What Animals and Plants Live in the Amazon River

What Animals and Plants Live in the Amazon River

Updated September 30, 2022

By J. Dianne Dotson

Reviewed by: Sylvie Tremblay, M.Sc. Molecular Biology and Genetics

The Amazon River basin is home to boggling species multifariousness in both plants and animals. Amazon river plants can be found floating atop the h2o, thriving alongside shores or submerged in floodplain areas.

TL;DR (Too Long; Didn't Read)

Many Amazon river plants thrive in, forth, or on acme of the river and its tributaries. Some plants that alive in the waters and floodplains of the Amazon River include giant water lilies, floating meadows, grasses, shrubs and short trees.

Dynamics of the Amazon River

The immense Amazon River and its tributaries are fed by big amounts of rainfall each year. There is, even so, a rainy season and a dry season. In the rainy flavor, the biome experiences seasonal flooding throughout the watershed. The water level can ascension as much as 49 feet hither, giving the landscape an infusion of water full of nutrients.

Plants grow in this ecoregion. Aslope and atop the river, plants, including trees, accept adapted to the changeable environs. Floodplains that feel this dynamic are called ​várzeas​.

Várzeas host a diverse landscape of flooded forests, grasslands and marshes. In add-on to trees, grasses, shrubs and aquatic plants thrive hither, all supporting a rich ecosystem with numerous animals depending on them for food and shelter. Many animals besides choose to breed in the expanse to avoid predators plant in drier areas.

Amazon River Plants

In a várzea, plants adapt to remaining underwater for months at a time. Areas with permanently flooded swamp forests are called ​igapós​.

Palms are common trees in this floodplain. Several species in the genus ​Geonoma​ thrive here. Other palm species include ​Mauritia flexuosa​, ​Euterpe oleracea​ (the acai palm), ​Oenocarpus bacaba​, ​Jessenia bataua​, ​Socratea exorrhiza​, ​Astrocaryum murumuru​ and numerous others.

Timber trees in the várzea include ​Calycophyllum brasiliensis​, numerous species from the genus ​Ficus​, ​Virola surinamensis,​ ​Pachira aquatica​ and ​Symphonia globulifera​, to name a few. Lianas also thrive as Amazon river plants in the várzea regions; examples include ​Guatteria scandens​, ​Landolphia paraensis​ and ​Strychnos blackii​.

Floating Meadow Amazon River Plants

Part of the floodplains of the Amazon River host what are chosen ​floating meadows​. These are expanses of both rooted and floating plants. They receive abundant sunlight for food and absorb nutrients from the floodwaters. The floodwaters are otherwise likewise muddy for plants underwater since they would not receive much sun.

Floating meadows are home to vines, shrubs and stunted trees. Some of them cover over a square mile. Among the denizens of the floating meadows are capybaras, which feed on grasses. Manatees also ply the waters and eat tremendous amounts of vegetation.

Peradventure the nigh fascinating plant of the floating meadow is the behemothic h2o lily (​Victoria amazonica​), which grows to a staggering four anxiety in diameter and holds meaning weight. Its flowers attain temperatures nigh 15 degrees warmer than the exterior air, making their sweet smell more volatile and bonny to scarab beetle pollinators. The institute gently traps the beetles, allowing them to exist prophylactic through the nighttime and satiate on staminodes, and in the morning, it releases them to fly off and pollinate more giant water lilies. Their seeds settle in mud when floodwaters recede and then they can grow more plants.

Challenges Facing Amazon River Bowl Plants

The unique aquatic dynamics of the Amazon Bowl allow for specialized plants to thrive. Boggling fauna diversity exists, with numerous birds, fish, rodents, deer, tapirs and other animals feeding on grasses, flowers and fruits.

As deforestation escalates, this unique biome faces daunting threats to maintain the delicate ecosystem that have grown over time. Logging has replaced much of the timber tree population of the Amazon Basin. Ranch cattle grazing the plants here compete directly with the native animals such as manatees and capybaras. Additional threats include depletion of fish and pollution from mining.

Since the várzea forests capture and recycle vital nutrients for this ecosystem, threats to the region from human being development must exist addressed. Learning more well-nigh the interactions between animals and plants in and along the Amazon River can help uncover ways to conserve this richly diverse region.

What Animals and Plants Live in the Amazon River

Source: https://sciencing.com/plants-live-waters-amazon-rivers-6823575.html