The Amazon is the world’s largest tropical rainforest. While the term “jungle” often refers to an impenetrable, tangled forest, the accurate descriptor for this vast biome is the Amazon tropical rainforest. Covering a substantial portion of the South American continent, this forest represents the largest contiguous tract of its kind remaining on the planet.
The Amazon: Defining the Largest Tropical Rainforest
This biological system is situated primarily within the Amazon Basin in South America. It is a humid, broadleaf forest defined by high annual rainfall and a warm, stable climate. The Amazon is larger than the next-biggest rainforest, the Congo Basin, and represents over half of the total area of remaining rainforests worldwide. The continuous canopy and diverse habitats within the basin create the conditions for its biological complexity.
The defining feature of this enormous forest is the Amazon River, which serves as the central artery of the entire ecosystem. Its tributaries and floodplains connect terrestrial and aquatic life. This environment has allowed for the evolution and survival of an extraordinary number of species over millions of years.
Geographic Scale and Distribution
The Amazon tropical rainforest covers approximately 6.7 million square kilometers (2.6 million square miles). This expanse is distributed across nine countries in South America. The majority of the forest, roughly 60% of its total area, is contained within Brazil.
Peru and Colombia hold the next largest portions of the forest, with smaller areas extending into Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. The central Amazon River system stretches approximately 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), flowing from the Andes Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean. This river and its basin distribute water and nutrients across the entire biome.
Unparalleled Biodiversity
The Amazon rainforest supports an estimated 10% of the world’s known species. Scientists have classified more than 40,000 plant species within the forest, including an estimated 16,000 different tree species. This high concentration means that a single hectare of land can contain over 500 species of trees.
Animal life is extensive, with over 3,000 species of freshwater fish, more than any other river system globally. The forest also shelters more than 427 mammal species, 1,300 bird species, and thousands of amphibians and reptiles. The complexity of the ecosystem is structured by the multi-layered canopy, which creates different microclimates and niches for life. Estimates suggest hundreds of thousands of invertebrate species, such as insects, are yet to be formally described by science.
Its Role in Global Climate
The Amazon performs a substantial function in regulating planetary weather patterns and atmospheric composition. The forest acts as a carbon sink, absorbing and storing an estimated 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually from the atmosphere. This process helps to mitigate the effects of rising global greenhouse gas concentrations. The large volume of biomass stores carbon that would otherwise contribute to warming.
Beyond carbon storage, the Amazon drives the global water cycle through a phenomenon known as “flying rivers.” Through evapotranspiration, the forest releases water vapor into the atmosphere daily, comparable to the flow of the Amazon River itself. These airborne currents are transported by wind, influencing rainfall and climate stability across South America and impacting weather systems globally.