Water/Carbon Cycle - Amazon Rainforest Flashcards
What is the largest tropical rainforest on Earth?
The Amazon Rainforest
How many square miles of land does the Amazon cover?
2.1 million
How many people live within the Amazon?
20 million
How much percentage of the Amazon has been lost?
20%
How many tree species is the Amazon Rainforest home to?
16000
How does the Amazon Rainforest act as a carbon sink?
The forests take in more carbon dioxide than they release into the atmosphere.
In a normal year, how much carbon dioxide does the Amazon Rainforest absorb?
2 billion metric tons
How much carbon dioxide do dead Amazonian trees release a year?
1.7 billion metric tons
What does it mean if the Amazon Rainforest acts as a carbon sink?
It shows that the Amazon forests help reduce global warming by lowering the planet’s greenhouse gas levels.
What is happening to the Amazon rainforests’ role in the global carbon cycle?
Deforestation via logging and forest fires (combustion), are decreasing carbon accumulation, making the Amazon forests potentially become a carbon source.
What is the average discharge of water into the Atlantic Ocean by the Amazon per second?
175000 cubic metres
What is the second largest river in the world in terms of water flow?
The Rio Negro (a tributary of the Amazon)
What is the average rainfall across the whole Amazon basin?
2300 mm annually
How much of Amazon rainfall is discharged into the Atlantic Ocean?
1/3
What occurs to up to half of the rainfall in the Amazon?
Intercepted by the canopy and re-evaporated back into the atmosphere.
Where does moisture created by the Amazon end up falling as far as?
Texas
How is deforestation impacting the water cycle in the Amazon Rainforest?
Less moisture goes into the atmosphere due to decreased interception, so rainfall declines, sometimes leading to drought.
What is the main driver of change in the Amazon Rainforest?
Deforestation
What factors are resulting in increased deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest?
- Agriculture (pastoral and arable (palm oil))
- Logging
- Road building (allows for development of the Amazon: The Trans Amazonian Highway)
- Mineral extraction - gold
- Settlement/population growth (mining towns)
- Energy development (Hydroelectric dams disrupt the water cycle, trap huge amounts of sediment)
How much of the Amazon rainforest is estimated to by deforestated by 2030?
27%
How much forest losses occurred per year on average between 2001 and 2012?
1.4 million hectares
What are the main impacts of deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest?
- Atmospheric circulation affected because plantations don’t intercept as much as forests.
- Precipitation decreased because agriculture absorbs the water.
- Positive wildfire loop with wildfires
- Carbon sink becoming a carbon source, affecting climate change.
What positive feedback loop may occur with wildfires in the Amazon Rainforest?
- Deforestation increases use of fire
- Increased atmospheric aerosol decreased droplet size, increases cloud height/lifetime, inhibiting rainfall.
- Results in drought, making forests more prone to wildfires due to dry soils.
What are the impacts of deforestation on Amazon soils?
Tree cover decreases, increasing sun exposure on soils, drying them out. When rainfall does occur, the carbon stored in the soil is washed away.
What are the impacts of deforestation on Amazon rivers?
Less interception and evaporation makes flash floods more likely.
Conversely, droughts are more common due to decreased rainfall.
What strategies can be implemented to protect the Amazon Rainforest?
- Ecotourism
- Monitoring deforestation using satellite imagery to enforce law.
- National Parks or Indigenous Reserves.
- Selective logging and replanting
- Education
- Protective laws (e.g. Amazon Protection Pact to cooperate on reforestation projects)
