THE FUTURE OF THE AMAZON

From current observations of changes in climate, it is almost certain that if deforestation continues, global temperature will continue to increase. Mongabay.com says that deforestation is expected to cause warmer and drier conditions overall and all this damage will “reduce the resistance of the rainforest ecosystem to natural and human-caused stressors while increasing the frequency of extreme rainfall events and droughts by the end of this century” (Mongabay.com).

The Amazon stores atmospheric carbon as vegetation grows, which benefits the environment, but when forests are cleared or burned, the carbon is released into the environment in the harmful form of carbon dioxide, (Mongabay.com) which can only get worst for our atmosphere if deforestation continues. This along with the land heating up rapidly (another effect of deforestation), will almost certainly cause the earth’s climate to continue to gradually go up. Mongabay.com also predicts that deforestation will eventually diminish the Amazon rainforest (Mongabay.com). 

The following image is a projection of what the Amazon will look like if deforestation continues at its current rate. The green areas are what's left of the forest, while the other colors represent parts of the forests that are either non forest areas or predicted to be deforested, dried or logged by 2030: 

http://photos.mongabay.com/08/0123scenarios.jpg

Also, here's an interesting chart depicting the severe decrease in rainfall that would occur along with a high increase in temperature if current Amazon conditions continue. According to Mongabay.com, climate models predict temperatures in the Amazon to increase between two and nine degrees Celsius by the end of the century. This chart illustrates projections for 2080:

http://photos.mongabay.com/11/0520chart.jpg

The left side of the chart shows potential temperature increases for 2080. The right side shows the drop in percentage of rainfall each temperature increase would cause.

Such changes in climate would make for more extreme droughts and flooding than those currently occurring. These changes would also place large struggles on inhabitants and endanger many. Already, the 2005 drought greatly reduced the fish population (Mongabay.com). Rainfall changes will also have harmful affects on humans, such as causing sickness and disease, as did the 2009 flood, which caused thousands to move from their homes and also led to serious health issues related to water-borne disease (Mongabay.com).

source: 
http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0520-amazon_climate_moukaddem.html?utm_campaign=General+news&utm_medium=Twitter&utm_source=SNS.analytics

PROTECTED AREAS

The Amazon has several protected areas, but governments are not doing enough to protect them. Although they have taken action, deforestation continues to increase (Mongabay.com). Here are a few protected areas of the Amazon:

Cabo Orange National Park is located near the coastline and the only protected area within the coastline of the Amazon. Its location causes its vegetation to be slightly different than that of other parks. The park has some infrastructure, but limits them by only serving staff members and not visitors (amazon-rainforest.org).

image on left source: http://www.amazon-rainforest.org/places-of-interest.html

Carabinani River  in Jau National Park

Jau National Park is close to capital of Amazonas State in Brazil, Manaus. It has several accommoda- tions and services for tourists, including boat or canoe rides along the river. Local governments do a exceptional job at protecting this park. They provide strict guidelines for their visitors and they also regulate and monitor the use of resources for scientific study (Eoearth.org).

(image on right source: http://humanandnatural.com/img-carabinani-river-,-jau-national-park,-brazil-2196.htm)

http://home.wxs.nl/~bange006/natparcs.html

The Tumucumaque Mountains National Park is located in Brazil and extends to northern French Guiana and was created recently in 2002. It is now the largest tropical forest protected area in the world. There is no infrastructure, but their staff is working on its establishment as of today. No deforestation has occured in this area and state officials are working to keep it this way  They're working on improvements in basic sanitation, urban garbage disposal and  building only basic infrastructure (Ens-newswire.com). 

Sources: 
http://www.amazon-rainforest.org/places-of-interest.html
http://www.eoearth.org/article/Ja%C3%BA_National_Park,_Brazil
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2002/2002-08-22-04.asp

HUMAN IMPACT (UGLY!)

Humans first made their way into the Amazon rainforest after the glacial era, which allowed humans to travel to different areas due to frozen oceans. Once people arrived to the Amazon, they split into cultures making their home in the mountain and forest areas (AmazonRainforest.org).

By the second half of the twentieth century, governments within the Amazon area, especially in Brazil, began creating cities and roads attracting migration, which started the problems for the Amazon rainforest (AmazonRainforest.org). The biggest impacts on the Amazon are agriculture, cattle ranching and wood chopping and exporting. Damage from wood chopping comes from those who conduct the method illegally. Those who carry out the method legally do not create much damage (AmazonRainforest.org). Aside from these impacts, fires also account for much the Amazon’s deforestation. Unlike some plants, plants in the Amazon are not adapted to fires. These fires not only release carbon into the atmosphere, but they cause the forest areas closest to land to be more susceptible to future fires. The drier weather uses potential sources of ignition, such as cattle pastures and agriculture fields (Mountinho and Shwartzman 24).

                  Image source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/14/forests.conservation

The burning of trees causes the trees to release a great percentage of their stored carbons. Trees conveniently store carbon, making it better for our atmosphere, but once burned, that carbon is released and contaminates our air. The following table shows the shockingly high percentage of carbon released from vegetation and soil when humans conduct different deforestation methods: 

table source: Tropical Deforestation and Climate Change (Paulo Moutinho and Stephan Schwartzman) p. 15

According to NASA researchers during dry seasons, the Amazon is experiencing higher rainfall and warmer temperatures each year in the deforested areas (Mongabay.com). One researcher, Andrew Negri, explains: “In deforested areas, the land heats up faster and reaches a higher temperature, leading to localized upward motions that enhance the formation of clouds and ultimately produce more rainfall” (Mongabay.com).

