office of the president of brasil
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Office of the President of Brasil. Amazon Rainforest Fact File. The Case for Saving the Amazon Rainforest. What is a rainforest?. Rainforests are very dense (crowded), warm, wet forests. They are a living place for millions of plants and animals. . Where is it? . - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Office of the President of Brasil
Amazon
Rainforest
Fact File
The Case for
Saving the
Amazon
Rainforest
What is a rainforest?Rainforests are very dense
(crowded), warm, wet forests. They are a living place for millions of plants and animals.
Where is it? • The Amazon
rainforest is located in South America in parts of Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.
How big is it?• Over 2,123,562
square miles!• Equal to the size of
the continental United States!
The Amazon River• The Amazon River
runs through the heart of the rainforest.
• At 4,007 miles it is the 2nd longest river in the world.
• BUT, by amount of water… it is the world’s #1.
The Amazon River is an important part of Brazil’s economy… allowing for easy trade and transportation around the country.
BiodiversityEven though the Amazon rainforest only takes up 3.5% of the Earth’s land it is home to one in ten (10%) of all the known species in the world!
2.5 million insects 40,000 plants2,200 fishes 1,294 birds427 mammals 378 reptiles428 amphibians
The largest collection of species in the world! That’s…
Rainforest EcosystemAt different
layers of the Amazon rainforest different species live and interact.
Indigenous PeopleOver 500,000
people in about 200 different ORIGINAL tribes live traditional lives in the Amazon rainforest
Benefits of the Amazon Rainforest
• 20% of the world’s oxygen is produced by the trees of the Amazon
• Currently, 121 prescription drugs (medicine) currently sold worldwide come from plant-derived sources
• 70% of the plants identified as having anti-cancer characteristics by the US National Cancer Institute are found only in the tropical rainforest
The periwinkle plant helps make one of the most powerful cancer fighting medicines.
Foods of the Amazon
Rainforest• At least 80% of the developed world's food diet originated in the tropical rainforest.
• Fruits like avocados, coconuts, figs, oranges, lemons, grapefruit, bananas, guavas, pineapples, mangos and tomatoes;
• Vegetables including corn, potatoes, rice, winter squash and yams;
• Spices like black pepper, cayenne, chocolate, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, sugar cane, tumeric, coffee and vanilla
• Nuts including Brazil nuts and cashews.