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104-605: The Cuniã Ecological Station is in the Amazon biome , and covers 186,743 hectares (461,450 acres). It covers parts of the municipalities of Canutama and Humaitá in the state of Amazonas and Porto Velho in the state of Rondônia. 90% of the 30,000 hectares (74,000 acres) Rio Madeira Sustainable Yield Forest (C) overlaps with the ecological station. The terrain bordering the Madeira River alternates between floodplains and lacustrine plains formed by accumulated sediments. Further from

208-558: A Latinate word denoting a woodland, may be admitted; in a specific technical sense it is restricted to denoting the species of trees that comprise the woodlands of a region, as in its sense in the subject of silviculture . The resorting to sylva in English indicates more precisely the denotation that the use of forest intends. The first known forests on Earth arose in the Middle Devonian (approximately 390 million years ago ), with

312-424: A canopy cover of more than 10 percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ . It does not include land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban use." Using this definition, Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 found that forests covered 4.06 billion hectares (10.0 billion acres; 40.6 million square kilometres; 15.7 million square miles), or approximately 31 percent of

416-464: A combination of measures aimed at increasing forest carbon stocks, andsustainable timber offtake will generate the largest carbon sequestration benefit. The term forest-dependent people is used to describe any of a wide variety of livelihoods that are dependent on access to forests, products harvested from forests, or ecosystem services provided by forests, including those of Indigenous peoples dependent on forests. In India , approximately 22 percent of

520-405: A different classification of forest vegetation is often used: tree, shrub, herb, and moss layers (see stratification (vegetation) ). Forests are classified differently and to different degrees of specificity. One such classification is in terms of the biomes in which they exist, combined with leaf longevity of the dominant species (whether they are evergreen or deciduous ). Another distinction

624-437: A few main pathways, including increase in commercial tree plantations, adoption of agroforestry techniques by small farmers, or spontaneous regeneration when former agricultural land is abandoned. It can be motivated by the economic benefits of forests, the ecosystem services forests provide, or cultural changes where people increasingly appreciate forests for their spiritual, aesthetic, or otherwise intrinsic value. According to

728-409: A forest may be of a great variety of species (as in tropical rainforests and temperate deciduous forests ), or relatively few species over large areas (e.g., taiga and arid montane coniferous forests). The biodiversity of forests also encompasses shrubs , herbaceous plants, mosses , ferns , lichens , fungi , and a variety of animals . Trees rising up to 35 meters (115 ft) in height add

832-542: A forested area by cutting or burning, either to harvest timber or to make way for farming. Most deforestation today occurs in tropical forests. The vast majority of this deforestation is because of the production of four commodities: wood , beef , soy , and palm oil . Over the past 2,000 years, the area of land covered by forest in Europe has been reduced from 80% to 34%. Large areas of forest have also been cleared in China and in

936-954: A large area of this habitat. Of the 1,149 federal and state protected areas in Brazil in 2014, 247 covering 1,100,000 square kilometres (420,000 sq mi) were in the Amazon biome and accounted for 73% of the total area protected at the federal and state levels in Brazil. Federal units covered 587,000 square kilometres (227,000 sq mi) and state units covered 523,000 square kilometres (202,000 sq mi). These included fully protected national and state parks (22%), ecological stations (9%), biological reserves (4%) and wildlife refuges as well as sustainable use national and state forests (26%), environmental protection areas (17%), extractive reserves (12%), sustainable development reserves (10%),and areas of ecological interest . More than 15,000 square kilometres (5,800 sq mi) of

1040-448: A legal term, as seen in Latin texts such as Magna Carta , to denote uncultivated land that was legally designated for hunting by feudal nobility (see royal forest ). These hunting forests did not necessarily contain any trees. Because that often included significant areas of woodland, "forest" eventually came to connote woodland in general, regardless of tree density. By the beginning of

1144-403: A locale with more open space between trees, and distinguish kinds of woodlands as open forests and closed forests , premised on their crown covers . Finally, sylva (plural sylvae or, less classically, sylvas ) is a peculiar English spelling of the Latin silva , denoting a "woodland", and has precedent in English, including its plural forms. While its use as a synonym of forest , and as

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1248-530: A region, releasing water from their leaves in anticipation of seasonal rains to trigger the wet season early. Because of this, seasonal rainfall in the Amazon begins two to three months earlier than the climate would otherwise allow. Deforestation in the Amazon and anthropogenic climate change hold the potential to interfere with this process, causing the forest to pass a threshold where it transitions into savanna. Deforestation threatens many forest ecosystems. Deforestation occurs when humans remove trees from

1352-653: A similar scope, where the Amazon biome includes the Guiana Shield rain forests in the north and the Chiquitano dry forests of Bolivia. The biome covers parts of Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. In Brazil the biome covers more than 4,100,000 square kilometres (1,600,000 sq mi) and covers all or parts of the states of Acre , Amazonas , Roraima , Rondônia , Pará , Amapá , Maranhão , Tocantins and Mato Grosso . The Amazon biome covers 49.29% of Brazil. 16% of

