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
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.
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.
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?
Picture cited
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http://intotheheartofborneo.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/extent-of-deforestation-in-borneo-1950-2005-and-projection-towards-2020.jpg
http://www.leslietaylor.net/gallery/destruction/destruction.htm
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http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/images/content/157716main_forest_burning_lg.jpg
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Cited work
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lButler , Rhett. "Tropical Rainforest." Deforestation in the Amazon. N.p., 2008. Web. 10 Jun 2010.
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