Case Study: The Amazon Rainforest
General facts:
- The world’s largest tropical rainforest.
- Covers 5.5 million km^2 (2.1 million square miles of land).
- Incredibly rich ecosystem > around 40,000 plant species, 300 billion trees
1,300 bird species, 3,000 types of fish & 430 million different insects.
- Home to 20 million people, who use the wood, cut down trees for farms & for
cattle.
- Home to almost 20% of species on Earth
- The UK and Ireland would fit into the Amazon 17 times.
- A hot, very wet climate & vegetation is very dense.
Location: History:
- Located in South America > vast majority in NW Brazil - Tropical rainforests have been present in SA for millions of years & we
(covers ~40% of the continent).
- spread over most of the continent.
Spread across 9 countries: Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, - In the past the forest has shrunk back & then advanced again as ice ag
Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname & French Guinea.
- went.
Sits within the Amazon River basin
General facts:
- The world’s largest tropical rainforest.
- Covers 5.5 million km^2 (2.1 million square miles of land).
- Incredibly rich ecosystem > around 40,000 plant species, 300 billion trees
1,300 bird species, 3,000 types of fish & 430 million different insects.
- Home to 20 million people, who use the wood, cut down trees for farms & for
cattle.
- Home to almost 20% of species on Earth
- The UK and Ireland would fit into the Amazon 17 times.
- A hot, very wet climate & vegetation is very dense.
Location: History:
- Located in South America > vast majority in NW Brazil - Tropical rainforests have been present in SA for millions of years & we
(covers ~40% of the continent).
- spread over most of the continent.
Spread across 9 countries: Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, - In the past the forest has shrunk back & then advanced again as ice ag
Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname & French Guinea.
- went.
Sits within the Amazon River basin