1456-722: A vertical dimension to the area of land that can support plant and animal species, opening up numerous ecological niches for arboreal animal species, epiphytes , and various species that thrive under the regulated microclimate created under the canopy. Forests have intricate three-dimensional structures that increase in complexity with lower levels of disturbance and greater variety of tree species. The biodiversity of forests varies considerably according to factors such as forest type, geography, climate, and soils – in addition to human use. Most forest habitats in temperate regions support relatively few animal and plant species, and species that tend to have large geographical distributions, while

1560-412: A wide range of characteristics. Generally, richer households derive more cash value from forest resources, whereas among poorer households, forest resources are more important for home consumption and increase community resilience. Forests are fundamental to the culture and livelihood of indigenous people groups that live in and depend on forests, many of which have been removed from and denied access to

1664-443: Is Savannah parkland rather than regular Amazonian forest. It is classified as open tropical rainforest, with spaced-out individual trees and many clusters of palms, bamboos and lianas. It provides a favourable environment for wildlife. Relatively abundant fauna include paca , tapir , armadillo , deer , macaw and heron . Aquatic species include cichla , arapaima and pterophyllum . There are said to be some Amazonian manatee in

1768-646: Is a proposed management organization that would take responsibility for three federal conservation units in Rondônia, the Cuniã Ecological Station, Jacundá National Forest and the Lago do Cuniã extractive reserve . All three are managed by ICMBio and have complementary objectives in maintaining a total of 408,000 hectares (1,010,000 acres) of Amazon biome and its transition to savannah. Amazon biome The Amazon biome ( Portuguese : Bioma Amazônia ) contains

1872-400: Is an ecosystem characterized by a dense community of trees . Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) defines a forest as, "Land spanning more than 0.5 hectares with trees higher than 5 meters and

1976-401: Is based on tree densities measured on over 400,000 plots. It remains subject to a wide margin of error, not least because the samples are mainly from Europe and North America. Forests can also be classified according to the amount of human alteration. Old-growth forest contains mainly natural patterns of biodiversity in established seral patterns, and they contain mainly species native to

2080-512: Is carried by winds from the Atlantic, and the other half from evapotranspiration within the biome. There are wide variations in total rainfall and distribution of rainfall throughout the year. The Amazon watershed covers about 5,846,100 square kilometres (2,257,200 sq mi). The Amazon River accounts for 15–16% of the total water discharged by rivers into the oceans of the world. Rivers may be blackwater , whitewater or clearwater. Thus

2184-524: Is distinguished as being completely treeless. The term "campinarana" is used for the transition between campina and the rainforest. Campinarana is found in isolated areas of the Rio Negro and Rio Branco basins in the north of Brazil. Patches of campinarana, which may cover several thousand square kilometres, are found in the transitional region from the Guyana Shield to the Amazon basin. Campinarana

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2288-630: Is high compared to other vegetation communities. Much of this biomass occurs below ground in the root systems and as partially decomposed plant detritus . The woody component of a forest contains lignin , which is relatively slow to decompose compared with other organic materials such as cellulose or carbohydrate. The world's forests contain about 606 gigatonnes of living biomass (above- and below-ground) and 59 gigatonnes of dead wood. The total biomass has decreased slightly since 1990, but biomass per unit area has increased. Forest ecosystems broadly differ based on climate ; latitudes 10° north and south of

2392-531: Is not on track to meet the target of the United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests to increase forest area by 3 percent by 2030. While deforestation is taking place in some areas, new forests are being established through natural expansion or deliberate efforts in other areas. As a result, the net loss of forest area is less than the rate of deforestation; and it, too, is decreasing: from 7.8 million hectares (19 million acres) per year in

2496-413: Is open forest on sandy soil where sunlight can reach the ground. More than half the species of orchid in the Amazon lowlands are found in this type of forest. The terms campina and campinarana both describe white sand savannas that are very poor in nutrients. They may be flooded periodically or seasonally, in which case the roots suffer from lack of aeration. The vegetation is stunted. For some, campina

2600-908: Is similar to the Rio Negro Campinarana. The Northeastern Brazil restingas are coastal dune habitats that extend along the coast of northeastern Brazil, interspersed with lagoons, mangroves and patches of caatinga savanna. The land behind the dunes may include dwarf palms, bromeliads, ferns, shrubs, grasses and scrub trees. The more exposed areas mainly hold medium-tall grasses and scrub trees, while sheltered areas hold patches of cactus and low dry thicket. Fauna include marmosets and jaguarundis , proboscis bats , lesser sac-winged bats , bulldog bats , and Davy's naked-backed bats , wood stork , roseate spoonbill , white-necked heron , great egret , cattle egret , black-crowned night heron , and Neotropic cormorant . The ecoregion has various endemic species. The Lençóis Maranhenses National Park protects

2704-428: Is that forests can turn from a carbon sink to a carbon source if plant diversity, density or forest area decreases, as has been observed in different tropical forests The typical tropical forest may become a carbon source by the 2060s. An assessment of European forests found early signs of carbon sink saturation, after decades of increasing strength. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that

