Amazon Rainforest

Question 1

Location

Answer 1

• World’s largest tropical rainforest at 670 million hectares
• Spread across 9 countries
• 300 billion trees

Question 2

How the water cycle affects the Amazon

Answer 2

• The water cycle causes the amazon to be very wet as the evaporation from the Atlantic ocean is blown towards the rainforest
• Warm temps mean that evaporation is high in the rainforest and increases the amount of precipitation
• Has a dense canopy which means interception is high as a result less water flows into river.

Question 3

How the carbon cycle affects the Amazon

Answer 3

• Amazon rainforest stores a lot of carbon in its vegetation and soil so it’s a carbon sink
• The increasing co2 means more productivity as it will increase photosynthesis which increase amount of biomass

Question 4

How Deforestation affects the water cycle

Answer 4

• In deforested areas there is no canopy to intercept the rainfall so more rainfall reaches the ground, the soil can’t soak up that much water and the water moves to the river which causes runoff which causes flooding
• Reduces the rate of evapotranspiration this means less water vapour reaches the atmosphere, shallow cumulous clouds form and rainfall is reduced, this increases risk of drought.

Question 5

How Deforestation affects the carbon cycle

Answer 5

• Without roots to hold soil together, rain washes away nutrient rich top layer of soil, transferring carbon stored in soil to hydrosphere
• Trees remove co2 from atmosphere and store it, so fewer trees means more atmospheric co2 which enhances the greenhouse effect.

Question 6

Mitigation: Selective logging

Answer 6

• Less damaging to the forest than felling all trees in the area, as the forest structure will be kept as the soils isn’t exposed so the impact on water and carbon is small

Question 7

Mitigation: Replanting

Answer 7

• Important that the same type of trees are planted so the variety of trees is kept for the future and local carbon and water cycles return to their initial state.

Question 8

Mitigation: Environmental law

Answer 8

• Ban the use of wood from forests that are not managed sustainably
• Ban excessive logging
• Control land use

Question 9

Mitigation: Protection

Answer 9

• Set up national parks and nature reserves to protect rainforests- E.g. the Tumucamaque National Park and the Pará Rainforest reserve
• Damaging activities can be monitored and controlled