Share of the Amazonas forest in global terrestrial photosynthesis

Value 15 %
Organism Biosphere
Reference Yadvinder Malhi, J. Timmons Roberts, Richard A. Betts, Timothy J. Killeen, Wenhong Li, Climate Change, Deforestation, and the Fate of the Amazon, Science. 2008 Jan 11 319(5860):169-72. Epub 2007 Nov 29. DOI: 10.1126/science.1146961 p.169 left column top paragraphPubMed ID18048654
Primary Source [4] Field CB, Behrenfeld MJ, Randerson JT, Falkowski P. Primary production of the biosphere: integrating terrestrial and oceanic components. Science. 1998 Jul 10 281(5374):237-40.PubMed ID9657713
Comments P.169 left column top paragraph: "The forests of Amazonia (ref 1) covered about 5.4 million km^2 in 2001, approximately 87% of their original extent (ref 2), with 62% in Brazil. They host perhaps a quarter of the world's terrestrial species (ref 3) and account for about 15% of global terrestrial photosynthesis (primary source). Evaporation and condensation over Amazonia are engines of the global atmospheric circulation, having downstream effects on precipitation across South America and further afield across the Northern Hemisphere (refs 5, 6). Amazonian forests have been an important and continuous part of Earth system functioning since the Cretaceous (ref 7)."
Entered by Ron Milo - Admin
ID 100932