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Amazon Rainforest, large tropical rainforest occupying the Amazon basin in northern South America and covering an area of 2,300,000 square miles (6,000,000 square km). It is the world’s richest and most-varied biological reservoir, containing several million species.
The Amazon rainforest, [a] also called Amazon jungle or Amazonia, is a moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin encompasses 7,000,000 km 2 (2,700,000 sq mi), [2] of which 6,000,000 km 2 (2,300,000 sq mi) are covered by the rainforest. [3]
Amazon facts. 1. The Amazon is the world’s largest tropical rainforest. Covering over 5.5 million square kilometres, it’s so big that the UK and Ireland would fit into it 17 times! 2. The Amazon is found in South America, spanning across Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. 3.
Reflecting environmental conditions as well as past human influence, the Amazon is made up of a mosaic of ecosystems and vegetation types including rainforests, seasonal forests, deciduous forests, flooded forests, and savannas.
Not only does the Amazon encompass the single largest remaining tropical rainforest in the world, it also houses at least 10% of the world’s known biodiversity, including endemic and endangered flora and fauna, and its river accounts for 15-16% of the world’s total river discharge into the oceans.
While the Amazon rainforest is one of the most important places on Earth, it is also one of the most threatened. Brazil has already lost 20% of its rainforest to deforestation, making the country one of world’s biggest contributors to greenhouse gases and global climate change.
Water vapor released from the Amazon creates vast “flying rivers” in the atmosphere, which influence rainfall and thus agricultural production in central and southern South America. And the billions of tons of carbon stored in the Amazon rain forest is of global importance to slowing climate change.
Deforestation is endangering rainforests worldwide, driven by logging, mining, agriculture, and ranching. About 17 percent of the Amazonian rainforest has been destroyed over the past 50 years,...
Mining, logging, ranching, agriculture, and oil and gas extraction have put unsustainable pressure on the delicate rain forests of the Amazon Basin. Use this infographic to teach your students about Amazonia, also known as the Amazon rainforest ecosystem. Where Does the Amazon River Begin?
Amazon Rainforest, large tropical rainforest occupying the Amazon basin in northern South America and covering an area of 2,300,000 square miles (6,000,000 square km). It is the world’s richest and most-varied biological reservoir, containing several million species.