Amazon rainforest "EMPOWER IAS"

In news:

• According to a study published in the journal Nature Communications, large ecosystems, such as the Amazon rainforest, may collapse and disappear quickly, once a critical point in their destruction is reached. 

 

More from the news:

• An ecosystem the size of the Amazon could collapse in approximately 50 years once a tipping point had been reached. 
• For a system the size of the Caribbean coral reefs, collapse could occur in 15 years once triggered.

 

Amazon Rainforests

• These are large tropical rainforest occupying the drainage basin of the Amazon River and its tributaries in northern South America and covering an area of 6,000,000 square km.
• Tropical forests are closed-canopy forests growing within 28 degrees north or south of the equator.
• They are very wet places, receiving more than 200 cm rainfall per year, either seasonally or throughout the year.
• Temperatures are uniformly high - between 20°C and 35°C.
• Such forests are found in Asia, Australia, Africa, South America, Central America, Mexico and on many of the Pacific Islands.
• Comprising about 40% of Brazil’s total area, it is bounded by the Guiana Highlands to the north, the Andes Mountains to the west, the Brazilian central plateau to the south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east.

 

Why are the Amazon fires a cause for concern?

• It is also home to indigenous communities whose lives and homelands are under threat due to encroachment by the Brazil government, foreign corporations and governments with economic interests in the resource-rich region, and local farmers.
• Research by scientists Carlos Nobre and Thomas E Lovejoy suggests that further deforestation could lead to the Amazon’s transformation from the world’s largest rainforest to a savanna, which would reverse the region’s ecology.
• A National Geographic report said the Amazon rainforest influences the water cycle not only on a regional scale, but also on a global scale.
• The rain produced by the Amazon travels through the region and even reaches the Andes mountain range. Moisture from the Atlantic falls on the rainforest, and eventually evaporates back into the atmosphere.
• The report said the Amazon rainforest has the ability to produce at least half of the rain it receives. This cycle is a delicate balance.

         

 

 

 

Caribbean Coral reefs:

• Most Caribbean coral reefs are fringing reefs.However, other important coral reefs are present in the Caribbean- Example:The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, stretching from the tip of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico to the Bay Islands of Honduras, is the second-largest barrier reef system in the world.