Lower Level: the Amazon Rainforest

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2 SCHOLASTIC NEWS EDITION5/6 2 1 biggest cities. some ofBrazil’s out thesunover miles andblocked hundredsdrifted of space. Smoke has it canbeseenfrom much thicksmokethat The fires have created so the rainforest sofarthis year. than 90,000fires have scorched Scientists estimatethatmore Robin Chazdon. ecosystem ontheplanet,” saysscientist of plantsandanimalsthananyotherland the rainforest twodays. every that anewplantoranimalisdiscovered in macaws.frogs andcolorful estimate Experts dolphins andfierce jaguars to poisondart world live there. They range from pinkriver One-tenth ofallknown species inthe huge, itwouldcover more thanhalftheU.S. South America. The Amazon rainforest isso the world’s biggesttropical rainforest. It’s in shopping website. But we’re talkingabout 5 BIG QUESTIONS “The Amazon ishometomore“The species The Amazon isknown forits

As Y ABOUT you mightthinkoftheonline What istheAmazon raging across theAmazon. What’s goingonthere When you heartheword Amazon, Thousands offires are ou Read, ThinkAbout:Why iswhat’s happeningintheAmazon animportantnews story? A The ? biodiversity ? M They do this to clear land for farms orcattleranches.They dothistoclearlandforfarms 3 . A deforestation How didthefires start ? U.S. * Most ofthefires intheAmazon were causedby French Guianaisn’t acountry. It’s aterritoryofFrance. ECUADOR By far, withthemost fires thecountry isBrazil. OCEAN PACIFIC map Area of COLOMBIA This isn’t anewproblem there. For years, its Z PERU government hasallowed deforestation in In whichcountryismostofthe CARIBBEAN SEA some parts oftheAmazon. Butsome parts thenumber . People cutdown trees them. andburn people wholive intheAmazon region. Amazon rainforestlocated? also affectthe more than30million of fires thisyear hasbeenalarming. rainforest’s animalsandplantlife. They saythebigincreaseExperts ismainly due to people burning landillegally.due topeopleburning O VENEZUELA These blazes are deadlytothe

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Cover: CLAUS MEYER/ MINDEN PICTURES/National Geographic Image Collection (fire); Eric Gevaert/Shutterstock.com (monkey); skynesher/Getty Images (soccer); Joanne Lefson/pigcasso.org (Pigcasso); Page 2: CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images (background); Jim McMahon/Mapman® (map); duangnapa_b/Shutterstock.com (parrot); Marcelo Correia/Camera Press/Redux (fire)

INFOREST The two-toed sloth, one of the world’s slowest animals, lives in AMAZON RAINFOREST the Amazon.

That sounds bad, Will the Amazon recover? but the Amazon is No one knows for sure. The 4really far from 5World Wildlife Fund estimates that where I live. Why should humans have destroyed nearly one-fifth of I care about it? the Amazon in the past 50 years. The rainforest Rainforests help keep could become dry grassland if deforestation GO Earth healthy. Trees and continues at this rate, scientists say. Millions of ONLINE! other plants release oxygen. species would be at risk. And Earth’s atmosphere would Take a virtual trip to the Oxygen is a key ingredient in have a lot more carbon dioxide. Amazon. the air we breathe. Trees and The U.S. and other countries have offered aid to fight the plants also pull a gas called fires. And people from around the world are calling on the Brazilian carbon dioxide from the air government to crack down on illegal tree clearing and to create and store it. Carbon dioxide stricter laws to prevent deforestation. is one of the gases that affect “The fires have helped people realize that we are all part of the the planet’s temperature. same planet,” says Chazdon. The Amazon rainforest is so enormous, it stores huge amounts of carbon dioxide. Before That gas is released when the Amazon’s trees are cut down and burned. Having too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere causes the planet’s average temperature to rise. This contributes to climate change. That may lead to more heat waves, severe storms, and droughts in After many parts of the world.

WORDS TO KNOW biodiversity noun. the variety of plants and animals that live in a region deforestation noun. the act of cutting down or burning down all the trees in an area Page 3: kungverylucky/Shutterstock.com (sloth); garlaschelli franco/Shutterstock.com (before); JOAO LAET/AFP/Getty Images (after) LAET/AFP/Getty JOAO (before); garlaschelli franco/Shutterstock.com (sloth); 3: kungverylucky/Shutterstock.com Page

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