Geography - The Living World - Tropical Rainforests

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  • Created by: Noah_S
  • Created on: 08-03-20 19:16
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  • Amazon Rainforest
    • Human Involvement
      • Activities
        • Commercial Farming
          • Forest is cleared to make space for cattle grazing or plantations
          • Cattle ranching is the main cause of deforestation
          • Soy is another commercially farmed crop that takes up deforested areas
        • Mineral extraction
          • Gold, iron and copper are mined and exported
          • Open-cast mining heavily damages the land
        • Road Building
          • The 4000km Trans-Amazonian Highway connects Brazil to other countries through the Amazon
          • New roads built for logging have opened up, making access greater
      • Impacts
        • Soil Erosion
          • Brazil is losing up to 100 tonnes of topsoil each year, which could cause floodings
          • Less trees intercepting rainfall means more leaching of the soil
        • Climate Change
          • The Amazon stores 140 billion tonnes of carbon, deforestation releases some of this as CO2
          • Up to 75% of Brazil's CO2 emissions come from deforestation
        • Economics
          • Deforestation has brought economic development - Brazil exported $600 Million of beef in March 2018
          • Logging contributes a huge amount to Brazil's economy
          • Local rubber tappers have lost their livelihoods after deforestation
    • Sustainable Management
      • Conservation
        • Restricts areas from logging so long as police can patrol the area
      • Ecotourism
        • Only a small amount of tourists allowed + rules imposed to minimise impact
        • Provides an income for local people so they do not need to chop down trees
      • International Hardwood Agreements
        • Tries prevent illegal logging and promotes the use of hardwood from sustainablely managed forests
      • Selective Logging + Replanting
        • Only some trees are cut - less damaging as the overall forest structure is kept
        • Replanting trees keep the forest the same - not removing anything from the area
    • Ecosystem
      • Biotic
        • Plants
          • Most trees are evergreen
          • Trees are tall and vegetation cover is dense
          • Lots of epiphytes (plants that grow on other plants)
        • Animals
          • Contains more animal species than other ecosystems
          • Interdependent on the ecosystem
      • Abiotic
        • Climate
          • Same all year round
          • Hot (20-28) and varies little
          • Rainfall is high (2000mm per year)
        • Soil
          • Not fertile due to leaching
          • Thin layer of surface nutrients
      • Adaptations
        • Plants
          • Trees compete for sunlight by growing tall
          • Leaves are think, waxy and have drip tips to encourage runoff
          • Many trees have smooth, think bark + buttress roots to support themselves
        • Animals
          • Strong limbs to move easily in the canopy
          • Some birds have short, pointed wings to manoeuvre easily
          • Many are nocturnal to save energy in the cool night

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