Paper Example on Amazon Rainforest - South America Ecosystem

Introduction

Other than the general weather conditions of a certain area, there is the need for living organisms to connect with the environment. The connection sort of introduces a mutual benefit between the physical environment and living organisms, thus creating an aspect of interndepedence. The connection between living organisms and physical appearance of a certain area is thus referred as an ecosystem. Each ecosystem is made up of specific features, thus explaining the disparity between the different ecosystems present in the world right now.

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Location

Figure 1: The Amazon Rainforest- South America Ecosytem

The Amazon Rainforest-South America ecosystem is located in the Amazon basin located in the Southern part of America is indicated in Figure 1 ("Ecosystems Of The Amazon Rainforest"). Known to cover around nine countries, 60% of the rain forest is located in Brazil. The basin is commonly referred to as the Amazon Jungle due to its physical components thus making it an ecosystem. Besides, the eco-system is characterized by the huge Amazon river , believed to be 4000 miles long ("Ecosystems Of The Amazon Rainforest"). The green vegetation cover as evident in Figure 2 labels the Amazon as the lungs of planet earth due to the enormous vegetation cover ("The Amazon Rainforest").

Figure 2: The Amazon Rain Forest

Abiotic Factors

All ecosystems share abiotic factors commonly referred to as the non-living factors such as the temperature, type of soil, rainfall and humidity (Alfaro, Rene I.,et al 76-87). The Amazon rainforest is located close to the equator, thus experiencing the tropical type of climate. The tropical climate is characterized by factors such as certain temperatures that tend to determine the amount of rainfall. The Amazon records 27 degrees as the average temperature (Abril, R. Vinicio, et al 4). This implies that the Amazon does not experience the normal seasons, namely summer, spring, winter and autumn. The Amazon experiences one humid season with a lot of rainfall throughout the year. The atmosphere is quite humid thus making most of the Amazon damp. Due to the amount of rainfall experienced throughout the year, the Amazon experience precipitation up to levels of 30-100mm inches of water as experienced in the figure 3 below(Abril, R. Vinicio, et al 4).

Figure 3: Graph showing the average amount of precipitation annually in the Amazon

As mentioned earlier in the context of this paper, the Amazon experiences a tropical type of climate. Soils in areas experiencing such type of climate are thin and poor in nutrients. Besides, due to the tall trees forming a canopy, the soil is protected from direct sunlight. This makes the soil damp. Some of parts of the Amazon are characterized by sandy soils (Quesada, Carlos Alberto, et al.). They come to existence due to erosion occuring over the years. The difference in regards to soil as well as the climate in the Amazon is attributed to the various eco-regions in the Amazon. The eco-regions in this case are divided into terrestrial and aquatic eco-systems. Terrestrial in this case represents the land while the aquatic represents the water life. Amazon is defined as an eco-region, implying that it contains both land and water assembling the various species.

Figure 4: The Amazon Eco-region

As evident in figure 4, the Amazon eco-system is a home for both terrestrial and aquatic("Ecosystems Of The Amazon Rainforest"). Amazon hosts 30% of species and plants in the world right now. More than 430 species of mammals seek Amazon as their habitat with the majority being birds and rodents. This is proved by the existence of the world's biggest rodent , the capybara which weighs up to 200 pounds, equivalent to 91kilograms.

Figure 5: A muddy Capybara on the banks of River Amazon.

Figure 6: Brown Capuchin Monkey.

The Amazon is home to the aquatic eco-system . The aquatic eco-system is hosted by the great Amazon river that drains into the Atlantic ocean. The river acts as home to fisheries. Besides, the river is known to hold the most dangerous animals in the world. Furthermore, the animals are only present in the Amazon thus making its eco-system quite unique. The eco-system is home to 2500 different species of fishes . However, most of them remain unidentified since they are migratory due to the different periods of spawning. The species keep on multiplying thus acting as a source of food for animals living in the Amazon thus an essential component of the eco-system. Besides, the Indians living in the basin have a source of food supplied by the great river Amazon.

Major Biotic Components of the Ecosystem

As far as the Amazon rainforest is concerned, biotic components such as plant life make up most of the vegetation cover. Due to the presence of birds and other animals, there is constant pollination in the Amazon thus leading to an increase in the vegetation cover. One of the most dominant vegetation cover is the passion fruit flower. The flower is common to in the tropical climates, especially in the Amazon. Besides, it grows by clinging to trees. The Amazon is characterized by tall trees that end up forming canopies thus giving rise to such plants. The flower that produces passion fruits is food for animals such as monkeys. On the other hand, the Amazon acts as a host for this flower since it grows well in damp areas away from direct sunlight.

