Preview

Loss Of Biodiversity In The Amazon Rainforest Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
569 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Loss Of Biodiversity In The Amazon Rainforest Essay
How does deforestation contribute to the loss of biodiversity in the Amazon?
Introduction
The Amazon rainforest is the world’s greatest remaining natural resource, and the most powerful and bio actively diverse natural wonder on the planet. Its size is so great that if the Amazonian were to be a country, it would be the ninth largest in the world. It covers more than 1.2 billion acres of land, and has approximately 6.47 square kilometres of rainforest; making up 54% of the word’s rainforests. The Amazon rainforest is known as the Earth’s lungs, due to its dense forest providing more than twenty percent of the world’s oxygen. However, many people may not know that it is also home to Earth’s largest collection of plant and animal species.
Research and Evidence
…show more content…
Due to the environmental change of deforestation, the effects on this bio diverse wonder can be catastrophic. Deforestation happens in this region for a number of reasons; soy production, logging (legal or illegal) and farm land to name a few. This destruction causes the numerous species of plants and trees to be destroyed, thus leading to the destroying of multiple habitats of the large population of animal and insect species living in the Amazon. Some animals, such as toads and reptiles may go extinct, as some already have over the course of the last century.
As well as the effect to the biodiversity, the deforestation of the Amazon can lead to climate change around the world, as the forest plays a huge role in the storing of carbon. It also affects rainfall patterns, and if the trend in deforestation continues, the theory is that it could lead to droughts and crop failures across the Americas, and possibly as far away as

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    This depletion of rainforests is a real thing, which if not sustained certainly will cause changes so drastic that the rainforests are virtually unrecoverable. As discussed earlier the deforestation of rainforests has the ability to cause, damaged oxygen cycle, no food or resources, no medicinal herbs or plants causing unknown disaster, and no more resources to build houses for out constantly growing population, this will have devastating effects on our eco-system.…

    • 1465 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The truth of this though is that we as humans are trying to industrialize and develop the Amazon more and more every day for our own purposes. We are deforesting the forest; also known as deforestation. Since 1980 more than 580,000 square kilometers (224,000 square miles) of the Amazon forest has been destroyed due to deforestation. (Butler, “Deforestation in the Amazon”)…

    • 1919 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Up to 40% of plant species may no longer be viable in the Amazon rainforest by 2080 if predicted climate changes occur. Large areas of the evergreen tropical rainforest may be succeeded by mixed forest and savannah grassland vegetation.…

    • 414 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Rainforest’s global impact is severe because of its incredible size. It has the potential to change the climate, including precipitation patters and air concentrations. If mankind wants to improve, or at least stop degrading the rainforest, we should ban logging and start to replant and rebuild the…

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A tropical rainforest is an ecosystem that occurs roughly within 28 degrees north or south of the equator (equatorial zone between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn). They are characterised by their humidity (average of 88% in the rainy season and 77% in the dry season), hot temperature (average 27.9 °C during the dry season and 25.8 °C during the rainy season) but more importantly their extremely high rainfall (torrential rainfall - between 1,500 mm and 3,000 mm annually). Tropical rainforests contain the most diverse range and highest volume of plant and animal life found anywhere on the Earth, however, they are amongst the most threatened ecosystem globally due to the large scale fragmentation due to human activity and expansion – 16% of the Earth’s surface was once covered by tropical rainforest, yet the figure has significantly dropped to approximately 6% with no optimism of it increasing again. In this essay I will focus on the Amazon Rainforest, it is 2 times the size of India harbouring 10% of the world’s known species and is home to 350 ethnic groups.…

    • 2137 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Amazon Rainforest, located in the northern part of South America, is the largest rainforest on Earth, containing more than 60% of Earth’s fresh water, over 20% of oxygen on Earth, and huge amounts of carbon dioxide (ACEER). However, the Amazon Rainforest has been deforested principally in order to provide land for the locals who were homeless due to poverty, overpopulation, and government policies. Also, economic reasons such as providing land for cattle ranches, agriculture, logging, and mining (Maczulak) increased the rate of deforestation. In fact, since 1988, over 141,470 square miles of the Amazon Rainforest have been deforested (INPE). The imprudent use of the resources and land of the Amazon Rainforest is destroying the…

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    They are very important because they decompose the rotting trees, decaying fruit, and dead animals in the forest. They also provide nutrients to the land. Human Impact on The Amazon • Deforestation- Many acres of the Amazon have been eliminated each year for farming,…

    • 417 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Human beings have exploited the tropical rainforests for many years now for their abundance of resources and their biodiversity. The moist exploited is the Amazon rainforest which has already lost 20% of its area forever. Deforestation is the single biggest threat to the rainforest; the prime cause of it is cattle ranching. This is when land is cleared to provide space for cattle ranchers to herd their livestock to help increase beef production. This activity accounts for 60% of deforestation in Brazil, which is having a major effect on the biodiversity of the ecosystem. The impacts of deforestation are wide. In the Amazon there have been problems with increased forest fires, soil erosion and decreased biodiversity, caused by habitat loss. Subsistence farming is another factor…

