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Amazon Basin: A System in Equilibrium

Eneas Salati and Peter B. VoseAuthors Info & Affiliations
Science
13 Jul 1984
Vol 225, Issue 4658
pp. 129-138
DOI: 10.1126/science.225.4658.129
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Abstract

Despite the very active deforestation of the last decade, the Amazon Basin is still primarily covered with trees and is a system in equilibrium. The Andes form a barrier at the western end of the basin and, coupled with the prevailing easterly winds, ensure an almost unique precipitation and water-recycling regime. On average 50 percent of the precipitation is recycled, and in some areas even more. The soils are poor. Most of the nitrogen and phosphorus is found in the soil, and the remaining nutrient elements are found in the standing biomass. There is some nutrient recycling and little loss from the intact ecosystem, and the small input of nutrients from precipitation maintains a small positive nutrient balance. Continued large-scale deforestation is likely to lead to increased erosion and water runoff with initial flooding in the lower Amazon, together with reduced evapotranspiration and ultimately reduced precipitation. Reduced precipitation in the Amazon could increase the tendency toward continentality and adversely affect climate and the present agriculture in south-central Brazil.

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Science
Volume 225 | Issue 4658
13 July 1984

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1984 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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Published in print: 13 July 1984

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Eneas Salati
Director of the Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura, University of São Paulo, C.P. 96, Piracicaba, 13400, São Paulo, Brazil
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Peter B. Vose
Project manager of the International Atomic Energy Agency Amazon Project and is also at the Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura.
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  • Eneas Salati,
  • Peter B. Vose
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Amazon Basin: A System in Equilibrium.Science225,129-138(1984).DOI:10.1126/science.225.4658.129

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