Amazon
- Created by: lizzie.cotton
- Created on: 29-05-18 10:24
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- Amazon
- Carbon cycle
- stores
- 60% of carbon is stored in above ground biomass- 100 billion tonnes of carbon in rainforest
- below ground biomass- soil and roots
- carbon sink- stores 2.4 billion tonnes of carbon a year
- flows
- 40% of man made co2 is absorbed by rain forest
- releases 1.7 billion tonnes of carbon a year through decomposition
- human factors affecting the carbon cycle
- deforestation reduces input of organic material into soil. soils depleted by carbon and exposed to sunlight support fewer decomposer organisms- reduces flow of carbon between soils and atmosphere
- deforestation destroys nutrient supply- trees, so soils have limited nutrients and without protective cover of trees they are eroded by run off.
- cutting down of trees releases carbon into the atmosphere which is sped up by slash and burn- also reduces stores in biomass by 50%
- stores
- water cycle
- inputs
- rainfall
- moisture from Atlantic ocean 8-10g
- outputs
- evapotranspiration- high rates due to high temps, half of incoming rainfall is returned to atmosphere
- rapid run off is related to rapid rainfall
- vegetation transpires moisture
- human factors affecting stores and flows
- since 1970 1/5 of forest has been destroyed
- deforestation has reduced water storage in trees, soils, permeable rock
- more and faster run off has increased raisin flood risks in basin
- impact of deforestation on water cycles regionally. 20% decline in regional rainfall as forest trees are gradually replaced by grassland.
- change climate in area- converting rain forest to grass land increases run off by a factor of 27, half of rain falling on grassland goes into rivers. trees extract moisture from soil and releases into atmosphere- stabilising forest albedo and ground temps.
- inputs
- strategies to manage tropical rain forests
- Brazil is committed to restoring 120,000km2 of rainforest by 2030
- protection through legislation of large expanses of primary forest not affected by commercial developments
- 2015- 44% of Brazilian amazon was national park s
- projects to restore degraded or destroyed areas from farming, cattle ranching, logging and mining
- REDD+ scheme- pays tribes to protect rain forest and abandon logging.
- indigenous Surui people joined scheme that aims to protect primary forests from illegal logging and reforest degraded areas- planted seedlings in deforested areas around their village- provides timber, crops and logging for a sustainable source of income
- protection through legislation of large expanses of primary forest not affected by commercial developments
- 2015- 44% of Brazilian amazon was national park s
- protection through legislation of large expanses of primary forest not affected by commercial developments
- improving agricultural techniques to make permanent cultivation possible
- low fertility rates in the soil so permanent cultivation is unsustainable so farmers move to other plots of land-rotating life stock and farming would increase ranching productivity and help slow rates of deforestation
- human engineered soils, charcoal and human waste to attract micro organisms and allows soil to retain fertility - this would allow intensive and permanent cultivation which would drastically reduce deforestation and carbon emissions
- Carbon cycle
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