How do Humans interact with the Biotic Pump of South America?

Abstract

The negative effects of the deforestation have been both advertised and down played. However, the effects are far
more tangible than what they seem to be. It has been shown that the change in forest cover causes the rainfall
patterns to change as the forests work as so-called Biotic Pumps. This changes the water availability in the area
by modifying the water balance. Local water balances affect the changes that may take longer to be visible on
the larger scales. The Amazon rain forest, one of the most bio-diverse areas worldwide, is an essential part of
the biosphere of South America. However, there are clear links between deforestation carried out for agricultural
purposes, specifically, Soybean and Sugarcane and the variability in global food prices.
Here we analyse the anthropogenic actions that may influence the biotic pump. Variables such as volatility
in commodity prices, risk taking capacities, land availability, government subsidies are used to drive the decision
making of farmers. These variables are embedded in a lumped biotic pump model made for Brazil, utilizing
data from different sources including MODIS, Centro de Previsão do Tempo e Estudos Climáticos (CPTEC),
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). The biotic pump model essentially transports
atmospheric moisture downwind, part of which falls as rain. The atmospheric moisture ‘upwind’ accounts for
evaporation, incorporating land cover changes in response to land use decisions made by farmers and rainfall.
The model is run for scenarios to demonstrate how rain downwind is affected by upwind land cover and provides
first insights in to how much rain and productivity (agriculture) downwind is caused by the Amazonian rain forest
upwind We then discuss the value of environmental conservation based on marginal productivity analysis, i.e.
finding harmony between the conservation of rainforest and the economic growth of the country