Zeno Swijtink
12-12-2007, 07:41 PM
There are many examples of connections in nature that are amazing. When you first hear of them they blow your mind. When you know of them they become part of your world picture, the general framework you use to value ideas and information.
One example for me was the connection between salmon and trees. Salmon are born in a creek, migrate to the salty ocean and return often to the same creek to spawn and die. Their death in that upland stream delivers materials from the ocean to the hills and mountains. Biologists have been able to show the presence of ocean minerals in trees high in the mountains. The health of these particular kind of trees depends on the yearly return and death of these fish! At the same time, these trees provide shade for the creeks and keeps the temperature of the water in the right range for these kind of fish, while leaves that fall in the water provide food for critters the salmon live off.
I just read another story of interconnectedness between the Sahara and the Amazon. Ancient wind patterns create dependencies here that amaze me.
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The Bodélé depression: a single spot in the Sahara that provides most of the mineral dust to the Amazon forest
Abstract.*About 40 million tons of dust are transported annually from the Sahara to the Amazon basin. Saharan dust has been proposed to be the main mineral source that fertilizes the Amazon basin, generating a dependence of the health and productivity of the rain forest on dust supply from the Sahara. Here we show that about half of the annual dust supply to the Amazon basin is emitted from a single source: the Bodélé depression located northeast of Lake Chad, approximately 0.5% of the size of the Amazon or 0.2% of the Sahara. Placed in a narrow path between two mountain chains that direct and accelerate the surface winds over the depression, the Bodélé emits dust on 40% of the winter days, averaging more than 0.7 million tons of dust per day.
Keywords:* Sahara,*Amazon,*dust,*aerosols,*rainforest,*fertilization
https://www.iop.org/EJ/article/1748-9326/1/1/014005/erl6_1_014005.html
One example for me was the connection between salmon and trees. Salmon are born in a creek, migrate to the salty ocean and return often to the same creek to spawn and die. Their death in that upland stream delivers materials from the ocean to the hills and mountains. Biologists have been able to show the presence of ocean minerals in trees high in the mountains. The health of these particular kind of trees depends on the yearly return and death of these fish! At the same time, these trees provide shade for the creeks and keeps the temperature of the water in the right range for these kind of fish, while leaves that fall in the water provide food for critters the salmon live off.
I just read another story of interconnectedness between the Sahara and the Amazon. Ancient wind patterns create dependencies here that amaze me.
******
The Bodélé depression: a single spot in the Sahara that provides most of the mineral dust to the Amazon forest
Abstract.*About 40 million tons of dust are transported annually from the Sahara to the Amazon basin. Saharan dust has been proposed to be the main mineral source that fertilizes the Amazon basin, generating a dependence of the health and productivity of the rain forest on dust supply from the Sahara. Here we show that about half of the annual dust supply to the Amazon basin is emitted from a single source: the Bodélé depression located northeast of Lake Chad, approximately 0.5% of the size of the Amazon or 0.2% of the Sahara. Placed in a narrow path between two mountain chains that direct and accelerate the surface winds over the depression, the Bodélé emits dust on 40% of the winter days, averaging more than 0.7 million tons of dust per day.
Keywords:* Sahara,*Amazon,*dust,*aerosols,*rainforest,*fertilization
https://www.iop.org/EJ/article/1748-9326/1/1/014005/erl6_1_014005.html