The document summarizes information about the Amazon rainforest, including its location across 9 countries in South America, size, and that it contains over half the world's remaining rainforests. It then discusses some causes of deforestation in the Amazon including cattle ranching, mining, logging, and agriculture. Deforestation has led to over 600,000 square kilometers of forest being lost between 1991-2000. The consequences of deforestation mentioned include the potential for increased hurricane activity in the Caribbean due to rising sea temperatures from less forest transpiration in the Amazon.

2. Background:
 A moist broadleaf forest
(in the Amazon Basin of South America)
 Total area of Amazon Basin :
7 million square km²
( the forest itself occupies 5.5 million km²)
 located within 9 nations: Brazil (with 60% of the
rainforest), Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador,
Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana.
 The Amazon represents over half of the planet's
remaining rainforests and comprises the largest
and most species-rich tract of tropical rainforest
in the world.

3. A map showing the location of the Amazon Rainforest
( yellow line enclosed )

4. Map of the Amazon Basin in
South America

6. People in the Amazon Rainforest

7. Human Eater Trees

9. Angel Falls
 Highest waterfall in
the world
 Located in
Venezuela
 More than a half
mile long at 3,212

10. Andes Mountains
• Longest mountain chain
(4,200 miles) in the
world and one of the
highest
• Runs along the west
coast of South America
• Some of these
mountains are still
active volcanoes
• People live in these
mountains raising
sheep, llamas and
alpacas

11. Atacama Desert
• Known as the driest
place on earth
• There are some
places that rain as
never been recorded
• Located along the
coast of South
America in Chile
• Is considered “moon-
like” because it is so
barren looking

14. Blue Poison Dart Frog
Found in the understory layer
 Extremely poisonous
skin
 Eat insects (insectivore)
 Amphibian
 Bright colors warn
predators that it is
poison
 Its’ poison is used by
South American Indians
on the tips of their
hunting arrows

15. Piranha
Found in the Amazon River
 Fresh water fish
 Found in lakes and
streams
 Carnivore (meat eater)
 Teeth will be replaced
if broken
 Predators include
caimans, turtles,
snakes, birds and
people

16. Electric Eel
Found on the forest floor
 Fish
 Generates
electricity- will shock
its’ prey
 Grows to eight feet
long
 Surfaces to gulp air
 Electric shock will
get stronger as this
fish gets older

18. Deforestation in the Amazon:
 Deforestation :
forested areas converse to non-forested areas.
 The main sources of deforestation in the
Amazon are human settlement and
development of the land
 Between 1991 and 2000, the total area of
forest lost in the Amazon rose from 415,000 to
587,000 km²  twice the size of Portugal
with most of the lost forest becoming pasture
for cattle.

19. Today
 The land is being cleared for cattle ranches,
mining operations, logging, and subsistence
agriculture. Some forests are being burned to make
charcoal to power industrial plants.
 Native peoples of the Amazon rainforest have used
different plants for centuries as cures and potions for
their health and survival.

20. According to
Brazilian National
Institute of Space
Research(INPE),
the original
Amazon
rainforest biome
in Brazil of
4,100,000 km²
was reduced to
3,403,000 km² by
2005
Sales
Remaining
Forest
Deforest

21. 0
500,000
1,000,000
1,500,000
2,000,000
2,500,000
3,000,000
3,500,000
4,000,000
4,500,000
Total Remaining
1970-2005
1970-2005

22. Consequences of deforestation in
the Amazon
 http://www.voice-online.co.uk/content.php?show=9770
AMAZON DEFORESTATION CAUSES HURRICANE
The Caribbean could be vulnerable to increased hurricane activity if deforestation of the
Amazon rainforest is not stopped
 Working with religious leaders, scientists and politicians, Lelei LeLaulu, the president of
Counterpart International, spoke on the effects that deforestation of the Amazon could
have in the Caribbean, and the gulf states of America and Mexico.
 He said: “The scientists are telling us forest deforestation of the Amazon leads to a
failure if forest transpiration, the forest pumps, leaving heat in the southern north
Atlantic which in turn gives birth to more extreme hurricanes in the Caribbean.”
 Currently, more than one fifth of the Amazon rainforest has been destroyed and,
according to a Brazilian congressional committee, the Amazon is vanishing at a rate of
52,000 square kilometres per year(20,000 miles per year). With these figures, the
rainforest would be completely destroyed by the year 2050.
 LeLaulu said: “ We are now able to explain why the sea temperature of the southern
north Atlantic has been rising, giving birth to more extreme hurricanes which ravage the
Caribbean and north America.”