Amazon Case Study

Question 1

How many trees are there in the Amazon rainforest? (How much of a carbon store)

Answer 1

300 billion trees store 1/5th of all the carbon in the planet’s biomass

Question 2

What is the average rainfall and temperature in the Amazon per year? (Mm)

Answer 2

3000 mm per year and temperature averages at 28 ^C (very humid climate, ideal for plant growth)

Question 3

How much of its primary rainforest Amazon has lost in the last 50 years?

Answer 3

17%

Question 4

How much of the lost Amazon rainforest was lost due to cattle ranching?

Answer 4

80% other reasons include logging, mining, housing

Question 5

What is an impact of deforestation on evapotranspiration?

Answer 5

Transpiration will rapidly decrease, reduced evapotranspiration from cleared areas mean the air is less moist, resulting in a reduction in a cloud cover

Question 6

What is an impact of deforestation on a surface flow?

Answer 6

With less trees, most rainfall will go straight to the floor encouraging surface flow as soils become dry and baked as it becomes more exposed to the sun

Question 7

What is an impact of slash&burn on the rainfall?

Answer 7

Particles resulting from burning of trees increases the density of airborne aerosols around which water vapour condenses, as a result, smaller droplets occur in the clouds which are too small to precipitate , resulting in less local rainfall

Question 8

Which clouds are formed from evaporated moisture from deforested areas?

Answer 8

Shallow cumulous clouds which do not produce rain

Question 9

What is an effect of deforestation on the capacities of river to hold water?

Answer 9

The removal of trees through slash and burn reduces porosity of the soil causing faster rainfall drainage, erosion and silting of rivers and lakes

Question 10

By how much is regional rainfall predicted to decrease due to deforestation?

Answer 10

By 20%, as air blowing from the rainforest contains less moisture

Question 11

How much of carbon is released into the atmosphere as a result of slash&burn?

Answer 11

30-60% of the carbon is lost immediately

Question 12

By how much Amazon rainforest has been shrinking each year since 2000?

Answer 12

By 0.3% each year

Question 13

How much carbon is absorbed and emitted each year by Amazon rainforest?

Answer 13

In a typical year Amazon the Amazon rainforest absorbs 2.2b tones of CO2, whilst emitting 1.9b tones of CO2.

Question 14

Is the Amazon capacity to absorb CO2 declining?

Answer 14

Yes. In the 1990, the Amazon was absorbing 2 billion tones, by 2015 it has decreased to just 1 billion tones

Question 15

Is the Amazon continental carbon sink?

Answer 15

NO

Question 16

How much of carbon Amazon is estimated to store?

Answer 16

80-120 billion tones

Question 17

How much of forest (in hectares) was lost each year between 2000-2010?

Answer 17

3.6 million hectares per year

Question 18

How Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organisation (ACTO) is planning to reverse the loss of forest cover?

Answer 18

Through sustainable forest management, including protection, restoration, afforestation, reforestation, monitoring and preventing illegal logging, creating protected areas at the regional levels through conservation corridors, going through more than one country

Question 19

How much area does Para rainforest reserve cover?

Answer 19

15 million hectares, linking existing reserves to form a vast conservation corridor in the northern Amazon

Question 20

Explain agroforestry

Answer 20

It is the combination of planted trees with annual crops, trees in agroforestry system will hold more carbon than would the vegetation otherwise occupying the site

Question 21

How reforestation works?

Answer 21

atmospheric carbon is sequestered by being incorporated into the tree biomass, and depending on whether the wood is harvested and what products are derived, the carbon is maintained out of the atmosphere for variable amounts of time