Fresh water ecosystems wetland By: Cynthia E. Pr.1

Wetland Amazon Basin The Amazon Basin, the largest in the world, covers about 40% of South America, an area of approximately 7,050,000 square kilometers (2,720,000 sq mi). It drains from west to east, from Iquitos in Peru, across Brazil to the Atlantic. It gathers its waters from 5 degrees north latitude to 20 degrees south latitude. Its most remote sources are found on the inter-Andean plateau, just a short distance from the Pacific Ocean. The locals often refer to it as "El Jeff Negro", referring to an ancient god of fertility Most of the basin is covered by the Amazon rainforest, also known as Amazonia. Area of dense tropical forest, this is the largest rainforest in the world. Tropical wetlands, including those in the Amazon, are one of the largest sources of biogenic methane and globally represent roughly 13 percent of annual emissions of the greenhouse gasIquitos 5 degrees north latitude20 degrees south latitudeAndeanPacific OceanAmazon rainforest Amazon basin

Habitats of Amazon basin

Plant life As much of the Amazon is unexplored, many of its indigenous plants and animals are unknown. Plant growth is dense and its variety of animals inhabitants is comparatively high due to the heavy rainfall and the dense and extensive evergreen and coniferous forests The forest cover is in fact so thick that a dense "roof" is created by the leaves and branches, which does not allow the sunlight to reach the ground. The ground remains dark and damp and only shade tolerant trees and vegetation will grow here

Animal life More than 14,000 species of mammal are found in the Amazon, the majority of which are bats and rodents. Mammals include the Jaguar, Ocelot, Capybara and South America's largest mammal. Ex.animals

characteristics The Amazon basin stretches so far and wide that scientist haven't yet been able to quite study it all since it grows and grows. Since the forest part of the wetlands is so thick and dense sunlight doesn't peek through so it constantly has new growth of wet land and species of plants animals.

Amazon Basin Risks! Amazon Basin methane is predominantly biogenic. Based on carbon monoxide measurements made concurrently with the methane observations, they calculate that biomass burning was not a major contributor to Methane Emissions. They find that wetlands were the primary source of methane. However, they note that other biogenic sources, such as waste decomposition or sewage and cattle operations, could easily be confused with wetland emissions. The authors note that their two airborne campaigns are not enough on which to base an assessment of the Amazon's annual methane emissions.

Geography The Amazon Basin is bounded by the Guiana Highlands to the north and the Brazilian Highlands to the south. The Amazon, which rises in the Andes Mountains at the west of the basin, is the second longest river in the world. It covers about 6,400 km before draining into the Atlantic Ocean. The Amazon and its tributaries form the largest volume of water. The Amazon accounts for about 20% of the total water carried to the oceans by rivers. Some of the Amazon Rainforest is deforested because of a growing interest in hardwood products

Links primary-source-amazon-basin.htmlhttp://phys.org/news/ wetlands- primary-source-amazon-basin.html cteristics-amazonhttp:// cteristics-amazon _basinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_River _basin Google pictures

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