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Picture provide by:
http://www.pbs.org/journeyintoamazonia/plants.html
Picture provided by: http://peruperu.com/images/south-america.gif Insects are humming in the trees, birds
call from the canopy, and animals snuffle on the forest floor, as the
sun warms the edge of the Amazon Basin. Before me, is the amazing rainforest,
a captivating expanse of greens that stretches beyond the horizon. Wreathed
in the early morning fog, the rainforest presents a hazy illusion of
palm trees and crawling creatures. But it’s too abundant and teeming
with life to be illusory. Its insects sneak through the underbrush,
its birds fly into the morning sky, and its animals leap from one branch
to another. Although I see all this before me, the real mystery is hidden
within the trees. Like most other climates near the Equator,
the Amazon Rainforest is a hot, humid span of literally millions of
trees and organisms. A habitat that once covered more than half of Brazil
and Peru, is retreating. In those trees are the answers to many problems
that our world faces, and yet, we're destroying it. The forest conceals
secrets never to be found if deforestation continues. Many species are being killed off before
they are even discovered. Here in Brazil (and the other world rainforests),
all of the organisms are interdependent. That's why it's crucial to
understand all the threads in this great web of relationships before
the web disintegrates. Important to a large number of organisms in the
Amazon Basin is the Orbignya phalerata Martius, or Babassu Palm, the
third most important palm in the world.
Picture provided by: http://www.gastonsalon.com/images/spotli2.jpg This Babassu Palm, as it name suggests,
is a palm tree. Palms are among the most important plants in the tropical
region, for they provide food, drink, fibers, and building materials
for animals and humans. Palms are most common and widely distributed
in Southeast Asia, the Pacific islands, and in tropical America. There
are more than 2 800 species of varying palms in existence. Palms are
most important to local natives, but people all over the world depend
on them for useful products, such as soap, margarine, ornaments, and
building materials. The Babassu grows approximately twenty
meters high, with a long, narrow trunk that only has leaves on the top
of the tree, like hair. Babassu leaves can grow to nine meters in length
and are of the typical palm leaf shape. It's fruits look like mini coconuts
and are usually found in clusters of five hundred. Babassu palms are
more fond of moist soil and partial or full sunlight. The flowers on
the palm are manioc (meaning both male and female flowers are on the
same tree) and bloom a bright, vibrant yellow. The Babassu is a very
robust species, being the first to settle in after bush fires. The Orbignya phalerata Martius is found
exclusively in the Amazon Rainforest (specifically northeastern Brazil),
where it grows in clusters or colonies of hundreds. Small Babassu plantations
are found in places such as Europe, for easier access to the oils, but
they are few and far between. The Babassu Palm is becoming endangered
in its natural habitat. Its destruction could lead a chain reaction
and eventually result in the whole forest's destruction. If one species
is eliminated, say a type of fern, then an animal (like a tapir) that
depends on that fern, is out of food and they are forced to extinction.
Then, an animal like the jaguar is out of their food source, so their
whole existence is removed. This cycle repeats until the entire forest
is gone. Babassu palms are predominantly used for the oil that is manufactured from the Babassu fruit. Also, the leaves are used to weave mats and construct house walls, and the stems are used for timber. The fruits provide the greatest variety of products, such as fertilizer, alcohol tar, acetic acid, edible oil, charcoal, and flour. The old trunks can be used for cellulose and paper. The terminal bud of a Babassu is edible, but is more often 'tapped' for the multi-purpose sap. The skin of the fruit contains useful fibers and the pulp is starchy, so it is ground into flour. The shells are hard and used as small containers. It is only the kernel of the fruit that is used for oil. The Babassu tree is not only used for so many things by natives in the local area, but also by people around the world. Therefore it is often referred to as the 'tree of life'. Palms provide shelter, food, fuel, fiber, construction materials, medicine, magic, and other basic necessities of life for the local natives. It is a very aggressive component of the ecosystem. The babassu provides nutrients for the soil, food and shade for the local animal and human population, and products for the people that inhabit the region.
