Tropical Rainforest - Amazon Rainforest Brazil

Physical characteristics

• Avg temp of 27 degrees Celsius (day and night)

• no distinct seasons

• Soil is poor and infertile

• High biodiversity

Drip tips adaptaion

• pointy leaves —> water runs off faster

• water doesn’t stay on surface and rot the leaf

Buttress roots

• large roots

• with ridges

• large surface area —> large base

• results in more stability for a taller tree

Spider mockey adaptation

• long and strong tails

• long limbs to aid swinging between trees

Toucan adaptations

• Large bill to reach fruit on branches that cannot support its weight

Pitcher plant adaptations

• capture insects for nutrients (infertile soil)

• Inscets are attracted to the nectar in the plant’s mouth

Strangler fig tree adaptaions

• entwines roots around host tree

• grows foliage to prevent light reaching the host and effectively killing it

• now a hollow tree

Logging

Timber companies cut down wood for furniture.

• called ‘clear felling‘

Commercial farming

• Rainforest cleard for farms made to sell goods

• Cleared by ‘slash and burn’

Subsistence farming

• Food and crops are grown for the needs of the family not to sell

• this is generally sustainable

• done by the indiginous tribes of the amazon

MIneral extraction

• 50,000 hectares used for gold extraction

  • use mecury which is toxic for this

• visual pollution

Road building

• clears land

• people migrate to live there and clear more land

population growth

• people require more food so more farms —> more deforestation

• more space to live —> more deforestation

Rate of deforestation

• 1 hectare a second

Impact of deforestation - Soil erosion

• once land is cleared soil is left unprotected and can be washed away

• nutrient cycle stops

Impact of deforestation - Loss of biodiversisty

• many plants/animals die

• they are connected in a food web and results in other species death

Impact of deforestation - climate change

• less vegatation, smaller natural carbon sink

Impact of deforestation - Economic development

• road, mines… lead to local economy being boosted

• money used to pay off debts or invest into other projects

Education

• promoting value and benefits of biodiversity

  • ‘Sky forest’ rescue program

Selective logging

• logging mature trees so canopy is preserved

• allows younger trees more access to sunlight

Ecotourism

• sustainable tourism that generates income

• Yachana ecolodge

Debt reduction agreements

• debt for nature deals

• US and Brazil, 2010

International agreements about timber use

• restricts trade by only marking timber with a registered mark if it is sourced sustainably

• International Tropical Timber Agreement 2006