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A pulsating network of water and trees
Imagine a beautiful engine, self-evolved and fine-tuned over millions of years, consisting of different parts each playing its role perfectly, but for which there are no spares.
The Amazon River Basin is just that, a colossal but delicate apparatus encompassing various communities of organisms that interact in specific ways between each other and their physical environment. These parts, or ecosystems, play distinct roles that both wildlife and humans have evolved to use, and benefit from.
WWF defines an ecoregion as a "large unit of land or water containing a geographically distinct assemblage of species, natural communities, and environmental conditions".
The boundaries of an ecoregion are not fixed and sharp, but rather encompass an area within which important ecological and evolutionary processes most strongly interact.
These ecoregions contain sub-ecoregions, each determined by climatic, geological and biodiversity factors.
A unique mosaic
Far from being a monotonous expanse of trees, the Amazon River Basin is a web of landscapes and ecosystems. This unique mosaic gives the area its unmatched biological richness and hence, its global value.The rivers shaping the Amazon River Basin
Rivers have played a large part in determining the diversity of ecosystems in the region. Floodplain forests and varzea (the areas close to riversides that are flooded during the rainy season), terra firma rainforest (forest that is off the floodplain) and igapo (forests lining the blackwater rivers of the Amazon) are some of the common ecosystems found in the Amazon River Basin.Some of the most biodiverse ecoregions in the world
Biodiversity is not spread evenly across the Earth but follows complex patterns determined by climate, geology and the evolutionary history of the planet. These patterns are called "ecoregions".WWF defines an ecoregion as a "large unit of land or water containing a geographically distinct assemblage of species, natural communities, and environmental conditions".
The boundaries of an ecoregion are not fixed and sharp, but rather encompass an area within which important ecological and evolutionary processes most strongly interact.
These ecoregions contain sub-ecoregions, each determined by climatic, geological and biodiversity factors.
Magnificent Biodiversity!
The Amazon harbors at least 10% of the world’s known biodiversity, including endemic and endangered flora and fauna.
More information
- A step forward in incorporating Climate Change within planning tools of the Amazon countries.
- Protected Areas and Indigenous Territories in the Amazon region: a safety net for biodiversity and human beings
- Amazon protected areas as tools for climate change adaptation
- Purring monkey among 441 new species discovered in the Amazon rainforest