The Amazon and Water
Why Is Water Important?
Water is the Source of Life.
The Amazon river begins as a small stream in the Peruvian Andes, and winds its way east over the northern half of South America, growing and fanning out to carry approximately 20% of the planet’s fresh water to sea. The Amazon River has 1,100 tributaries and It discharges the largest volume of water with twenty eight billion gallons of water released into the Atlantic every minute, decreasing the oceans salinity for more than 100 miles offshore. The water discharged daily from the Amazon rivers into the Atlantic is enough to supply 9 years of fresh water to New York City. Amazonia receives about 9 feet of rain every year. Fifty percent of this returns to the atmosphere through the foliage of trees. There are so many trees in the Amazon that they make their own rainfall. On an average sunny day the trees of the Amazon release 20 billion tons of moisture into the atmosphere seeding the clouds with rain.
The Amazon River carries 20% of the planet’s fresh water to sea
The Amazon River is the second longest river in the world.
The Amazon basin contains the largest share of freshwater species in the world due to the immense size of the basin and the variety of aquatic habitat. Freshwater species in the Amazon most commonly include fish, crustaceans, mollusks and insect larvae and are food sources for a number of aquatic animals. Freshwater fish are also eaten by land-dwelling salamanders, mammals and birds. There are at least 3,000 species of freshwater fish species in the Amazon River basin. Though the inhabitants of the Amazon River are numerous and diverse, there is limited information on Amazonian aquatic species due to the difficulty of studying such an extensive river system.
The Amazon also provides essential ecosystem services such as the transport of nutrients and sediment. It also provides services for humans, such as water for agriculture, power generated by hydroelectric plants, transportation, and food.
From the Blog: Water
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