New views on an old forest : assessing the longevity, resilience and future of the Amazon rainforest

Auteurs :
MASLIN, M.
MALHI, Y.
PHILLIPS, O.
COWLING, S.

Description :
The aim of this paper is to investigate the longevity and diversity of the Amazonian rainforest and to assess its likely future. Paleoclimate and palaeoecological records suggest that the Amazon rainforest originated in the late Cretaceous and has been a permanent feature of South America for at least the last 55 million years. Two new theories for the great diversity of the Amazon rainforest are discussed : the canopy density hypothesis and the precessional-forced seasonality hypothesis. At the moment it appears that the Amazon rainforest, which has survived for 55 million years in the face of enormous global climate changes, may now risk destruction within as short a space as a century.


Type de document :
Article de périodique

Source :
Transactions - Institute of British Geographers (1965), issn : 0020-2754, 2005, vol. 30, n°. 4, p. 477-499, nombre de pages : 23, Collation : Illustration, Références bibliographiques : 112 ref.

Date :
2005

Editeur :
Pays édition : Royaume-Uni, London, Institute of British Geographers