Why should Amazonia be protected?

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The Amazonian rainforest is the world's largest rainforest situated in Brazil of South America and consequently suffers the most deforestation in the world. It is home to about 20 million people, as well as approximately 60,000 plant species, 1,000 bird species and more than 300 mammal species. This rainforest area, also known as Amazonia, the Amazon jungle, or the Amazon Basin, encompasses seven million square kilometers (1.7 billion ), in which it’s located within nine nations:  (with 60 percent of the rainforest),  (with 13 percent of the rainforest), , , , , , , and . The Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining  and comprises the largest and most species-rich area of  in the world; implementing the label of the most diverse ecosystem in the world.

Rainforests are found in more than forty countries around the equator. Most of the rainforests are located in the tropics; which is from the Tropic of Capricorn, south of the equator, to the Tropic of Cancer, which is north of the equator. These rainforests can be found in parts of Brazil, Venezuela, the Amazon Basin, Zaire, Indonesia, the Neotropics in Brazil, Cherrapunki in India, Colombia, French Guinea, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Southeast Asia, Suriname, Douala in Cameroon, Costa Rica, New Guinea, the Philippines, Kenya, Borneo, Madagascar, Trinidad, Thailand, Australia, and Belize – to name several examples. This is due to the yearly hot weather complimented with the wet humid climate – ideal for plants all of species to thrive.

Summary;

The Amazon River Basin is home to the largest rainforest on Earth. The basin, roughly the size of the forty-eight contiguous United States, covers some 40% of the South American continent. It is only renowned as one of the wettest place on earth which inhibits over 50% of all the plants and animals in the world. Opposed from other numerous environmental conditions as well as ; Amazonia is made up of a variety of ecosystems and vegetation types including rainforests, seasonal forests, deciduous forests, , and .

It is extremely important for the allowance of the Amazonian rainforest to survive and be able to thrive.

Climate;

The rainforest climate is hot, wet and sticky - very humid; so consequently it rains at roughly a set period of the day, every day. The rain comes down suddenly and stops just as suddenly. Which is renowned as convectional rainfall; meaning that the Sun heats the ground, which heats the air nearest the ground causing it to expand and rise. When the air gets to a certain height it condenses to dew point and forms clouds, then it rains with often occurrences of storms and thunder. ‘Amazonia is truly a unique and diverse place, there is no place quite like it left in the world.’

There’s a constant year round temperature of 80 degrees Fahrenheit and receive anywhere from 160-400 inches of rain a year. Scientists believe it was these properties that protected the Rainforest during the mass extinction of the Dinosaurs 65 million years ago. The Amazon jungle is also of a great significance to the climate of the world because it absorbs very large amounts of carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere – essential in preventing the recent phenomenon of global warming.

Ecosystem;

It would be expected that such a diverse ecosystem, humid and hot temperatures, would have rich soil – but this is not the case. In fact the nutrient quality of the soil is extremely poor. The 80% of the Rainforest nutrients is held within the plants and leaves themselves. Therefore, all plants and trees have very short roots which are close to the surface – as deciduous trees drop their leaves eventually which decompose - with only the thinner roots are sent down through the rocks; as all the nutrients in the soil have simply been washed away. Other elements which create some necessary nutrients which is key to any vegetations survival are; fallen trees which take ‘an age’ to decompose without the help of termites, and fungi on all types of trees. According to scientists the Amazonian rainforest is over millions of years old – the world’s oldest and noted as the only ‘original’ rainforest left, flourishing from the ages as far back as the dinosaurs. There are approximately 900 tones of plant matter in 1 hectare of the 688 million hectored rainforest, which helps contribute over 20% of the world’s oxygen supply, which is imperative for the survival of humans and all other living creatures a kind.

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Animals;

There are an estimated 15,000 different kinds of Brazilian animals situated in the Amazonian rainforest. With over one third of the world’s population of animals, notably ‘exotic animals’ which can only live in hotter and humid climates, endangering these animals from such acts as deforestation will only strain the Earths natural characteristics – food chains could be destroyed leading to a mass number of other extinct animals, nothing could be done by us to bring these  back. Though preserving the complex  of nature is important. The animals, plants and the elements of the world form ...

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