2808-479: Is typically found on leached white sands around circular swampy depressions in lowland tropical moist forest. The soil is low in nutrients, with highly acidic humus. Campinarana includes savannah, scrub and forests. The savannah is mainly composed of grasses and lichens, found in the wet plains beside lakes and rivers. The scrub has bare sand, herbaceous plants, shrubs and trees less than 7 metres (23 ft) high. The nutrient-poor Japurá-Solimões-Negro moist forest

2912-416: Is whether the forests are composed predominantly of broadleaf trees, coniferous (needle-leaved) trees, or mixed. The number of trees in the world, according to a 2015 estimate, is 3 trillion, of which 1.4 trillion are in the tropics or sub-tropics, 0.6 trillion in the temperate zones, and 0.7 trillion in the coniferous boreal forests. The 2015 estimate is about eight times higher than previous estimates, and

3016-580: The Amazon rainforest , an area of tropical rainforest , and other ecoregions that cover most of the Amazon basin and some adjacent areas to the north and east. The biome contains blackwater and whitewater flooded forest, lowland and montane terra firma forest , bamboo and palm forest, savanna, sandy heath and alpine tundra. Some areas of the biome are threatened by deforestation for timber and to make way for pasture or soybean plantations. The Amazon biome has an area of 6,700,000 square kilometres (2,600,000 sq mi). The biome roughly corresponds to

3120-545: The Equator , and temperate forests at the middle latitudes . Forests form in areas of the Earth with high rainfall, while drier conditions produce a transition to savanna . However, in areas with intermediate rainfall levels, forest transitions to savanna rapidly when the percentage of land that is covered by trees drops below 40 to 45 percent. Research conducted in the Amazon rainforest shows that trees can alter rainfall rates across

3224-630: The Medieval Latin foresta , denoting "open wood", Carolingian scribes first used foresta in the capitularies of Charlemagne , specifically to denote the royal hunting grounds of the king. The word was not endemic to the Romance languages , e.g., native words for forest in the Romance languages derived from the Latin silva , which denoted "forest" and " wood(land) " ( cf. the English sylva and sylvan ;

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3328-571: The Proto-Germanic * furhísa- , * furhíþija- , denoting "a fir-wood , coniferous forest", from the Proto-Indo-European * perk u- , denoting "a coniferous or mountain forest , wooded height" all attest to the Frankish * forhist . Uses of forest in English to denote any uninhabited and unenclosed area are presently considered archaic. The Norman rulers of England introduced the word as

3432-496: The Rio Negro ("Black River") has clear, jet-black water caused by decomposition of organic matter in swamps along its margins, combined with low levels of silt. The Rio Branco ("White River") and the Amazon itself have yellowish waters loaded with silt. The Tahuayo River in the Tamshiyacu Tahuayo Regional Conservation Area of Peru is classed as a blackwater river, but often has similar chemistry to

3536-537: The Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , to avoid temperature rise by more than 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels, there will need to be an increase in global forest cover equal to the land area of Canada (10 million square kilometres (3.9 million square miles)) by 2050. China instituted a ban on logging, beginning in 1998, due to

3640-581: The World Resources Institute recorded that only 20% of the world's original forests remained in large intact tracts of undisturbed forest. More than 75% of these intact forests lie in three countries: the boreal forests of Russia and Canada, and the rainforest of Brazil. According to Food and Agriculture Organization 's (FAO) Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 , an estimated 420 million hectares (1.0 billion acres) of forest have been lost worldwide through deforestation since 1990, but

3744-418: The boreal region and in the seasonally dry tropics. At high latitudes, north of the main zone of boreal forestland, growing conditions are not adequate to maintain a continuously closed forest cover , so tree cover is both sparse and discontinuous. This vegetation is variously called open taiga , open lichen woodland, and forest tundra. A savanna is a mixed woodland – grassland ecosystem characterized by

3848-407: The equator are mostly covered in tropical rainforest , and the latitudes between 53°N and 67°N have boreal forest . As a general rule, forests dominated by angiosperms ( broadleaf forests ) are more species-rich than those dominated by gymnosperms ( conifer , montane , or needleleaf forests ), although exceptions exist. The trees that form the principal structural and defining component of

3952-536: The phosphorus necessary for life is blown by the wind from Africa; as diatomeous dust from the Bodélé Depression and as smoke due to biomass burning in Africa. There are wide regional variations in soil types. Thus 20% of the Rio Negro basin is covered by podzols and 55% by acrisols and ferralsols , with the remainder covered by alluvial and litholic soils and scattered areas of hydromorphic plinthosols . In

4056-408: The slash and burn practices of swidden agriculture or shifting cultivation . The loss and re-growth of forests lead to a distinction between two broad types of forest: primary or old-growth forest and secondary forest . There are also many natural factors that can cause changes in forests over time, including forest fires , insects , diseases , weather, competition between species, etc. In 1997,

