Jau Natinal Park
Jaú National Park- Case study of a Tropical Environment
1. Location, size and characteristics
Jaú National Park is about 200 km north-west of Manaus. It is located within the watershed of the Amazonian central plain, i.e. all water drains down into the Amazon. It stretches 340 km west of the join between the Jaú and Negro rivers between 1°40’-3°00’S and 61°26’- 64°00’W.
It covers an area of 23,000 km² making it the largest forest wildlife park in South America.
Being in such a forested area it has a high amount of rainfall each year accompanied by a warm and humid climate, reaching up to 2000mm or rainfall per year.
2. Why is it a UNESCO world heritage site: outline the ecology of the area?
It was chosen to become a UNESCO site along with several other parks because of several factors. One of these was that within the area there number of different habitats and ecosystems is very high. As well as all the different types of forest environment these is also the river environment, some of with floods yearly, leading to a truly unique set of conditions. For example the ever changing patterns of the river channels provide the home for the largest collection of electric fish in the world.
All of this means that it is one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet. There is a high diversity of vertebrates with 120 species of mammals, 411 birds, 15 reptiles and 320 fishes. Numerous numbers of these are of conservational concern. The importance of the site is represented well in this respect; it contains 60% of species of fish that resided in the amazon and 60% of all birds recorded in the central Amazonian complex.
The park also produces the iconic black water river system that is so often associated with the Amazon. These are produced by organic acids that are realised into the waters because of the decomposition of plant matter in the surrounding forests and the lack of terrestrial sediments.
All this means that the park has a very impressive collection of
1. Location, size and characteristics
Jaú National Park is about 200 km north-west of Manaus. It is located within the watershed of the Amazonian central plain, i.e. all water drains down into the Amazon. It stretches 340 km west of the join between the Jaú and Negro rivers between 1°40’-3°00’S and 61°26’- 64°00’W.
It covers an area of 23,000 km² making it the largest forest wildlife park in South America.
Being in such a forested area it has a high amount of rainfall each year accompanied by a warm and humid climate, reaching up to 2000mm or rainfall per year.
2. Why is it a UNESCO world heritage site: outline the ecology of the area?
It was chosen to become a UNESCO site along with several other parks because of several factors. One of these was that within the area there number of different habitats and ecosystems is very high. As well as all the different types of forest environment these is also the river environment, some of with floods yearly, leading to a truly unique set of conditions. For example the ever changing patterns of the river channels provide the home for the largest collection of electric fish in the world.
All of this means that it is one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet. There is a high diversity of vertebrates with 120 species of mammals, 411 birds, 15 reptiles and 320 fishes. Numerous numbers of these are of conservational concern. The importance of the site is represented well in this respect; it contains 60% of species of fish that resided in the amazon and 60% of all birds recorded in the central Amazonian complex.
The park also produces the iconic black water river system that is so often associated with the Amazon. These are produced by organic acids that are realised into the waters because of the decomposition of plant matter in the surrounding forests and the lack of terrestrial sediments.
All this means that the park has a very impressive collection of