Trees connect for a healthier world

The tree are one of the most spectaculars treasure of the planet Earth

By Eliz Tessinari and Wendeson Castro

Published on 06/17/2021 | Text translation: Sofia Borghi

The tree are one of the most spectaculars treasure of the planet Earth- It are the profusion of life that inhale carbonic dioxide and exhales oxygen , perspires water, emits magical odors, remove toxic gases, pulses and regulates, mountains and make rains, propels winds and feeds rivers, calming the fury of the elements, becoming friendly the near climate and also the most distant, according to the first scient evaluation reports on “ The Climate Future of the Amazon” by the Professor Antonio Donato Nobre, a research at the national Institute for the Space Research, INPE.

On May 2019, a study made by renowned scientific magazine Nature, showed that about 60% all of tree on Earth are distribute in just 2% of the ectomycorrhizal trees, which are those plants that have a symbiotic relationship with fungi, in which both organisms benefit from the relationship.
Is the magic smell exhale by the Amazon trees, that are the gases called biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), when it meet in the atmosphere, with other substances in the presence of solar radiation, produce the rain itself that falls on the forest.

A rain production power

Forest is the main ally to the human for the food production and maintenance of the life.

One of the biggest Amazon species the Samaúma ( Ceiba pentrada ( L) ) Gaerthn), by itself put 1.000 liters water everyday in the atmosphere. Photo: SOS Amazônia | Alisson Maranho

Through evapotranspiration* a process which trees extract water from the deep ground and pump it back into the atmosphere, even during the dry season, this is a biotic pump** recycle of 20 – 56% of rain into the ecosystems. It increase air humidity, prevent soil erosion, are shade shelter and provide food, and is important to regulating climate.

It is estimated that in just one day the entire Amazon put 20 billion tons of water in the atmosphere, more than 1.2 times the daily flow of the Amazon River that is 17 billion tons of water per day discharged into the Atlantic Oceanic.
One of the biggest species in the Amazon, Samaúma, puts 1000 liters of water alone per day in the atmosphere. Imagine the entire Amazon Forest! We are talking abour rainfall production power- essential for the balance of ecosystems here and in other regions of the planet.

Fragment urban forest

By comparison, an urban forest fragment where the Chico Mendes Environmental Park is located in the Capital of the state of Acre, around 66.1 hectares has the potential to produce 2.380,600 million liters of water per day ( or 2380 tons pf water), the equivalent of gushing into enough atmosphere to supply a population of 21.398 inhabits of the municipality of Brasília, Acre- considering the 110 liters/day of water recommended as sufficient to meet human needs by the United Nations.

This environmental service that the trees of the Amazon provide each day through perspiration are the water pump, or biotic pump* in the green ocean*, vital in the dynamics of the flying rivers that carry water to the central region south, for example, where agriculture plays a significant role in national GDP.

It is an extraordinary greatness how much the Amazon makes a difference in people’s lives, both for those who live in it and for those who live in other regions. That is, among the most varied benefits or environmental services, the Forest is the main ally of the human being for the production of food and maintenance of life.

Fragment urban forest highlighted in red with 66.1 hectares where is located the Environmental Park Chico Mendes, Rio Branco, Acre. Source: Google Earth

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*The latest models include representations of the Earth’s atmosphere, oceans and surface [...] and incorporate the hydrological cycle and an explicit representation [...] of vegetation and its effects on energy and water flows, including radioactive and turbulent transfers and physical and biological controls of evapotranspiration. Satellite observations show that during the dry season, as predicted by biotic bomb theory, evapotranspiration of forests continues to occur or even increases, but not in deforested areas.

Th biotic bomb** theory came to explain that the power that propels the channeled winds in the air rivers must be attributed to the great forest, which then functions as the heart of the hydrological cycle. In other words, in an intimated/mutual relationship with the atmosphere, the forest donates water and aromas (the Bavocs) to receive rain.

The metaphorical expression ocean-green describes the oceanic features of this continental expanse covered by dense forests. The importance of this new and unusual concept lies in its suggestion of a forest surface, extended below the atmosphere, whose characteristics of vastness, humanity and exchanges by winds resemble those of the real oceans. Source: Nobre, Antonio D. (2014).

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Reference

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[9] IBGE - O Cidades@ (2019). Sistema agregador de informações do IBGE sobre os municípios e estados do Brasil. Disponível em: https://cidades.ibge.gov.br/brasil/ac/brasileia/panorama. Acessado em: 19 de Setembro de 2019.