4160-450: The 1,300 bird species 20% are endemic and 8.4% are endangered. A relatively small area may contain a variety of ecoregions. Thus the Pico da Neblina National Park in the north of Amazonas, Brazil contains campinarana , dense rainforest and contact between campinarana and rainforest. The vegetation formations include terra firme forests and igapós . Submontane forests climb the first steps of

4264-429: The 1990s to 4.7 million hectares (12 million acres) per year during 2010–2020. In absolute terms, the global forest area decreased by 178 million hectares (440 million acres; 1,780,000 square kilometres; 690,000 square miles) between 1990 and 2020, which is an area about the size of Libya. Forests provide a diversity of ecosystem services including: The main ecosystem services can be summarized in

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4368-514: The 1990s. In 2015, a study for Nature Climate Change showed that the trend has recently been reversed, leading to an "overall gain" in global biomass and forests. This gain is due especially to reforestation in China and Russia. New forests are not equivalent to old growth forests in terms of species diversity, resilience, and carbon capture. On 7 September 2015, the FAO released a new study stating that over

4472-421: The 53 ecosystems, of which 19 are forests with 77.5% of the area. The borders of the biome hold ecotones where it blends into other biomes such as the cerrado. Within and across the ecosystems of the biome there is huge biological diversity. One source says there are an estimated 60,000 plant species, of which 30,000 are endemic. Another says there are 30,000 to 50,000 plant species. The Brazilian Ministry of

4576-428: The 6,700,000 to 6,900,000 square kilometres (2,600,000 to 2,700,000 sq mi) Amazon biome. The somewhat vague numbers are because the rainforest merges into similar biomes across its boundaries. The rainforest is Tropical Broadleaf Forest , so-called because most of the trees have broad leaves. The basin also holds flooded riparian forest or várzea , seasonal forest and savanna . Seasonal forest covers much of

4680-592: The Amazon basin, but excludes areas of the Andes to the west and cerrado (savannah) to the south, and includes lands to the northeast extending to the Atlantic ocean with similar vegetation to the Amazon basin. J. J. Morrone (2006) defines the Amazonian subregion in this broader sense, divided into the biogeographical provinces of Guyana, Humid Guyana, Napo, Imeri, Roraima, Amapá, Várzea, Ucayali, Madeira, Tapajós-Xingu, Pará, Yungas and Pantanal. The World Wildlife Fund takes

4784-559: The Brazilian Amazon biome was deforested in 2008–12, of which only 6% took place within protected areas. 71% of federal and state protected areas in Brazil suffered no deforestation in this period. Although the World Economic Forum ranks Brazil first in the world in terms of nature tourism potential, the country is 52nd in tourism competitiveness when factors such as infrastructure are considered. Low public use, in part due to

4888-459: The Earth's plant biomass . Net primary production is estimated at 21.9 gigatonnes of biomass per year for tropical forests , 8.1 for temperate forests , and 2.6 for boreal forests . Forests form distinctly different biomes at different latitudes and elevations, and with different precipitation and evapotranspiration rates. These biomes include boreal forests in subarctic climates, tropical moist forests and tropical dry forests around

4992-464: The Environment as of January 2013 listed 2,500 species of trees and 30,000 species of plants. There are 1,400 species of fish, 163 amphibians, 387 reptiles and more than 500 mammals including 90 primates. 87% of the amphibians, 62% of reptiles, 20% of birds and 25% of mammals are endemic to the biome. 109 species of lizards and amphisbaena reptiles are known to be present, and 138 species of snakes. Of

5096-734: The Guiana Plateau to about 1,000 metres (3,300 ft), followed by montane forests. Lichens and bromeliads are found up to 2,000 metres (6,600 ft). There is also alpine tundra in the tabular plateaus. The Amazon basin contains several large areas of moist forest, collectively called the Amazon rainforest. These are the Caquetá , Japurá–Solimões–Negro , Juruá–Purus , Madeira–Tapajós , Napo , Purus–Madeira , Solimões–Japurá , Southwest Amazon , Tapajós–Xingu , Tocantins–Araguaia–Maranhão , Uatuma–Trombetas , Ucayali , and Xingu–Tocantins–Araguaia moist forests. Each has distinctive vegetation. In

5200-606: The Gurupa Arch to the west of Marajó . Under the Paleoarch model, paleobasins between the arches form centers for biological diversification. Thus the Iquitos arch is considered the main reason for the different species of frogs and rodents and different forest types on either side of the ridge. The soil is generally very poor in nutrients, and areas that have been deforested are often unsuitable for agriculture or pasture. A large part of

5304-699: The Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese selva ; the Romanian silvă ; the Old French selve ). Cognates of forest in Romance languages—e.g., the Italian foresta , Spanish and Portuguese floresta , etc.—are all ultimately derivations of the French word. The precise origin of Medieval Latin foresta is obscure. Some authorities claim the word derives from the Late Latin phrase forestam silvam , denoting "the outer wood"; others claim

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5408-510: The Madeira are the terraces of the Cuniã and Aponiã rivers. Much of the station to the north west is interfluvial plateau with very poor drainage. Average annual rainfall is 2,500 millimetres (98 in). Temperatures range from 23 to 25 °C (73 to 77 °F) and average 24 °C (75 °F). The environment is rich in lakes and ponds, and serves as a nursery for various species of fish. Vegetation

