The Amazon Rainforest Case Study:Specification content:

What you need to know:

What you need to do: Resources:

Case study of a tropical rainforest setting to illustrate and analyse key themes in water and carbon cycles and their relationship to environmental change and human activity.

Describe, explain and evaluate a number of themes relating to water and climate in the Amazon tropical rainforest, including: how changes in the water

and carbon cycles have changed the tropical rainforest environment

the relationships between hydrology, the carbon cycle and the environment

how human activity affects the tropical rainforest.

Describe and evaluate a range of strategies employed in the Amazon tropical rainforest to reduce the effects of climate change.

Make notes using the following resources under the headings:

Location of the Amazon Rainforest Factfile – include size, importance etc. Climate – explain what it is like and why

(ITCZ!) What is the Amazon’s place in the

water cycle What is the Amazon’s place in the

carbon cycle Explain the relationships between each

of these cycles within the Amazon environment

How have changes in each cycle changed the Amazon environment?

How has human activity affected the tropical rainforest? (logging, cattle ranching, mining etc.)

Research and construction of SWOT analysis of the range of strategies used to reduce the effects of climate change.

Deforestation and carbon cycles in the Amazon rainforest:

Textbook: pp. 44-46

Deforestation: facts, causes and effects

Amazon river breathes carbon dioxide from rain forest

Presentation exploring the impacts of land use change on the hydrological cycle in the Brazilian Amazon region:‘The Hydrological cycle’ by Woods Hole Research Centre (2014)

Exploring the impacts of climate change in the Amazonian tropical rainforest:

Amazon and climate change

Understanding climate change impacts on the Amazon rainforest

Climate change and the Amazon rainforest

Addressing climate change