of forest degradation. Logging roads
have opened up vast areas of the Congo to commercial hunting, leading to a
poaching epidemic in some areas and a more than 60 percent drop in the region's
forest elephant population in less than a decade.

The Congo Basin Area covers 3,730,881 square miles and expands across 6
African countries. The river's basin contains the world's second-largest rainforest.
The northern and southern parts of the basin are characterized by open
grasslands and scattered trees. Wildlife is abundant along the river, which itself
harbors more than two hundred species of fish. The forests are the home of
threatened forest elephants and the hideaway of endangered mountain gorillas,
bonobos, chimpanzees, and countless other species. It provides food, fresh water
and shelter to more than 75 million people. Nearly 150 distinct ethnic groups exist
in the region. Population growth and deforestation continue to threaten the
ecosystem, but many efforts are being put in place to help protect and restore it.
 (Name of Your Ecosystem and
Organism here)

How have
humans harmed
List as many ways How have
the ecosystem?
as you can find to humans harmed
answer as many of your organism?
these questions as
possible.

How do humans
How do humans
continue to harm
continue to harm
your organism?
the ecosystem?

You will probably How do humans

find more than one continue to
answer to more How have humans harm the other
than one question, harmed the other organisms in the
and that is fine as organisms that live ecosystem?
long as you have in the ecosystem?
tried to answer
most of them.
 EXAMPLE
Congo Basin:
Bonobos

Increases in shifting International demand

cultivation (a form of for timber has led to Road-building by
subsistence farming), the removal of trees logging companies
natural forests being for wood from the gives bushmeat
converted into Congo Basin forests hunters access to the
plantations and cash center of previously
crops contribute to remote forests. This
forest loss in the region. has led to extreme
over-hunting of
vulnerable species

Civil unrest in the

Slashing and burning region around the
of forests reduces bonobo’s home
habitats and releases territory has led to
carbon dioxide into the many bonobo deaths,
atmosphere and because poachers
affects climate change have been free to
invade Salonga
National Park, one of
few protected areas
for bonobos.

Only part of the

bonobo’s range lies in
protected areas. A
Bonobos are being growing and moving
poached because parts human population, The military has at
of the bonobo are combined with times authorized the
thought to have slash-and-burn hunting and killing of
medicinal benefits and agriculture and bonobos.
their meat is also sold commercial logging,
for food leaves bonobos
outside parks at risk of
losing their homes.
 (Name of Your Ecosystem and
Organism here)

How have
humans helped
List as many ways How have
the ecosystem?
as you can find to humans helped
answer as many of your organism?
these questions as
possible.

How do/can
How do/can
humans continue
humans continue
to help your
to help the
organism?
ecosystem?

You will probably How do/can

find more than one humans continue
answer to more How have humans to help other
than one question, helped other organisms in the
and that is fine as organisms that live ecosystem?
long as you have in the ecosystem?
tried to answer
most of them.
 EXAMPLE

Congo Basin:
Bonobos

WRI’s Forest Legality

African Forest
Initiative is working in
WWF is teaching Landscape Restoration
the region to stop
sustainable use of natural Initiative (AFR100), a
illegal logging. WRI
resources, so the Congo country-led effort to
played a pivotal role in
Basin's forest and restore 100 million
establishing
freshwater ecosystems hectares of deforested
community forestry
can improve the lives of and degraded
legislation and
the people living in the landscapes across Africa
supporting its
region without damaging by 2030.
implementation.
the ecosystem and
harming its wildlife.

WWF has provided WWF is monitoring

training, improved groups of endangered
transportation, and other wildlife including
field equipment for bonobos and making
anti-poaching units in sure they have
Salonga National Park. protected lands.
They also help the
Congolese Wildlife
Authority (ICCN) to
organize funding for
anti-poaching activities
in the park.

To reduce tree removal

WWF helps to fight
illegal trade through its Forest Atlases ( Global
partnership with Forest Watch’s forest
TRAFFIC, the world’s change data) inform law
largest wildlife trade enforcement, land-use
monitoring network. decisions, and forest
monitoring across the
region
for fuelwood, over 10
million trees have been
planted to help meet the
needs of local people
and preserve habitat.
WWF has also provided
fuel-efficient stoves and
works with communities
to find alternative wood
sources through private
and community forests.
 (Name of Your Organism here)

How does your organism help the How does your organism harm the
environment? environment?
How does your organism help How does your organism harm
people? people?

List as many ways as you can find. List as many ways as you can find.
 EXAMPLE

Bonobos

● Bonobos share 98.7% of their ● While bonobos are known to

DNA with humans, so they can be the peaceful primates, they
give us insight into the evolution can be aggressive, although it
of our own species. is uncommon. Females tend
● In some areas groups of to be more aggressive than
bonobos create a source of males; they may even be
income through ecotourism aggressive and violent toward
because people come to view male bonobos.
them pay fees to do so. ● Subgroups of bonobos living
● As seed dispersers of 65% of in close proximity may
the tree species in these forests become violent towards each
(11.6 million individual seeds other.
during the life of each bonobo),
bonobos are crucial to
regenerating rainforests.
● Rainforests play a critical role in
fighting global climate change
and shelter many rare species.
● Rainforests store much of the
Earth’s carbon dioxide which
plays an important role in
balancing Earth’s greenhouse
effect and climate.
● Many plants found only in
rainforests provide potent cures
for many diseases. This is a
source of income for the people
living in these areas.
● The river is a source of
hydroelectricity.
.