5512-552: The Tapajós, while the white-nosed saki ( Chiropotes albinasus ) is only found east of the river. The World Wildlife Fund divides the biome into ecoregions , often defined as the regions lying between major tributaries of the Amazon. Most of the interior of the Amazon basin is covered by rainforest. The dense tropical Amazon rainforest is the largest tropical rainforest in the world. It covers between 5,500,000 and 6,200,000 square kilometres (2,100,000 and 2,400,000 sq mi) of

5616-452: The U.S. state of Wisconsin , forests managed by indigenous people have more plant diversity, fewer invasive species, higher tree regeneration rates, and higher volume of trees. Forest management has changed considerably over the last few centuries, with rapid changes from the 1980s onward, culminating in a practice now referred to as sustainable forest management . Forest ecologists concentrate on forest patterns and processes, usually with

5720-460: The aim of elucidating cause-and-effect relationships. Foresters who practice sustainable forest management focus on the integration of ecological, social, and economic values, often in consultation with local communities and other stakeholders . Humans have generally decreased the amount of forest worldwide. Anthropogenic factors that can affect forests include logging, urban sprawl , human-caused forest fires , acid rain , invasive species , and

5824-420: The basis of the variation of physiognomy corresponding to changes in altitude. Tropical dry forests are characteristic of areas in the tropics affected by seasonal drought. The seasonality of rainfall is usually reflected in the deciduousness of the forest canopy, with most trees being leafless for several months of the year. Under some conditions, such as less fertile soils or less predictable drought regimes,

5928-430: The biome as a whole podzols cover just 136,000 square kilometres (53,000 sq mi), or 2.7% of the area. In Brazil the average temperature of the biome is 22 to 26 °C (72 to 79 °F) and average rainfall is 2,300 millimetres (91 in), but there are wide variations from one region to another. The biome as a whole has annual rainfall from 1,500 to 3,000 millimetres (59 to 118 in), about half of which

6032-452: The biome is in Peru. As of 2015 about 23.4% of Peru's Amazon biome was protected, but of this less than half was fully protected. Much of the terrain of the Amazon biome, particularly around the rivers, is lowland plains. The Guiana Shield is an area of highlands along the border between Brazil and Venezuela and Guyana. The southern Amazonian highlands cross parts of Rondonia and Mato Grosso and

6136-778: The broad definition favored by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) the Amazon biome would also include the Tepuis , table-top mountains with unique vegetation, the Negro-Branco , Guianan Highlands , Guianan piedmont and lowland and Guianan moist forests and the Guianan savanna . In the southwest Amazon at least 161,500 square kilometres (62,400 sq mi) of forest are dominated by bamboos . These occur in areas where there has been recent tectonic uplift combined with fast mechanical erosion and poor drainage. In each patch of bamboos all

6240-575: The canopy; but other taxa are also important. In the Southern Hemisphere , most coniferous trees (members of Araucariaceae and Podocarpaceae ) occur mixed with broadleaf species, and are classed as broadleaf-and-mixed forests. Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests include a substantial component of trees of the Anthophyta group. They are generally characteristic of the warmer temperate latitudes, but extend to cool temperate ones, particularly in

6344-423: The children live. Canada has about 4 million square kilometres (1.5 million square miles) of forest land. More than 90% of forest land is publicly owned and about 50% of the total forest area is allocated for harvesting. These allocated areas are managed using the principles of sustainable forest management, which include extensive consultation with local stakeholders. About eight percent of Canada's forest

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6448-585: The conservation units in the BR-319 area of influence. These are the Abufari Biological Reserve , Cuniã Ecological Station, Nascentes do Lago Jari and Mapinguari national parks, Balata-Tufari , Humaitá and Iquiri national forests, and the Lago do Capanã-Grande , Rio Ituxi , Médio Purus and Lago do Cuniã extractive reserves. The Cuniã-Jacundá Integrated Management (GICJ: Gestão Integrada Cuniã-Jacundá)

6552-517: The cutoff points are between a forest, woodland , and savanna . Under some definitions, to be considered a forest requires very high levels of tree canopy cover, from 60% to 100%, which excludes woodlands and savannas, which have a lower canopy cover . Other definitions consider savannas to be a type of forest, and include all areas with tree canopies over 10%. Some areas covered with trees are legally defined as agricultural areas, for example Norway spruce plantations, under Austrian forest law, when

6656-418: The density of trees, area of tree canopy cover, or area of the land occupied by the cross-section of tree trunks ( basal area ) meeting a particular threshold. This type of definition depends upon the presence of trees sufficient to meet the threshold, or at least of immature trees that are expected to meet the threshold once they mature. Under land-cover definitions, there is considerable variation on where

6760-411: The eastern United States , in which only 0.1% of land was left undisturbed. Almost half of Earth's forest area (49 percent) is relatively intact, while 9 percent is found in fragments with little or no connectivity. Tropical rainforests and boreal coniferous forests are the least fragmented, whereas subtropical dry forests and temperate oceanic forests are among the most fragmented. Roughly 80 percent of

