When it comes to matters of thermodynamics, which is the study of energy and it’s transformations, there are two laws that apply to everything in the universe. These laws, known as the 1st and 2nd laws of thermodynamics, describe the flow of energy throughout an ecosystem, and also how the process of transferring energy provides the means to sustain life within it. The rainforest is a very complex ecosystem that contains many different species of animals, insects, plants, and trees. The 1st law states that an organism can not create the energy it needs to survive on it’s own and therefore must capture it from it’s surrounding environment, i.e., photosynthesis. During this process, solar energy from the sun absorbs into the plant and vegetation population, converting the chemical energy into sugar. Insects and animals in turn eat the plants, and then use that very same sugar as an energy source to power their movement. This is called biological work. The energy remaining is given off as heat and released back into the environment from which it originated. This ensures that the amount of energy present in the environment is always the same, as it is borrowed and returned, but never lost. The 2nd law simply states that the amount of energy that can be used to do biological work within the universe may decrease over time, however because it is both borrowed and returned, the total amount of energy present will not decrease, and therefore will always be the same.
The rainforest is an ecosystem consisting of many different species and populations mainly because it has terrestrial and aquatic components due to the vast amounts of rain that usually accompany these environments. Most of the survival tactics are adaptations developed in response to biotic and abiotic factors and through the process of natural selection. The organisms found here also exhibit interdependence, meaning that they heavily rely on one another for survival. Vegetation relies on pollination by insects and animals to sustain life, and the insect and animal communities rely on the vegetation for food and shelter. “These interdependent relationships have been developing for millions of years and form the basis for the ecosystem. Each species that disappears from the ecosystem may weaken the survival chances of another”(Butler, 2010). Some other methods of survival include chemical defenses, mechanical defenses, and even the ability to change appearance to blend into the organism’s surroundings. All of these are examples of traits that evolved over years to better adapt to the organism’s natural habitat.

Work Cited
Butler, R. A. (2010). The Amazon:. Retrieved from http://Mongabay.com