16 - Amazon Case Study: Human factors influencing the carbon cycle

Question 1

How much has the carbon that the Amazon is absorbing fell by?

Answer 1

• The amount of carbon that the Amazon rainforest is absorbing from the atmosphere and storing each year has fallen by around a third in the last decade

Question 2

Stat about deforestation effect on greenhouse effect

Answer 2

• It is projected that 15% of the greenhouse effect between 1990 and 2025 will be caused by deforestation and the burning of biomass.

Question 3

How much carbon does each acre of forest store?

Answer 3

• Each acre of tropical forest stores about 180 metric tons of carbon

Question 4

How does mining in the forest affect the stores and flows in the carbon cycle?

Answer 4

• Mining is another human action affecting the carbon cycle in rainforests as it requires the removal of forest through deforestation and the use of heavy machinery puts carbon dioxide directly into the atmosphere stores
• Explosions can also release methane into the atmosphere which is a very potent greenhouse gas.
• This human action has a particularly profound impact on the soil and lithosphere stores of carbon in rainforests. So has an effect on the slow carbon cycle as well

Question 5

How does road building in the forest affect the stores and flows in the carbon cycle?

Answer 5

• It could be argued that road building has the largest spatial impact on the carbon cycle as it opens up new areas of the forest to deforestation or mining.
• Lots of new roads are built between cities emerging at the heart of the Amazon. Each new road acts like a vein opening up new areas and promoting more road building in that area.
• By creating a patchwork effect within tropical rainforests humans affect the carbon cycle of the whole area by removing fluxes of carbon between areas of the forest.
• Animals are less likely to migrate meaning they live and die in the same section, isolating the carbon cycle in that area. Without road building, the other human activities (mining, deforestation) could not happen.

Question 6

How much more potent is methane than Carbon Dioxide?

Answer 6

25 times more potent at trapping heat in the atmosphere