Videos
Featured Scientist: Michael T. Coe, Ph.D. Senior Scientist/Coordinator of the Amazon Group
Project: Agricultural expansion in the Brazilian Amazon and its influence on the water, energy and climate cycles
Rapid agricultural expansion in the southern and eastern Amazon has altered many watersheds in this region. In Mato Grosso, Brazil this is one of the key issues we are researching by installing instruments and collecting a wide range of data on watersheds in evergreen forest, savanna, pasture, and soy landscapes. This data will help us understand the consequences of deforestation on the local water and energy balance in each of these landscapes. Streams in agricultural areas have more water in them than those in areas with native vegetation because monocultures, like soybeans and pasture grass, use less water than the complex natural environment that they have replaced. More water in the streams also indicates that less water is being evaporated by plants and returned to the atmosphere, which may then decrease rainfall. The field data we collect will be combined with our computer models of the Amazon to allow us to understand how these alterations occurring locally may create larger regional climate changes and ultimately affect the future of the Amazon Basin.
This project is a collaborative effort between the Woods Hole Research Center, Marine Biological Laboratory, the Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia, and the Federal University of Viçosa, Brazil.
Video: Produced by Research Associate Kathleen Savage.
Image: Small stream in a cattle pasture in eastern Mato Grosso, Brazil. Courtesy of Michael T. Coe. Composite design by Development Solutions of New England (DSNE).