Figure 7: Passion Fruit Flower (Passiflora)

Taxonomic Groups of the Mentioned Species

The Passion fruit flower referred to as Passiflora edulis in regards to the various rules of naming species using binomial nomenclature. The passion flower has almost 400 species under the genus passiflora. They belong to a familiy referred to as Passifloracea which emulates the characteristics of flowers. Some of them produce edible fruit such as the passion. One of the flower that produces fruits narrows down to the wild passion flower refereed to as maypop. It has pink and white flowers thus producing a yellow fruit similar to a berry. The purple granadilla and the yellow granadilla and the wild passion are known for their good fruits as shown in Figure 7 and 8 (Shimada, Atsushi, et al 194-199).

Figure 8:Passion fruit (Passiflora edulis).

The monkey, as the main consumer of passion fruits in the Amazon belongs to the primates. The main type of monkeys in the Amazon narrows down to the spider monkeys. The spider monkeys belong to the genus Ateles. They are part of the Atelinae subfamily under the Atelidae family. They dwell on eating fruits, but occasionally feed on leaves and insects. The origin of the spider monkeys described as the New world order monkeys are quite different as compared to the previous species in regards to the feeding modes where the previous species would wholly depend on fruits and greens.

Ecosystem Change Over Time

The Amazon ecosystem is described as the lungs of the earth. Consequently, it has continually impacted the climate of the regions around South America. This implies that the areas experience a tropical type of climate with humidity and rainfall being experienced throughout the year especially in the nine countries it covers. However, the present times have witnessed changes in the Amazon ecosystem such as a decrease in the level of vegetation cover.

Spracklen and Luis GarciaCarreras explain that the Amazon has in the recent times seen an increase in acts of deforestation as a way of creatig land for settlement. This is due to the increasing size of the population in countries such as Brazil. Besides Spracklen and Luis GarciaCarreras explain that cattle rearing is the number one driver in the process of deforestation. Clearing of trees, leaves enough vegetation cover in the process of herding. Furthermore, the land is used as ranches that help with cattle rearing for beef production, an activity that is slowly becoming common in the southern part of America.

Besides, deforestation is being driven by the need for an increase in the level of coffee production. Coffee production is quite lucrative in regards to the exports of a country thus improving the economy. However, the clearing of forest to create more land for cultivation has seen a decrease in the size of the Amazon. However the green peace campaign launched in the year 2006 works towards putting a limit to such activities that see limit the environmental destruction.

The process of deforestation has seen a change in the eco-system. Cutting down of trees that in most places form a canopy expose the soil to direct sun rays as well as the processes of soil erosion. Once the soil is eroded down stream, the vegetation cover loses fertility. Consequently, the ground becomes loose thus leading to trees falling off. However, the various measures being taken by the green peace camapign has seen a decrease in the rate of deforestation.

Figure 9: Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon from 1988 to 2015

As evident in Figure 9, the rate of deforestation is continually decreasing. An increase in deforestation will change the ecosystem thus affecting both terrestrial and aquatic eco-regions. Vegetation cover keeps the atmosphere and soil damp, thus an increase in humidity. This attracts more rainfall in the tropical regions of the Amazon. However, if the level of deforestation increases, the eco-system of the Amazon-South America will be affected. The repercussions are quite evident since the eco-system helps the regions around receive quite a good amount of rainfall.

Conclusion

All in all, The Amazon- South America ecosystem is one of the largest eco-systems in the world. With reference to the context of the paper, the eco-system is described as the lungs of the earth due to its significance. The Amazon -South America ecosystem has impacted the climate in South America thus introducing the need to preserve the vegetation cover. Responsible agent in conjunction with the government should see to it that the Amazon is protected. The forest acts as a habitat for endangered species in the world. This calls for a decrease in the rate of human activities such as agriculture . Besides, activities such as cattle rearing and coffee production is on the rise, thus the need for regulatory actions.

Works Cited

"Ecosystems Of The Amazon Rainforest." Rainforest Cruises. N.p., 2018. Web. 19 May 2018.

"The Amazon Rainforest." Mongabay.com. N.p., 2018. Web. 19 May 2018.

Abril, R. Vinicio, et al. "Initial growth of Mansoa alliacea (Bignoniaceae), species of interest in the Amazon region of Ecuador." Cuban Journal of Agricultural Science 50.4 (2017).

Alfaro, Rene I., et al. "The role of forest genetic resources in responding to biotic and abiotic factors in the context of anthropogenic climate change." Forest Ecology and Management 333 (2014): 76-87.

Quesada, Carlos Alberto, et al. "Geology, Soils and Basin-wide variations in Amazon Forest Structure and function." EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts. Vol. 17. 2015.

Shimada, Atsushi, et al. "Effect of Temperature on Photosynthesis Characteristics in the Passion Fruits 'Summer Queen'and 'Ruby Star'." The Horticulture Journal 86.2 (2017): 194-199.

Spracklen, D. V., and Luis GarciaCarreras. "The impact of Amazonian deforestation on Amazon basin rainfall." Geophysical Research Letters 42.21 (2015): 9546-9552.