Amazon Rainforest Flashcards
Layers of the rainforests ( High to Low )
Emergent layer - 50m
Canopy - 30m
Under canopy
The forest floor
Size of the Amazon rainforest
largest rainforest of Earth
6% of the Earth’s surface
Location of the Amazon Rainforest
Along the equator but spreads above and below majority being in the southern hemishpere
In South America
Mostly in Brazil - north west
20 degrees north 20 degress south latitude
Climate of the Amazon rainforest
Average temps of 27 degrees C
Average rainfall of 2000+mm
Carbon cycle of Amazon rainforest
accounts for around 30 - 50% global photosynthesis
Biodiversity of Amazon rainforest
home to 50% of animal and plant species
how much water is used by plants and returned to the atmosphere
50%
How much water infiltrates into soil
50%
How much rainfall is intercepted by vegetation
75%
In the last 50 years how much of the rainfall has been lost
17%
What % is how much cattle ranching responsible for the lost of Amazon Rainforest
80%
Impacts of human activty on the water cycle
reduced evapotranspiration - less precipitation
More soil compaction - increase rates of surface runoff
Rates of runoff will increase - increase flood risk
Soil becoming dry and vulnerable to erosion - limit chances of regrowth
Little interception - leaves ground exposed
Transpiration will be virtually zero
Regional impacts of deforestation
Rainfall levels in the wider regions are most likely to reduce - could lead to a 20% decline in regional rainfall if it continues
Air passing over extensive forest produced twice as much rain that air passing over little forest
Local impacts of deforestation
Less precipitation
Some cases show an increase in local rainfall downwind
Vegetation breezing
What is vegetation breezing
Air over cleared land warms faster rising and creating localised low pressure drawing moist air from forested areas
This casues an increase in cloud coverage over the cleared
This will lead to things like heavy rainfall and thunderstorms causing soil erosion and increased surface runoff
How does burning of trees impact cloud formation
Burning produces airborne aerosols which water vapour can condeses around
How much more decline in rainfall could future deforestation cause
20% decline
Stores of carbon in the Amazon rainforest
Wood is 50% carbon
Inputs of carbon in the Amazon rainforest
typical years it absorbs 2.2 billion tons of CO2
Outputs of carbon in the Amazon rainforest
typical year it emits 1.9 billion tons through decomposition and organism respiration
some carbon stored in the soil can be removed by streams
How much of global terrestrial carbon does the Amazon store
17% of global total
How much of global soil carbon does the Amazon store
27% of global total
How much of a source of carbon dioxide does deforestation account for
around 10%
Since 2000 what has the rate of decline of the Amazon been
0.3%
When forests are cleared and burned how much carbon is lost to the atmosphere
30 - 60%
How long it take unburned vegetation to decay
within 10 years
Impacts of deforestation on carbon cycle
Photosynthesis - stops until new plants
Respiration - drops to almost zero
Decomposition - Decomposers largely absent
Soil sequestration - short term increase of carbon in soil but this will be used up and no source of carbon in the longer term
Runoff - some carbon will leave the local system through increased runoff in rivers
How much carbon does the Amazon absorb in 2020
1-1.2 billion
This is less then what is emitted by latin America countries each year
How is the Amazon changing from a sink to a source
Plants are growing faster but are dying sooner
Warmer temperatures increase rates of decomposition and respiration
A positive feedback loop example for the Amazon
Temp increase - increased evapotranspiration - leads to drought - trees don’t have enough water supply - trees start to die - decompositon and less photosythesis - more CO2 in atmosphere - Temp increase
Mitigation strategies in the Amazon
Creation of national parks and forest reserves - Para Rainforest reserve
Forest biofuel production - compete with ethanol production
Reforestation
Enrichment of degraded forests
National and international agreements - Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organisation
Current mitigation strategies
Soybean moratorium and cattle ranching presecution threat
Infigenous land / protected areas
Norway - Amazon fund - $1 billion pledged for Brazil’s Amazon fund - $670 million paid
