Amazon Rainforest Flashcards
Where is the Amazon rainforest located?
Along the equator in the north of South America
How much area does the Amazon rainforest cover?
7.3 million square km
What is the average temperature in the Amazon rainforest?
25°c
What is the average rainfall per year in the Amazon rainforest?
2600 mm per year
What is the Amazon the most?
The most biologically diverse ecosystem in the world
What are the four layers of the rainforest?
The shrub layer, the under canopy, the canopy and the emergent layer
What are two ways that trees are adapted to the environment in the Amazon?
1) Grow very tall to compete at the canopy/ emergent layer
2) Have buttress roots to reach nutrients
What are two ways that animals are adapted to living in the rainforest?
1) toucans have large bills to prise open fruit
2) sloths have specially developed hands and feet to clinging onto branches
What percentage of the rainforest has been lost to cultivation? What is this size comparison?
17% - the size of France
What are the main causes of deforestation?
1) Cattle ranching (80%)
2) Soy bean farming
3) Logging
What percentage of precipitation does the rainforest recycle?
50%
What are the main ways of protecting the Amazon rainforest in the future?
1) Brazil government establishing property rights over the land
2) paying owners to not cut down trees
3) encouraging markets to buy forest products from legally registered sources
4) monitoring deforestation (satellites and aeroplanes)
5) expanding national parks
6) eco-tourism to protect areas
How much water flows in the flying rivers per day?
20 billion tonnes
How are the flying rivers formed?
Water vapour is transpired by trees in the Amazon and collects in the sky, moving east to west, and then precipitating south once it hits the Andes
What process is damaging the flying rivers? How?
Deforestation - removal of trees leads to less transpiration and a reduction in the water above the Amazon
