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The Amazon Rainforest: The World's Largest
Rainforest
The Amazon River Basin is home to the largest
rainforest on Earth. The basin – roughly the size of the
forty-eight contiguous United States – covers some 40
percent of the South American continent and includes
parts of eight South American countries: Brazil, Bolivia,
Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, and
Suriname, as well as French Guiana, a department of
France.
Reflecting environmental conditions as well as past
human influence, the Amazon is made up of a mosaic of
ecosystems and vegetation types including rainforests,
seasonal forests, deciduous forests, flooded forests,
and savannas. The basin is drained by the Amazon River,
the world's largest river in terms of discharge, and the
second longest river in the world after the Nile. The river is
made up of over 1,100 tributaries, 17 of which are longer
than 1000 miles, and two of which (the Negro and the
Madeira) are larger, in terms of volume, than the Congo
(formerly the Zaire) river. The river system is the lifeline of
the forest and its history plays an important part in the
development of its rainforests. […]
Disponível em: http://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/. Acesso em: 07
ago. 2017.