From: Daily Press
One of the most amazing ecosystems in the world is the Amazonian rainforest, and at its heart lies the Amazon River. There, fantasy and fiction seem to meld: tales of man-eating fish, pink fresh water dolphins, and natives with little or no contact to the outside world. The Amazon is indeed a rich and unique place, but a real place indeed, governed by the laws of nature and encroached upon by the real world.
Comprising over 1.5 billion acres, the Amazon basin spans nine countries across the northern portion of South America. Home to the greatest plant diversity on Earth, it is believed that a single kilometer may contain up to 75,000 types of trees and 150,000 species of higher plants, which drive the Amazon's ecosystem. The rainforest is intensely humid due to its high moisture levels: each tree alone transpires (loses water from leaves) an estimated 200 gallons of water annually, equaling nearly 20,000 gallons for every acre of canopy trees. This moisture generates its own cloud cover and is responsible for up to three quarters of the annual rainfall (at least 80 inches of rain … over 400 inches to some areas … each year).
More than half of the world's estimated 10 million species of plants, animals and insects live in rainforests. The Amazonian rainforest supports over 2.5 million scientifically classified insect species and thousands of animal species: currently over 1,200 birds, 400 mammals, and nearly 1,000 amphibians and reptiles. And then there's the mighty Amazon River itself, which supports almost 3,000 species of fishes and contains nearly one-fifth of the world's fresh water, draining nearly a quarter of South America.
Seasonal forest flooding creates entirely new environments to be exploited, opens new habitats and increases river volume. Also, much more food becomes accessible as vegetation, animals and insects previously unreachable to fishes become available. Predatory fishes such as the infamous piranha, capable of devouring animals to the bone, large seed-eating pacu, the acrobatic arowana, and even the playful pink river dolphin, all thrive in the Amazon. The native South American lungfish can even survive the dry season by aestivating, or burrowing in the mud and going dormant until the rains come again.
But as many real-life stories go, the circumstances concerning the Amazon and its native animals and peoples are complex and the fates of those involved have yet to be determined for good or bad. Deforestation for farmland development and timber is reducing tree cover at an alarming rate; the Amazon rainforest will be half its size in a mere 30 years. The interests of the local sustenance populations and native species are increasingly at odds with outside forces. As their world changes, so does ours. It may seem a world away, but the problems of this seemingly fantastical place seem all too familiar.
The Virginia Living Museum's summer exhibit "Amazon Voyage: Vicious Fishes and Other Riches" tells much of the story of the Amazon.