Publication Date:
1984-07-13
Description:
Despite the very active deforestation of the last decade, the Amazon Basin is still primarily covered with trees and is a system in equilibrium. The Andes form a barrier at the western end of the basin and, coupled with the prevailing easterly winds, ensure an almost unique precipitation and water-recycling regime. On average 50 percent of the precipitation is recycled, and in some areas even more. The soils are poor. Most of the nitrogen and phosphorus is found in the soil, and the remaining nutrient elements are found in the standing biomass. There is some nutrient recycling and little loss from the intact ecosystem, and the small input of nutrients from precipitation maintains a small positive nutrient balance. Continued large-scale deforestation is likely to lead to increased erosion and water runoff with initial flooding in the lower Amazon, together with reduced evapotranspiration and ultimately reduced precipitation. Reduced precipitation in the Amazon could increase the tendency toward continentality and adversely affect climate and the present agriculture in south-central Brazil.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Salati, E -- Vose, P B -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 1984 Jul 13;225(4658):129-38.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17837908" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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