Geography GCSE

• 50,000 hectares are removed for mining of minerals
• The reserves in mines are expected to last for 300 years
• commercial farming covers 80% of all deforestation in the amazon
• commercial farming also covers 25% of cleared land in the amazon
• transamazon highway is 4,000km long
• 7,000km cleared for the HEP reservoir
• 125 dams expected to be built for 15 years
• HEP provides 80% of Brazils electricity
• tribes have been displaced as numbers reduced from 330(1900) to 240
• 50-90% of species are found in the rainforest
• 2,000 medicinal plants with anti cancerous properties found in rainforest
• 1/4 modern medicine originated from the amazon
• akuntsu tribe reduced to only 5 members
• 33,000 new trees planted in 2018 due to REGUA
• ITTA ( international tropical timber agreement) set up in 2006 and 71 countries signed up
• amazon generates 20% of global oxygen
• 20000 species lost each year in the amazon
• 15% of direct global greenhouse emissions cause by deforestation
• 12-15 million hectares of forest lost each year
• toucans beak is 1/3 of its body
• sloth has 3 extra cervical vertebrae to turn its head 270 degrees
• buttress roots grow up to 2m above ground to help anchor the emergent tree
• emergent 30-60m
• canopy 15-30m
• under canopy 5-15m
• shrub layer less than 5m
• epping forest is home to 177 species of lichen and moss
• epping forest has 100 lakes and ponds
• food web has multiple interactions and multiple food options per species
• food chain is linear pattern with only one food option at each level
• nutrient cycle is where trees shed leaves and the decaying vegetation releasing nutrients which enter soil surface and get taken up by shallow roots which use it to help their tree grow
• trophic levels are the levels of a food chain/web and shows direction of energy
• insolation is the intensity of the suns rays due to concentration at the equator due to the earths tilt
• conventional rainfall is when sun heats ground causing warm air to rise and air condensed to make clouds to form and droplets form and gravity letting them fall
• Polar Bears have closable nostrils to prevent water from entering the nose when swimming
• 14% of Earth’s carbon is ties up in permafrost
• 1/10 are employed in Alaska’s fishing industry
• fishing industry contributes $ 6 billion to Alaskan economy
• Trans-Alaskan Pipeline is 800km long
• March 1989 - oil tanker spilled between 260,000 to 750,000 barrels of crude oil into prince william sound