Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Satellites in September recorded 32,017 hotspots in the world's largest rainforest, a 61% rise from the same month in 2019. [140] In addition, October saw a huge surge in the number of hotspots in the forest (more than 17,000 fires are burning in the Amazon's rainforest) – with more than double the amount detected in the same month last year.
Such activity is generally illegal within these nations, but enforcement of environmental protection can be lax. The increased rates of fire counts in 2019 led to international concern about the fate of the Amazon rainforest, which is the world's largest terrestrial carbon dioxide sink and plays a significant role in mitigating global warming.
Fire ecology is a scientific discipline concerned with the effects of fire on natural ecosystems. [1] [2] Many ecosystems, particularly prairie, savanna, chaparral and coniferous forests, have evolved with fire as an essential contributor to habitat vitality and renewal. [3]
Amazon River rain forest in Peru. Tropical rainforests are hot and wet. Mean monthly temperatures exceed 18 °C (64 °F) during all months of the year. [4] Average annual rainfall is no less than 1,680 mm (66 in) and can exceed 10 m (390 in) although it typically lies between 1,750 mm (69 in) and 3,000 mm (120 in). [5]
The paper's worst-case scenario for both stressors had only 53% of the original rainforest area surviving as a continuous ecosystem by 2050, with the rest reduced to a severely fragmented block. [57] Another study estimated that the rainforest would lose 69% of its plant species under the warming of 4.5 °C (8.1 °F). [58] [failed verification]
Moreover, the degradation of rainforests contributes to climate change by releasing stored carbon into the atmosphere, creating a feedback loop that further accelerates global warming. [1] [2] [3] A study highlighted in a 2022 Nature article underscores the broader climate benefits of tropical forests beyond carbon storage. Tropical forests ...
Rainforests can be generally classified as tropical rainforests or temperate rainforests, but other types have been described. Estimates vary from 40% to 75% of all biotic species being indigenous to the rainforests. [1] There may be many millions of species of plants, insects and microorganisms still undiscovered in tropical rainforests.
Deforestation in the Maranhão state, Brazil, in July 2016. The Amazon rainforest, spanning an area of 3,000,000 km 2 (1,200,000 sq mi), is the world's largest rainforest.It encompasses the largest and most biodiverse tropical rainforest on the planet, representing over half of all rainforests.