Journey Into Amazonia - The Big Top
Journey Into Amazonia - The Big Top
PBS.org
The canopy shelters the Earth's richest and most diverse ecosystem. Estimates of its insects alone have recently jumped from one and a half to 30 million different types. But its very richness is the greatest paradox of Amazonia. Jungle giants, among the tallest trees on Earth, spring from remarkably poor soil. 99% of the nutrients never reach more than two inches into the barren acidic earth. Nothing should grow in the Amazon at all. Yet all around, life is abundant. From the centuries- long rise and fall of one of these mighty trees, to the annual ebb and flow of the floodwaters, thousands of cycles of regeneration breathe life into the rainforest itself. Nine tenths of the energy of this gigantic system is jealously guarded in the leaves and tissues of the trees themselves. The forest floor is a living sponge, which prevents minerals and nutrients from being washed away and lost. This is the tightest, most efficient recycling operation in nature. It is also a fragile one. If the thin layer of humus is removed, the system withers away, and with it all the life it supports.
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