The ‘tree of life’
is quickly disappearing. Is this a symbol of the destruction of the
rainforest? The Amazon Rainforest contains the largest river in the
world. It drains more than two thirds of the United States water into
the Atlantic Ocean, one fifth of the world's fresh water in one water
system. It's trees provide fifty percent of the world's oxygen; fifty
percent! Literally the lungs of the planet. And that's not all. The
Amazon holds more than half of the world's species of plants, animals,
and insects, twenty-five percent of the cancer fighting drugs originate
in the Amazon, one hundred and twenty-one prescription drugs are derived
in that rainforest, three thousand fruits are found there, and at least
eighty percent of the world's diet stems from the Amazon Rainforest.
All this in one rainforest that is on the brink of extinction.
A Babassu Palm seen in the
Amazon Deforestation and fire are the leading
causes in the destruction of the Amazon Rainforest. Logging is necessary
to provide the world with lumber and paper, but illegal felling of trees
in protected areas is causing rainforest extinction. Extinction rates
are rising dramatically throughout the world, not just in the Amazon.
But the Amazon might have one the greatest overall effects on the entire
world. Also, reduction in rainfall results from the massive quantity
of trees being felled. A loss of nutrients originally stored in the
primary forest is disappearing, never to be retrieved again. Over half of the precipitation that falls
over the Amazon Rainforest is recycled back into the atmosphere. If
deforestation happened predominantly in a certain part of the Amazon,
the opposite side would see a reduction in their rainfall. The Amazon
is so vast that this is already happening in astounding quantities of
rainfall. The rest of the world could see a reduction in rainfall, also.
It would happen all over the world. Reduction in rainfall could result,
in the literal sense, in the dehydration and death of trees.
The lush vegetation of the
rainforest that is disappearing. Amazingly, one decade of fossil fuel
burning (say 1975-1985) worldwide is equivalent to the complete combustion
of the Amazon Rainforest. So, in simple terms, if the whole of the Amazon
Rainforest were to catch fire, it would give off the equivalent amount
of greenhouse gases as a decade of fossil fuel burning. Even now, four
of the five percent of greenhouse gas emissions that the Amazon releases
come from the burning of the forests. Trees remove carbon dioxide from
the atmosphere when they are alive, so why are we burning them? This
logic that some loggers and business people have just does not fit the
common sense that you or I possess. And some people realize the danger
the rainforests are in, and still, they treat them the same way, just
because it would cause an inconvenience to them. Are you one of those
people? And what is the government
doing, you ask? Well, some laws that used to encourage burning of the
forests to clear areas (to build roads for example) are now being prohibited.
As of 2002, Brazil has fifty-eight percent of land covered by forest,
compared to the sixty-seven percent in '94. It is frowned upon to deforest
or burn trees and plants not in protected areas and illegal in the nature
reserves. And the government is still allowing building or farming in
the Amazon to continue, taking no action against them. So, are they
doing enough, or just watching their most important product being destroyed? Discussions are happening
about what to do about the destruction of so many species, however.
There was the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 where two
major agreements (one was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the
other was a pact on the protection of biodiversity) were reached. Every
important official in the world is aware of the situation growing in
the Amazon, whether they are doing anything about it or not. Nonetheless,
some are trying to help and at least most everyone is in the know about
this growing problem. So the Babassu Palm is becoming endangered and the Amazon Rainforest is becoming extinct. Everyone will be affected, so you should all care. Already, the extinction rate of the world is 27 000 species each year that become extinct, approximately three every hour. Imagine what that is doing to all the ecosystems those species used to belong to. Think about what the Amazon would do without the Babassu Palm or all those other species being killed off every day. Think about how so many species would be helpless without them. Albert Einstein once said, "The world we have created today, as the result of our thinking, thus far has problems which cannot be solved by thinking the way we thought when we created them". Dr. Jeffrey Richey (a scientist in the Amazon) spoke these true words, "We very much regard the Amazon as a big natural laboratory." Do we really want to ruin such a wonderful laboratory, such an amazing tree, and such a remarkable rainforest? Just think about it a little bit. Think of all the animals that are placing their hopes in you. Think about it.
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