The Amazon has experienced two droughts and record flooding within the years of 2005 and 2010 (Mongabay.com). The picture above is from a 2010 New York Times article showing one of the worst droughts the the Amazon's experienced:

http://scientistatwork.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/12/drought-in-the-amazon-up-close-and-personal/

According to BluePlanetBiomes.org, "more than 20% of the Amazon rainforest has been destroyed and is gone forever" (Blueplanetbiomes.org).

Sources: Tropical Deforestation and Climate Change (Paulo Moutinho and Stephan Schwartzman)

http://news.amazon-rainforest.org/amazon-rainforest-to-be-extinct-by-2080.html

http://news.mongabay.com/2010/1214-nasa_amazon_river_drought.html
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/amazon.htm

BENEFITS FOR PEOPLE

We receive several of the products we use everyday thanks to the Amazon. Cacao (chocolate!) coffee, sugar cane, bananas, ginger and black pepper all come from the Amazon. The Amazon is also well known for being one of the most important producers of natural rubber in the world (kbears.com).

Native people of the Amazon have created remedies using different plants, which have helped their health and survival (amazon-rainforest.org). Today, 25% of all drugs in the world, including quinine, muscle relaxants, steroids, and cancer drugs, derive from rainforest ingredients. Scientist are gradually discovering news ways that plants from rainforest can help treat or cure diseases such as AIDS, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, and Alzheimer's.

Aside from providing resources, the Amazon tropical rainforest also plays a role in the climate, which affects the entire world. Amazon-Rainforest.org compares the Amazon to a "great air conditioner" because it cools down the temperature in the entire world by 1 or 2 degrees Celsius (Amazon-Rainforest.org), which is definitely convenient. It also helps to balance the humidity and rain in several parts of the globe.
 

sources: http://www.amazon-rainforest.org/amazon-importance.html 

http://www.kbears.com/climates/printtropical.html
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/amazon.htm

HISTORIC STATE OF THE AMAZON

The Amazon tropical rainforest began forming in its current location during the Paleozoic era, but it was not until the Cenozoic period, when it began its transformation into what its become today. (Amazon-Rainforest.org) About fifteen million years ago, the South American plate collided with the Nazca plate (southern Peru region), which caused the formation of the Andes mountains. The Andes blocked water paths, turning the Amazon into a large inland sea. Gradually, this sea became a large swampy lake, to which its underwater species adapted to. (Rainforests.Mongabay.com) To this day, similar species are found in the Pacific Ocean. Five million years later, water worked its way through sandstone and flowed eastward toward the Atlantic Ocean. During the Ice Age, sea levels dropped and the lake drained forming a river, known today as the Amazon River. (Rainforests.Mongabay.com) A geological change in the Andes mountains caused water to flow in the west direction, as it does to this day. Three million years later, water levels dropped enough to expose land in the rainforest and attract mammal species. (Rainforests.Mongabay.com) These changes are the reasons for why the rainforest appears the way it currently does.

Sources: amazon-rainforest.org
http://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/

AMAZON RAINFORESTS

(image source: http://www.srl.caltech.edu/personnel/krubal/rainforest/Edit560s6/www/where.html)

The image highlights (in dark green) all the rainforest found around the world. 

Tropical rainforests are wet and moist! Temperatures are warm throughout the whole year, averaging between 70-85° F (kbears.com). This forest also experiences plenty of precipitation: between 200 and 450 cm annually! Most plants are evergreen and absorb accumulated nutrients from decomposing material in soil (blueplanetbiomes.org). Rainforests consist of four layers, each with different conditions and plants that adapt to these conditions:

http://www.tigerhomes.org/animal/layers-rainforest.cfm

The top layer, the emergent layer, has trees that grow as tall as 200 feet. Here, they are exposed to wind, rainfall and direct sunlight. The leaves are adapted to this environment, as they are small and covered with a thick waxy surface to hold water (blueplanetbiomes.org). This layer acquires 1/3 of the world’s bird species as well as other animals, such as bats and monkeys (tigerhomes.org). 

The main layer, the canopy, has trees with smooth, oval leaves, allowing water to flow off quickly, preventing growth of fungi and mosses. Also, many plants in this layer are epiphytes (blueplanetbiomes.org).The majority of animals in the rainforest, including birds, monkeys, parrots, sloths, tree frogs, toucans, and leopards, are found in this layer (tigerhomes.org).

The understory only gets about two to five percent of the available sunlight. The plants adapt to these conditions with their dark green leaves, which allow them to absorb sunlight (blueplanetbiomes.org). Plants are shorter, and usually grow up to 12 feet tall. Animals found in this layer include: monkeys, sloths, tapirs, tree frogs, bats, and owls (tigerhomes.org). 
1

The lowest layer, the forest floor receives only about 2% sunlight and grows very few plants. The floor is mostly decomposing vegetation and organisms that are broken down into nutrients, which tree roots adsorb (blueplanetbiomes.org). This layer includes animals such as: anteaters, beetles, frogs, lizards, snakes (including the large anaconda) and termites (tigerhomes.org).

http://infactcollaborative.com/nature/amazon-rainforest-facts.html
Clockwise: 1. Parrots (found in the canopy layer of the Amazon) 
 2. Dolphins (found in the Amazon river)
3. Tapirs (found in the understory layer of the Amazon)

http://www.global1.youth-leader.org/2011/07/in-defense-of-the-amazon-aiding-the-survival-of-an-ecological-wonder/

Epiphytes (found in the canopy layer) grow from and live off other plants.

http://imagesnoise.com/amazon-rainforest-trees/31.html
Evergreen leaves in the Amazon.

Sources:

http://www.tigerhomes.org/animal/layers-rainforest.cfm

http://www.kbears.com/climates/printtropical.html

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/amazon.htm