Amazon Case Study

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  • Created by: Yasmetron
  • Created on: 22-12-20 13:45
About the Amazon
This vast untamed wilderness is under increasing threat from huge scale farming and ranching, infrastructure and urban development , unsustainable logging, mining and climate change
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About the Amazon 2
The Amazon has more species of primate than anywhere else on Earth. The amazon covers a huge are (6.7million sq km) of South America - mainly in Brazil but also Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.
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Main Characteristics of the Amazon
- Found in a narrow belt in the tropics around the equator
- 2000mm plus, of rainfall a year (London is 600mm)
- Population 200 million world wide
- 50% of all flora and fauna species
- Distinct layers of flora
- A carbon sink and O2 producer (28% of a
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Water Cycle
- 2000mm
- 75% intercepted by canopy
- 25% evaporated
- Of 75% half is used by the plants and half returned to water cycle via overland flow to river channels.
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Climate Change
The Amazon is at the hart of global climate concerns. not only does the destruction of rainforests add to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, it creates positive feedback loop - where increased deforestation causes a rise in temperatures which in turn can b
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Loss and Damage of Forests
Huge areas of rainforest are destroyed by clearing for farming, timber, roads, hydropower dams, mining, house-building or other development. The problems is it's often seen as more economically worthwhile to cut the forest down than to keep it standing.
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Food and Farming
Rising global demand for food, especially meat, has led to Brazil becoming the world's biggest beef exporter, and the second-biggest exporter of royal beans, mainly used for livestock feed. More and more forests are being removed to make way for grazing l
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Impacts from Human Activity
- The removal of trees leaves soils open to the full heat of the sun
- This dries the soil which can now be easily eroded by the wind
- No water is being transferred back to the atmosphere via evaporation
- evaporation is limited as water is absorbed i
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Deforestation Affecting Climate Change
- a reduction in trees leads to a reduction in atmospheric moisture which leads to a reduction in rainfall
- this cycle has been broken at a local scale leading to global impacts
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The Tropical Rainforest Carbon Cycle
- A hot and moist climate is perfect for plant growth
- "Lungs of the Earth" the TRF absorbs carbon and releases oxygen
- 50% of wood is made up of carbon. The TRF is a carbon sink
- Decomposition and respiration of flora and fauna in the TFR returns carb
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Quote
"The impact of deforestation on the exchange of water vapour and carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and the terrestrial land surface is the biggest concern with regard to the climate system" - Daley
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Card 2

Front

About the Amazon 2

Back

The Amazon has more species of primate than anywhere else on Earth. The amazon covers a huge are (6.7million sq km) of South America - mainly in Brazil but also Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.

Card 3

Front

Main Characteristics of the Amazon

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

Water Cycle

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

Climate Change

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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