6864-578: The erosion and flooding that it caused. In addition, ambitious tree-planting programmes in countries such as China, India, the United States, and Vietnam – combined with natural expansion of forests in some regions – have added more than 7 million hectares (17 million acres) of new forests annually. As a result, the net loss of forest area was reduced to 5.2 million hectares (13 million acres) per year between 2000 and 2010, down from 8.3 million hectares (21 million acres) annually in

6968-458: The evolution of cladoxylopsid plants like Calamophyton . Appeared in the Late Devonian , Archaeopteris was both tree-like and fern -like plant, growing to 20 metres (66 ft) in height or more. It quickly spread throughout the world, from the equator to subpolar latitudes. It is the first species known to cast shade due to its fronds and forming soil from its roots. Archaeopteris

7072-417: The forest ecosystem. Since 2002, the amount of land that is legally owned by or designated for indigenous peoples has broadly increased, but land acquisition in lower-income countries by multinational corporations, often with little or no consultation of indigenous peoples, has also increased. Research in the Amazon rainforest suggests that indigenous methods of agroforestry form reservoirs of biodiversity. In

7176-415: The fourteenth century, English texts used the word in all three of its senses: common, legal, and archaic. Other English words used to denote "an area with a high density of trees" are firth , frith , holt , weald , wold , wood , and woodland . Unlike forest , these are all derived from Old English and were not borrowed from another language. Some present classifications reserve woodland for denoting

7280-524: The higher latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere , as well as some warm temperate areas, especially on nutrient-poor or otherwise unfavourable soils. These forests are composed entirely, or nearly so, of coniferous species ( Coniferophyta ). In the Northern Hemisphere, pines Pinus , spruces Picea , larches Larix , firs Abies , Douglas firs Pseudotsuga , and hemlocks Tsuga make up

7384-611: The inaccessibility of the Amazon national and federal parks, mean that they fail to support the local economies and therefore lack support from society, especially the local communities. The national and state forests have low levels of formal sustainable logging contracts, the Tapajós National Forest in Pará being an exception. Brazil has strong systems for monitoring land cover and deforestation, but as of 2014 64% of managers of protected areas said they had not monitored biodiversity in

7488-482: The interior lagoons. The Cuniã Ecological Station was created on 27 September 2001, modified on 21 December 2007 and again modified by law 12.249 of 11 June 2010. It is administered by the federal Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio). It is classed as IUCN protected area category Ia (strict nature reserve). The purpose is to protect the headwaters of the Aponiã and Cuniãzinho streams, tributaries of

7592-469: The lands on which they lived as part of global colonialism . Indigenous lands contain 36% or more of intact forest worldwide, host more biodiversity, and experience less deforestation. Indigenous activists have argued that degradation of forests and indigenous peoples' marginalization and land dispossession are interconnected. Other concerns among indigenous peoples include lack of Indigenous involvement in forest management and loss of knowledge related for

7696-493: The last 25 years the global deforestation rate has decreased by 50% due to improved management of forests and greater government protection. There is an estimated 726 million hectares (1.79 billion acres) of forest in protected areas worldwide. Of the six major world regions, South America has the highest share of forests in protected areas, at 31 percent. The area of such areas globally has increased by 191 million hectares (470 million acres) since 1990, but

7800-469: The local people and many scientists called the permanently waterlogged swamp on the lower Amazon " igapó " and all types of periodically flooded land " várzea ". A more recent definition, from Prance, is: Major flooded areas include the Iquitos , Purus , Monte Alegre , Gurupa and Marajó várzeas. The Majaró várzea is at the mouth of the Amazon and is affected by both freshwater and tidal flows. Campina

7904-424: The middle Madeira River, with ecosystems in the transition from Savannah to Forest, and to support development of knowledge about the biodiversity of the Amazon region. The villagers of São Carlos and Nazaré often enter the unit at will and make use of the natural resources, since there are poor controls. An ordinance of 9 January 2012 provided for a consistent and integrated approach to preparing management plans for

8008-986: The montane forests of Africa, South America, Southeast Asia, and lowland forests of Australia, coastal Brazil, the Caribbean islands, Central America, and insular Southeast Asia have many species with small geographical distributions. Areas with dense human populations and intense agricultural land use, such as Europe, parts of Bangladesh, China, India, and North America, are less intact in terms of their biodiversity. Northern Africa, southern Australia, coastal Brazil, Madagascar, and South Africa are also identified as areas with striking losses in biodiversity intactness. A forest consists of many components that can be broadly divided into two categories: biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living). The living parts include trees , shrubs , vines , grasses and other herbaceous (non-woody) plants, mosses , algae , fungi , insects , mammals , birds , reptiles , amphibians , and microorganisms living on

8112-530: The next table: Some researchers state that forests do not only provide benefits, but can in certain cases also incur costs to humans. Forests may impose an economic burden, diminish the enjoyment of natural areas, reduce the food-producing capacity of grazing land and cultivated land, reduce biodiversity, reduce available water for humans and wildlife, harbour dangerous or destructive wildlife, and act as reservoirs of human and livestock disease. An important consideration regarding carbon sequestration

8216-411: The plants and animals and in the soil, connected by mycorrhizal networks . The main layers of all forest types are the forest floor , the understory, and the canopy. The emergent layer, above the canopy, exists in tropical rainforests. Each layer has a different set of plants and animals, depending upon the availability of sunlight, moisture, and food. In botany and countries like Germany and Poland,

8320-458: The plants flower every 27–28 years, producing huge numbers of seeds, before dying. The Chandless State Park is in the centre of the bamboo forest region of the south western Amazon biome, and has three endemic species of the Guadua genus of bamboo. Vegetation is classified as forest with palms, forest with bamboo, alluvial forest with bamboo and dense forest. Before Ghillean Prance 's 1979 study,

8424-512: The population belongs to forest-dependent communities, which live in close proximity to forests and practice agroforestry as a principal part of their livelihood. People of Ghana who rely on timber and bushmeat harvested from forests and Indigenous peoples of the Amazon rainforest are also examples of forest-dependent people. Though forest-dependence by more common definitions is statistically associated with poverty and rural livelihoods, elements of forest-dependence exist in communities with

8528-472: The previous five years, and more than half said they did not have tools to monitor social and environmental development. The " Arc of Deforestation " is in the eastern and southern borders of the biome. As of 2006 about 16% of the Amazon biome in Brazil had been deforested. Satellite images show that in the 2006–11 period total deforestation in the Amazon biome was 45,100 square kilometres (17,400 sq mi), of which 34,700 hectares (86,000 acres) were in

8632-535: The properties produced 78.09% of the crop in the cerrado biome, while 37.45% produced 21.91% of the crop in the Amazon biome. In 2000 the Brazilian government banned creation of sugarcane plantations in the Amazon biome. In 2010 a presidential decree made low-interest credit available to oil palm development, but only on land that had been deforested before 2008. This may prove an environmentally sustainable economic solution. Terra firma forest A forest

8736-615: The proportion of evergreen species increases and the forests are characterised as " sclerophyllous ". Thorn forest , a dense forest of low stature with a high frequency of thorny or spiny species, is found where drought is prolonged, and especially where grazing animals are plentiful. On very poor soils, and especially where fire or herbivory are recurrent phenomena, savannas develop. Sparse trees and savanna are forests with sparse tree- canopy cover. They occur principally in areas of transition from forested to non-forested landscapes. The two major zones in which these ecosystems occur are in

8840-428: The rate of forest loss has declined substantially. In the most recent five-year period (2015–2020), the annual rate of deforestation was estimated at 10 million hectares (25 million acres), down from 12 million hectares (30 million acres) annually in 2010–2015. The transition of a region from forest loss to net gain in forested land is referred to as the forest transition. This change occurs through

8944-465: The rate of annual increase slowed in 2010–2020. Smaller areas of woodland in cities may be managed as urban forestry , sometimes within public parks. These are often created for human benefits; Attention Restoration Theory argues that spending time in nature reduces stress and improves health, while forest schools and kindergartens help young people to develop social as well as scientific skills in forests. These typically need to be close to where

9048-460: The region and habitat. In contrast, secondary forest is forest regrowing following timber harvest and may contain species originally from other regions or habitats. Different global forest classification systems have been proposed, but none has gained universal acceptance. UNEP - WCMC 's forest category classification system is a simplification of other, more complex systems (e.g. UNESCO 's forest and woodland 'subformations'). This system divides

9152-524: The southeast border, with marked dry seasons when there are frequent fires. The Amazon biome contains areas of other types of vegetation including grasslands, swamps, bamboos, and palm forests. There are 53 major ecosystems and more than 600 types of land and freshwater habitat . Of the ecosystems, 34 are forest areas covering 78% of the biome, 6 are Andean covering 1.5%, 5 are floodplains covering 5.83%, 5 are savanna covering 12.75% and two are tropical steppes covering 1.89%. The Brazilian Amazon holds 30 of

9256-609: The southern hemisphere. They include such forest types as the mixed deciduous forests of the United States and their counterparts in China and Japan; the broadleaf evergreen rainforests of Japan, Chile , and Tasmania ; the sclerophyllous forests of Australia, central Chile, the Mediterranean , and California; and the southern beech Nothofagus forests of Chile and New Zealand. There are many different types of tropical moist forests , with lowland evergreen broad-leaf tropical rainforests : for example várzea and igapó forests and

9360-668: The southern parts of Amazonas and Para. The Amazon basin is crossed by ridges or "paleoarches" that connect the Guiana and Central Brazil shields and divide it into geological sub-basins. They are the Iquitos or Jutai Arch in Peru and Acre , the Carauari Arch across the Rio Negro and Solimões , the Purus Arch to the west of Manaus , the Monte Alegre Arch to the west of the Tapajós and

9464-597: The soybean farms in the Amazonia Legal mostly occupy cerrado areas, not the Amazon biome. A statement by Cargill in 2006 said, "Soy occupies less than 0.6 percent of the land in the Amazon biome today, and most of that soy is grown on the fringes of the Amazon biome in the transitional area between the Cerrado and the forest. A 2010 assessment of soybean farmers associated with the Grupo André Maggi found that 62.55% of

9568-674: The terra firme forests of the Amazon Basin ; the peat swamp forests ; dipterocarp forests of Southeast Asia ; and the high forests of the Congo Basin . Seasonal tropical forests , perhaps the best description for the colloquial term " jungle ", typically range from the rainforest zone 10 degrees north or south of the equator , to the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn . Forests located on mountains are also included in this category, divided largely into upper and lower montane formations, on

9672-568: The three soy-producing states of Mato Grosso, Para and Rondonia. A 2009 survey showed that of 620 recently deforested areas 203, or 32%, had been converted to pasture while 12, or less than 1%, were being used for soybeans. The biome is not the same as the Amazônia Legal , which covers a larger area of Brazil. The Amazon biome covers about 82% of the Legal Amazon if cerrado and campinarana are excluded. Defenders of soybean farming point out that

9776-470: The trees are being grown as Christmas trees and are below a certain height. The word forest derives from the Old French forest (also forès ), denoting "forest, vast expanse covered by trees"; forest was first introduced into English as the word denoting wild land set aside for hunting without necessarily having trees on the land. Possibly a borrowing, probably via Frankish or Old High German , of

9880-425: The trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to support an unbroken herbaceous layer that consists primarily of grasses. Savannas maintain an open canopy despite a high tree density. Forest plantations are generally intended for the production of timber and pulpwood . Commonly mono-specific, planted with even spacing between

9984-403: The trees, and intensively managed, these forests are generally important as habitat for native biodiversity . Some are managed in ways that enhance their biodiversity protection functions and can provide ecosystem services such as nutrient capital maintenance, watershed and soil structure protection and carbon storage. The annual net loss of forest area has decreased since 1990, but the world

10088-505: The type of vegetation that grows upon the land; an area can be legally designated "forest" even if no trees grow on it. Land-use definitions are based on the primary purpose the land is used for. Under a land-use definition, any area used primarily for harvesting timber, including areas that have been cleared by harvesting, disease, fire, or for the construction of roads and infrastructure, are still defined as forests, even if they contain no trees. Land-cover definitions define forests based upon

10192-507: The whitewater rivers of the region since it is in the Amazon River floodplain, and receives water from the Amazon. The Amazon and its major tributaries such as the Xingu , Tapajós , Madeira , Purus and Rio Negro form barriers to the geodispersal of plants, animals and even insects. Thus the white-fronted capuchin ( Cebus albifrons ) and hairy saki ( Pithecia hirsuta ) are found west of

10296-626: The word forest is commonly used, there is no universally recognised precise definition, with more than 800 definitions of forest used around the world. Although a forest is usually defined by the presence of trees, under many definitions an area completely lacking trees may still be considered a forest if it grew trees in the past, will grow trees in the future, or was legally designated as a forest regardless of vegetation type. There are three broad categories of definitions of forest in use: administrative, land use , and land cover . Administrative definitions are legal designations, and may not reflect

10400-461: The word is a Latinisation of the Frankish * forhist , denoting "forest, wooded country", and was assimilated to forestam silvam , pursuant to the common practice of Frankish scribes. The Old High German forst denoting "forest"; Middle Low German vorst denoting "forest"; Old English fyrhþ denoting "forest, woodland, game preserve, hunting ground" (English frith ); and Old Norse fýri , denoting " coniferous forest "; all of which derive from

10504-579: The world's forest area is found in patches larger than 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres). The remaining 20 percent is located in more than 34 million patches around the world – the vast majority less than 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) in size. Human society and forests can affect one another positively or negatively. Forests provide ecosystem services to humans and serve as tourist attractions. Forests can also affect people's health. Human activities, including unsustainable use of forest resources, can negatively affect forest ecosystems. Although

10608-416: The world's forests into 26 major types, which reflect climatic zones as well as the principal types of trees. These 26 major types can be reclassified into 6 broader categories: temperate needleleaf, temperate broadleaf and mixed, tropical moist, tropical dry, sparse trees and parkland, and forest plantations. Each category is described in a separate section below. Temperate needleleaf forests mostly occupy

10712-420: The world's land area in 2020. Forests are the largest terrestrial ecosystems of Earth by area, and are found around the globe. 45 percent of forest land is in the tropical latitudes . The next largest share of forests are found in subarctic climates , followed by temperate , and subtropical zones. Forests account for 75% of the gross primary production of the Earth's biosphere , and contain 80% of

10816-436: Was deciduous , dropping its fronds onto the forest floor, the shade, soil, and forest duff from the dropped fronds creating the early forest. The shed organic matter altered the freshwater environment, slowing its flow and providing food. This promoted freshwater fish. Forests account for 75% of the gross primary productivity of the Earth's biosphere , and contain 80% of the Earth's plant biomass. Biomass per unit area

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