Amazonian Deforestation and Increased Carbon Dioxide Release

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Amazonian Deforestation and Increased Carbon
Dioxide Release

• By
• Rocky Soeharyo
• David Palay
• Claire Barco GC1 Lab section 3

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Roadmap

• Hypothesis.
• Things to consider.
• -photosynthesis
• -Amazônia
• -Deforestation
• What we did
• What this means

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Deforestation leads to an increased release of
CO² into the atmospherebut by how much?
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Photosynthesis
http//www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/re
newable/biomass.html
Photosynthesis takes CO² out of the atmosphere,
and adds O²
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Amazônia

• Amazonia covers most of Brazil and parts of Peru,
  Bolivia, Columbia, Venezuela, and Ecuador
• Dense forest with enormous biodiversity
• Important to global climate regulation

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Amazônia
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Deforestation

• Before 1970, an area the size of Portugal had
  already been deforested.
• Since then, deforestation has increased due to
  globalization factors

Ometto JP et al.
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Deforestation, cont

• Most trees are simply burned to clear land for
  cattle or soybean crops.
• Burning releases more CO² than logging.

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The problem

• Burning releases CO². Less trees means less
  photosynthesis. Deforestation leads to more CO²
  with less trees to take it out.

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What we did

• Through our research, we found multiple estimates
  of deforestation and burning rates, along with
  estimates of the size of Amazônia and how much
  carbon is held per hectare.
• We used these estimates to calculate how much CO²
  is added to the atmosphere through deforestation.

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our process

• Rate of deforestation and how long its been going
  on
• Rate Time Total Deforested Area
• Carbon release from combustion
• Carbon released per area Total Deforested Area
  Gross Carbon Release
• Photosynthetic uptake of carbon
• Gross Carbon Release Photosynthetic Uptake
  Net Carbon Flux .397 PgC/year!
• Only 0.0529 of carbon in in the atmosphere.

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Model
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Graphs
Carbon level in the atmosphere goes from 747 Pg
to 769
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Tree coverage is reduced due to deforestation
leading to
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Photosynthesis uptake changes from 1.7 Pg C to 1.6
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In the future

• If rates of logging and burning were to continue
  as they were in the years 1999-2003 until 2049,
  the amount of carbon in the atmosphere would
  increase from 747 Pg to 1034 Pg. That is a
  contribution of 287 Pg in 50 years. This could
  have grave results.

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Take home message