Amazon rainforest Flashcards
facts figs, general knowledge
Average temperature
High avg. temp 25-30°C
Average annual rainfall
> 2000mm with no dry season
Significant cloud cover does what?
Regulates temp. ensuring it doesn’t reach sub-tropical desert climates
Convection rain fall when?
All year round
% of precipitation recycled by evotranspiration
50-60%
High intensity, convectional rainfall
10% rainfall intercepted by trees.
Intercepted rainfall accounts for 20-25% of all evaporation
High rates of evaporation and transpiration why?
High rates due to high temperatures abundant moisture and dense vegetation
Absolute and relative humidity
are both high
Rainforest trees play what crucial role in the water cycle
Absorb and store water from the soil and release in through transpiration
Net Primary productivity (NPP) level - plant growth level
avg. 2500 g/m2/yr and biomass is 400-700 tonnes/ha
Soil carbon stores avg.
90-200 tonnes/ha
Amazon rainforest absorbs how much carbon per year?
2.4B tonnes
100B tonnes of carbon locked in Amazon rainforest
Absorbs 2.4B tonnes and releases 1.7B tonnes of CO2 per year
Carbon cycles between…
the forest and other living organisms, the soil and the atmosphere
Leaf litter and other dead organic matter accumulates on soil surface
High temps and humidity make this decompose rapidly by bacteria and fungi
Amazon basin dominated by what type of rocks
Ancient igneous and metamorphic rocks
Deforestation avg. per year from 1970 - 2013
17500km2/year
Since 1970…
One fifth of the primary forest destroyed or degraded
Deforestation reduced water storage…
in forest trees, soils, permeable rocks and in the atmosphere
Run off speed increased due to deforestation which means…
Higher flood risks throughout basin
30000km2 of Bolivian rainforest cleared for farming and cattle between what years?
2000 - 2012
20% less rainfall in Amazonia due to deforestation - forest replaced by glassland
Deforestation exhausts carbon biomass store in trees
Carbon flow to atmosphere reduced through deforestation, because…
Drastically reduced input of organic material to the soil
Deforestation destroys forests main nutrient store - trees
Nutrients no longer taken up by tree root systems are washed away instead and soil eroded without tree cover
Large expanses of primary forest now protected through legislation
Projects to reforest areas destroyed by logging, mining, cattle ranching and subsistence farming
By 2015 what percent of Amazon was protected?
44% of Amazon protected through Nations parks, wildlife reserves etc.
Parica project in Rondonia aims?
Aims to plant 20M fast growing, tropical hardwood seedlings
Parica project benefits?
Sequesters carbon in trees and soil, re-establishes carbon and water cycle, reduces run-off of nutrients from soil