    • 1444 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    M. (2006). Condition and fate of logged forests in the Brazilian Amazon. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 103(34), 12947–50. doi:10.1073/pnas.0604093103.…

    • 694 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Amazon Rainforest

    • 1036 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Amazonian Rainforest consists of an expansive 350 million square acres smack in the middle of Brazil and many other countries. It is the largest rainforest in the world and is home to hundreds of indigenous species of plants and animals. However Brazil’s developing status is endangering the rainforests existence. It is currently reported that 500,000 trees are cut down every hour, and the country is losing anywhere from 20,000 to 100,000 species a year. To many this is unacceptable and the amazon should be protected, others believe that operations should continue as is. In reality the Amazon Rainforest needs to be developed in a sustainable manner because the rainforest is home to many species and is detrimental to global health, Brazil…

    • 1036 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rainforest Coursework

    • 690 Words
    • 3 Pages

    I used this photo to show the delicacy of the food web. Plant and animal ecosystem would be affected if you took out one of the species of the food web. The Amazon rainforest consists of four layers or communities. Each layer has unique ecosystems, plants, and animals adapted to that system. Many of the species in the rainforest are vulnerable to extinction because they depend on other species in certain ways. Most of the trees need certain animals to dispose of their fruit. For example: there are hundreds of different kinds of fig trees that depend on different species of animals and insects to pollinate them. The destruction of one of these species could wipe out the other. Also Native peoples of the Amazon rainforest have used different plants for centuries as cures and potions for their health and survival.…

    • 690 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Amazon Deforestation Essay

    • 1051 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Why should we care about deforestation? Deforestation is a leading cause in global warming and the increase in greenhouse gases like carbon. Deforestation also affects many things including man-kind. The degradation of the Amazons trees and vegetation would be oil industries, and soybean farmers’ expansion into the rainforest. The effects are also important as well, some effects of Deforestation are the change in climate, the impact on the global hydro climate, and scattered rainfall; whether it be increased or decreased.…

    • 1051 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There is a towering amount of over 4,000 different types of species of plants in the rain forest. Each of them using photosynthesis to produce oxygen from carbon dioxide for us to breath. Now imagine just how hard it would be to breath ,with a giant amount of the plants gone not producing oxygen. Rain forest as a whole produce 20% of the world's oxygen, the Amazon by itself stores a huge amount of carbon itself. This being said cutting down the Amazon Rainforest would release the carbon in the form of carbon dioxide which would in fact harm the human race as whole. If you have not known already carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that when released in the air can make it not only hard for…

    • 543 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Amazon: Rain Forest

    • 928 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Amazon Rainforest is composed of an abundant number of vegetation made up of a wide variety of trees such as, Myrtle, Laurel, Palm, and Acacia, as well as Rosewood, Brazil Nut, and Rubber Tree. In the 20th century, people began settling in the major areas of the Amazon Rainforest (Britannica.com). Settlers began to cut down trees to obtain lumber and to create grazing pastures and farmland, shrinking down the vegetation dramatically (Britannica.com). In response to this, in the 1900’s, the government of Brazil and various international bodies began efforts to maintain the rainforest and protect it from…

    • 928 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Deforestation - Paragraph

    • 383 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Deforestation is the process whereby natural forests are cleared through logging and/or burning, either to use the timber or to replace the area for alternative uses. Deforestation occurs around the world, though tropical rainforests are particularly targeted. Countries with significant deforestation currently or in the recent past include Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other parts of Africa, and parts of Eastern Europe, according to UNEP collaborating center. Forests are cut down for many reasons, but most of them are related to money or to people’s need to provide for their families. The biggest driver of deforestation is agriculture. Farmers cut forests to provide more room for planting crops or grazing livestock. Logging operations, which provide the world’s wood and paper products, also cut countless trees each year. Forests are also cut as a result of growing urban sprawl. Not all deforestation is intentional. Some is caused by a combination of human and natural factors like wildfires and subsequent overgrazing, which may prevent the growth of young trees. Deforestation and forest degradation can cause biodiversity to decline. When forest cover is removed, wildlife is deprived of habitat and becomes more vulnerable to hunting. Considering that about 80% of the world's documented species can be found in tropical rainforests, deforestation puts at risk a majority of the Earth’s biodiversity. Healthy forests help absorb greenhouse gasses and carbon emissions that are caused by human civilization and contribute to global climate change. Without trees, more carbon and greenhouse gasses enter the atmosphere. As a result of deforestation, trees no longer evaporate groundwater, which can cause the local climate to be much drier. Deforestation accelerates rates of soil erosion, by increasing runoff and reducing the protection of the soil from tree litter. Millions of people rely directly on forests, through small-scale…

    • 383 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays