Amazon Rainforest Flashcards
How much of the SA landmass the Amazon?
40%
What is the climate like in the Amazon?
Hot and very wet.
What is the vegetation like? Amazon
Very dense
Do people live in the Amazon?
Many groups of indigenous people
How many plant species are in the Amazon?
Up to 1 Million
How many species of mammals are in the Amazon?
Over 500 species
How many species of fish are there in the Amazon?
Over 2000 species
Why is the Amazon very wet?
Due to the water cycle - a lot of evaporation over the Atlantic Ocean and wet air is blown towards the Amazon.
Why is there a high amount of evaporation in the rainforest itself? What can this lead to?
High temperatures so this means high levels of precipitation.
What does it mean if the rainforest has a dense canopy?
Interception is high
How does the variety of species survive in the Amazon?
Adaptation to high humidity and rainfall
Why is the rainforest a ‘carbon sink’?
Stores loads of carbon due to vegetation and soil
What has the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere led to?
more photosynthesis.
What is the reason for deforestation in the Amazon?
To exploit the timber
Usage of land
How can deforestation affect the water cycle? 2 ways
No interception so too much water - increased risk of flooding.
Reduces the rate of evapotranspiration - less clouds and increased risk of drought.
How can deforestation affect the carbon cycle in the Amazon?
3 ways
Nutrients washed away - loss of carbon
Less leaf litter - reduces absorption of carbon
More atmospheric CO2 caused due to fewer trees.
How has climate change affected the Amazon?
Drought risks.
Extinction of species due to high temperature.
Wildfires
What is selective logging? How does this limit human impacts?
Oldest trees cut down. Less damaging and keeps the forest structure.
How does replanting trees help limit human impacts in the Amazon?
Variety of trees kept
How can environmental laws help protect rainforests?
Ban use of wood that is not managed sustainability
Ban selective logging
Laws that control land use
How does protection e.g national parks help protect rainforests?
Allows protection for biodiversity and activities can be monitored.
How many trees is estimated for Amazon?
300 billion trees
How many tree species does the Amazon have?
15,000
How many insect species is estimated?
2.5 million
How much carbon is in the biomass?
A fifth
How many hectares does it spread across and how many countries?
670 million hectares spread across 9 countries
As a %, how much is covered over Brazil?
64%
How much carbon is estimated to be stored in the Amazon?
76 billion tonnes of carbon
Is the Amazon a carbon sink or source?
Sink of1 to 3 GTC a year
What is the Amazon losing?
Its capacity to absorb CO2 from atmosphere
What has halved from 1990 to 2019?
Net uptake of the forest
What is the average discharge of water into the Atlantic by Amazon?
15% of freshwater each day
What is the second largest river in the world in terms of water flow?
Rio Negro - a tributary of Amazon
What is the average amount of precipitation annually?
2300 mm annually
What happens to the precipitation in the Amazon?
Intercepted and re-evaporated
Between 2000-2007, how much of the Brazilian Amazon was deforested?
A rate of 19368 per year
What is Brazil in terms of climate pollution?
World’s fourth largest climate polluter
How much of Brazil’s greenhouse gas emissions attributes to the deforestation and land use change?
75%
What are the 5 threats to the rainforest?
Farming
Mining
Tourism
Hydroelectric power - dams & reservoirs
Logging
What does slash and burning the forest increase?
Albedo effect
How much forest does WWF estimate that has been lost already?
20%
What are the 2 main effects of soil because of deforestation?
Soil contains a lot of carbon - 4-9kg in the upper 50cm of soil
When forests are cleared, 30-60% of this carbon is lost to atmosphere
As well as soil erosion
What will happen to the Amazon Rainforest is destroyed? In terms of water cycle
2 points
Deforestation leads to less interception - risk of floods
Precipitation decreases as less evapo-transpiration and area will eventually dry out and become more arid
Link to deserts
How many hectares were Peru planning to reforest to mitigate the deforestation ?
3.2 million
What else is another mitigation of change?
Selective logging
What is selective logging?
Oldest trees are felled - keeps forest structure
What has been enforced to combat the deforestation?
Creation of nature reserves/national parks
What is an example of an environmental law that has been put in place to protect the forest and be sustainable?
The Amazon Treaty Cooperation Organisation (ACTO) 1995
What happened in terms of politics which helps the Amazon?
Luiz da Silva elected President in 2022 and has pledged to end deforestation in Amazon
What is the tragedy of the commons in terms of the rainforest?
An environmental economic phenomenon where an economic resource experiences extreme depletion due to each individual’s pursuit of their own self-interest
What is an example of forests experiencing the tragedy of the Commons?
Brazil’s destruction of the Amazon
What are the effects on the water cycle by deforestation?
High rainfall and dense forest canopy - high interception which slows down progress to ground so evaporation can happen as well due to the high humidity
Due to the deforestation, when there is high precipitation what happens?
Lack of interception - high runoff and throughflow which creates high river levels and risk of flooding
What causes the soil erosion?
Increased runoff and this can block river channels
How much water does the Amazon release?
Up to 20 billion tonnes of water
What does the atmospheric water do to the forest?
Keep it humid so ecosystem can grow and thrive
What has happened to the Amazon in the last 10 years?
Drier and hotter
What can happen if the deforestation continues/
Could turn into a dry savanna
