Deforestation In the Amazon Rainforest By Anna Rivero Brynne Bartiromo Amy Zhuang

What is Deforestation? Deforestation is when a forest is wiped out and the population of trees decrease. Deforestation is mostly a human caused issue.

How? Why? How- The majority of deforestation happens because of poor substiences cultivators. Substience cultivators are farmers who use resources in order to survive but don’t have a big impact on the land. So the goals for anyone is to use minimum resources so the forests are not harmed. 1- cattle pasture( 65-70%) 2- colonization and subsequent agriculture( 20-25%) 3-commercial agriculture(5-10%) 4- logging(2-3%) 5-fires, mining urbanization, road construction, dams( 1-2%) Why- Deforestation is happening because there is need for more land for farming and mining. More demand for lumber from the trees. Logging in the Amazon is used for roads, and building materials.

Prediction Things that could happen if this issue is not addressed is that… There would be more endangered species (the golden headed lion is already endangered because of deforestations so more animals like this one will become endangered). The Amazon currently produces 15% to 20% to the earths oxygen supply but if deforestation continues we will slowly lose that percent of oxygen supply in the earth. Cutting down forests that are stored in the trees will return to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. The balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide would be changed. More carbon dioxide in the air, because this is a greenhouse gas, global warming will occur and that could result in flood, droughts and other disasters. A quarter of today’s medicine would be lost. 70% of plants that have anticancer properties are only found in the Amazon Rainforest.

Problems now * every second one and a half acres of the rainforest are cut. A lot of animals are already endangered. Such as the lemurs. Soil erosion is a major problem in the Amazon. Land is being lost, for example the Amazon rainforest covers over 2.2 million square mile, but over 80 acres are being lost every minute. Trees are not being replanted so they are becoming rarer and rarer. Loss of biodiversity.

Biotic/abiotic factors Abiotic Factors: (nonliving factors that affect the ecosystem) -water :The human impacts are affecting the trees in which keep the water cycle flowing. This hurts the condition of the rainforest greatly. -temperature :Because of the tree loss, the local climate is drying. This also affects living conditions in the rainforest. Biotic Factors: The deforestation is mostly a biotic factor because it is a human impact. Also, the impact of humans may also lead to some abiotic factors. Some examples of factors can include logging and substinence farming as mentioned before.

Affects on the Environment The Amazon trees store organic carbon in biomass and soil. This prevents greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Deforestation release the stored carbon into the atmosphere, which contributes to global warming. Depending how the forest is converted, the rate of releasing carbon is quick. Deforestation can also indirectly affect carbon storage in neighboring forest areas through changes in fire regimes. The hydrological cycle of the Amazon basin is greatly affected by the forests. Stream discharges within the Amazon is a factor or an effect from increasing deforestation rates. The water recycling weakening and the drying of local climate is affected by deforestation when deforestation reduces the evapotranspiration of moisture into the environment. Evapotranspiration is a process of transferring moisture from the earth to the atmosphere through evaporation and transpiration from the plants.

Water Cycle

Affects on the Water Cycle The recycling of water is affected from deforestation. The water cycle relies much on transpiration, which is the evaporation of water from trees into the atmosphere. Then, that water is condensed and then precipitated. That is briefly how the water cycle goes. Deforestation decreases the rates and slows the process of recycling the water because transpiration is stopped as a result of the decrease in trees. The water cycle is not only an affect to the environment, but it also affects the living organisms that live in the rainforest.

Carbon Cycle

Affects on the Carbon Cycle The carbon cycle is very dependent on plants and trees. The plants take carbon from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, and then release oxygen for animals to use. Respiration from other plants and animals return carbon back into the atmosphere, and the cycle continues. When the number of plants start to decrease, the releasing of oxygen will also be slowed. Thus, the carbon cycle is affected. Other organisms will also be affected from this result.

Affects on Organisms Affects of the organisms: -homes are being destroyed -animals are becoming endangered -food chain is affected -Decreasing biodiversity -Scientists believe that over 137 species of plants and animals are being lost every single day due to rainforest deforestation.

Food Chains

Affects on Humans Affects of the People: -The affects of organisms and the environment both impact humans.     -the decreasing number of species will eventually affect us in the food chain.     -The environment such as that of climate change will affect us. Same with the addition to global warming and the affects of the water flow and carbon flow. - Deforestation will eventually lead to a decrease of important resources. Humans are using up too much. Rainforest plants contain biodynamic compounds that may be used in modern day medicines. The destruction of the rainforest will prevent humans to discover new medicines. Many people use logging for hardwoods, fuel woods, and paper. As the forest begins to decrease in natural resources such as wood, we will lack the necessary materials for hardwoods, fuels, papers, etc.

Proposed Solution One of the new solutions that has been recently proposed is an idea called Cool Earth. The idea behind this is regular people buying bits of the rainforest so that other people like loggers cannot buy that land to cut it down. This way, the property isn’t being used to be cut down, and it is protected since it is the property of the person that bought it. Of course this solution is just being presented, so there might be some side affects or set backs. For example, people might not want to buy parts of the rainforest that they cannot use. Basically, people would just be buying the property, but what would they do with it.? Yes, you are saving a part of the land, but how many people will just buy a piece of land for nothing?

Our Solution A new program will be proposed called the Amazon Rainforest Organization. This Organization will support the rebirth of the Amazon Rainforest. The main focus of the project is to replant some of the destructed land. For example, we will replant some of some of the trees, and we will strive to preserve some land so that less of the rainforest will be cut down. This organization will be funded by the government and by donations from anyone. This program will most likely be supported by the government because it will benefit not only the environment, but also the organisms that live there and even the people. As time progresses, the forest will eventually restore itself. More organisms will be able to settle in, and the resources will increase as the trees are restored. This will require national support because the resources from the rainforest is exported world wide.

What does deforestation look like?

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