amazon rainforest Flashcards
amazon relevance to water cycle
- there is a lot of evaporation over the Atlantic Ocean, and the wet air is blown towards the amazon.
-warm temps mean that evaporation and precipitation is high.
-the rainforest has a dense canopy meaning interception is high.
background
-contains over 300 billion trees.
-covers a total of 8.2 million KM2.
links to water cycle
- over 3000mm of rain and temperature average of 28 degrees.
-75% of this rain is intercepted by the trees and then to the ground through stem flow. - 25% of the rain is evaporated and is returned to the atmosphere via transpiration of plants.
- of the remaining 75% half is used by the plants and eventually returned to the atmosphere through evapotranspiration.
-discharges 175,000 cumbers of water into the Atlantic.
-moisture released into the atmosphere by evapotranspiration in the Amazon has impacts on global weather patterns.
-50-80% of the water remains in the ecosystem.
links to carbon cycle
· Untouched = carbon sinks, Amazon rainforest emits 1.9 billion tons carbon but absorb 2.2 billion tons
· Captures 120 bn tons carbon
· 17% global terrestrial vegetation stock
· Plants conduct photosynthesis, releasing oxygen and locking in carbon. Rainforest is known as ‘the lungs of the earth’.
· Stores 20% of all biomass-stored carbon on the planet
· Only coral fixes a larger amount of Carbon than tropical rainforests
· Age of many plants in the rainforest means they are long-term carbon stores
· Regulates global atmospheric Carbon levels
why deforestation?
80% deforestation due to cattle ranching
Between 2000 and 2007, 19,386km2 was being destroyed per year
deforestation changes to water and carbon (water)
·Water
No tree canopy to intercept rainfall, so more water reaches the ground. The ground then gets saturated and so water moves to rivers as surface runoff.
· Reduces the rate of evapotranspiration.
· Flash floods since less interception
Forests emit salts and organic fibres along with water when they transpire, condensation nuclei and assist in cloud and rain production,loss inhibits the formation of cloud and therefore rainfall
deforestation changes to water and carbon (carbon)
· Carbon
Without roots to hold soil together, heavy rain will wash the nutrient-rich top layer of soil, transferring carbon stored in the soil to the hydrosphere.
· Less leaf litter, so humus is not formed. The soil cannot support much new growth, which limits the amount of carbon that is absorbed.
· Trees remove CO2 from the atmosphere and store it, so fewer trees mean more atmospheric CO2, which enhances the greenhouse effect and global warming.
· When forests are burned 30-60% of carbon lost to atmosphere
· decoimposers die off so cannot recycle dead material
changes
Climate Change
· Temperature increases and rainfall decreases -> drought.
· Amazon has had severe droughts in 2005 and 2010.
· Plants and animals are adapted to moist conditions and may not be able to survive in dry conditions.
· 4 degree temperature rise could kill 85% of the Amazon rainforest.
· Habits no longer suited to species due to increasing temps
· Brazil 75% green house gas from deforestation
impacts of climate change
Impacts of Climate Change
· Road construction opened up large areas of previously inaccessible forest to activities such as logging - Trans Amazonian Highway
· The Amazon rainforest has lost approximately 17% of its primary rainforest in the last 50 years. 80% is due to cattle ranching.
· Parts of the Amazon basin experienced drought in 2005 and 2010. The 2010 event lowered the Río Negro upstream from Manaus, isolating local people who depended on the river for transport.
· Forest fires often occur because of drought, releasing large stores of carbon in the biomass.
· Deforestation alters transpiration and albedo levels, which will lead to reduced precipitation because there is a lower level of atmospheric humidity.
· Hydroelectric power generation - large hydroelectric dams have been constructed on rivers such as the Rio Tocantins and have flooded large areas of rainforest. Changing the way water flows through the basin.
· Crops planted to replace deforested areas will fix some carbon and conduct some evapotranspiration but at a much lower rate than rainforest vegetation. This is often only temporary as well as crops are harvested.
· greater destruction of the Amazon’s coastal mangroves, and more rapid transfers in the water cycle as plants grow more vigorously.
· by 2080 many current species may not be viable in the Amazon due to temperatures.
mitigation international
*Management level included
Proportion of environmental protection areas as against permanent production areas·
Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO)
*Aimed at promoting sustainable development
*8 member countries
*Reverse loss of forest cover worldwide , sustainable forest management, including protection, restoration, afforestation and reforestation, increase efforts to prevent forest degradation,
Monitor and prevent illegal logging
· Enrichment of degraded forests using native species
-The Big Tree Plant campaign encourages communities to plant 1 million new trees, mostly in urban areas
DEBT FOR NATURE SWAP
-In 2010 the USA converted US$13.5 million of debt from Brazil into a fund to support the protection of the rainforest
The International Tropical Timber Agreement (ITTA) promotes sustainable forest management and restricts the trade in rainforest hardwood timber (hardwood timber is a slow-developing wood and therefore, holds more carbon within the wood)
mitigation national
- 1965 forest code, a law requiring landowners to maintain minimum of 35-80% of their property under native vegetation.
-seedlings of native species grown in local nurseries to be replanted in degraded areas.
-agroforestry is the combination of planted trees with annual crops. farm more benefits then predominant land use.
