The Amazon Rainforest

The Amazon Rainforest or the Amazon Basin? Which term is Right to use?

The Amazon Rainforest describes a whole Tropical Evergreen Forest between the Andes and the Guyana Shield and  Amazon Basin refers to the drainage system of the Amazon River.

The Amazon Rainforest would play an important role in global climate change. Its natural ability to sequester carbon from the atmosphere at stored it in a beautiful way hopefully would encourage its conservation.

How Big is the Amazon Rainforest?

This tropical forest in the world has 5.5 million km², covering much of northwestern Brazil and extending into Colombia, Peru, and other South American countries.

The Amazon Rainforest has millions of square hectares needed to be protected as soon as possible.

The Table below shows the Amazon Rainforest in numbers.

Total land area		Total forest cover 2005				Primary forest cover 2005				Total deforestation 1990-2005		Loss of primary forest 1990-2005
Country		(1000 ha)		(1000 ha)		% of the total land area		(1000 ha)		% of the total land area		% of 1990 forest cover		% of 1990 primary forest cover
Bolivia		109,858		58,740		54.2		29,360		26.7		-6.5		-6.5
Brazil		851,488		477,698		57.2		415,890		48.8		-8.1		-9.7
Colombia		113,891		60,728		58.5		53,062		46.6		-1.2		-1.5
Ecuador		28,356		10,853		39.2		4,794		16.9		-21.5		0.0
French Guiana		9,000		8,063		91.8		7,701		85.6		-0.3		-2.6
Guyana		21,497		15,104		76.7		9,314		43.3		0.0		n/a
Peru		128,522		68,742		53.7		61,065		47.5		-2.0		-2.9
Suriname		16,327		14,776		94.7		14,214		87.1		0.0		0.0
Venezuela		91,205		47,713		54.1		–		n/a		-8.3		n/a

Location

The Amazon Rainforest is located in South America in the following countries, each country:

• Brazil
• Colombia
• Ecuador
• Peru
• Venezuela
• Bolivia
• Guyana
• Surinam
• French Guiana

 

Map

The Amazon Rainforest covers a big portion of South America Tropical Rainforest

Map of Rivers

People

 

 

 

People Living in the Amazon has a profound mark.  Developing ideas and frantic chase for natural resources such as oil, mining, logging, and illegal hunting. Indigenous People turn out to be the Guardians of the Rainforest.

Climate

The Climate and Weather in the Amazon Rainforest vary from the amount of rainfall and the times of the rainfall. Northern would be closer to Equator, hotter and Southern would be affected by light breezes -outbreaks of cool polar air from the south, bringing thunderstorms and strong gusty winds that occasionally exceed 60 miles per hour. These air masses move northward into the Amazon basin (where they are called friagems)

Some Amazon Curious Facts

Here is a list of Amazon Rainforest Facts

• only 6% of our planet’s surface area is covered by the rainforest.
• Is home to over 390 billion individual trees divided into 16,000 species.
• Around 400-500 indigenous Amerindian tribes call the Amazon rainforest home.
• there are around 40,000 plant species, 1,300 bird species, 3,000 types of fish, 430 mammals and a whopping 2.5 million different insects.
• takes carbon dioxide out of the air, and releases oxygen back in. In fact, more than 20% of the world’s oxygen is produced by Amazon.
• It’s estimated that if the climate change were to increase the world’s temperature by only 3 degrees Celsius then 75% of the Amazon would be destroyed.

Ecosystem

The Mosaic of Amazon Rainforest Ecosystems fuels its diversity of

• Terra Firme
• Varzea
• Igapo
• River Islands
• Oxbow Lakes

Animals

The most Iconic Amazon Rainforest Animals listed below

• Monkeys of several species inhabit the forest.
• Snakes diurnal and nocturnal, broad range specific and unique species.
• Birds of all colors, shapes, and sizes
• Insects will blow your mind on colors, shapes, and lifestyle
• Anteaters are unique in their kind, restricted to South America. 
• Tapirs are the largest  herbivore of the rainforest

Plants

The most Iconic Amazon Rainforest Plants, listed below:

• Cacao
• Rubber Tree
• Vanilla Orchid
• Kapok Tree
• Curare