Biotic pump
Theory of how forests affect rainfall / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The biotic pump is a theoretical concept that shows how forests create and control winds coming up from the ocean and in doing so bring water to the forests further inland.
This theory could explain the role forests play in the water cycle: trees take up water from the soil and microscopic pores on the leaves release unused water as vapor into the air. This process is known as evapotranspiration. The biotic pump describes how water vapor given off by trees can drive winds and these winds can cross continents and deliver this moisture to far off forests. With this process and the fact that the foliage in forests have surface area, the forests can deliver more moisture to the atmosphere than evaporation from a body of water or equivalent size. [1]
The previous hypothesis for this cycle describes how precipitation brought by winds are a direct result of changes in temperature and pressure. The biotic pump hypothesis demonstrates how important our rainforests are to the surrounding ecosystem. Rainforests are susceptible to anthropogenic factors (ie. deforestation), which could impact the biotic pump; therefore, impacting other ecosystems that rely on the biotic pump to thrive. Without our rainforests the weather would be less stable and rain could decrease in regions that rely on the biotic pump for water.[2] Additionally, we can gain further insight into the evolution of angiosperms, as well as the correlation between ecology and the interior watering of the continents. By 2022 the concept had been more widely articulated and linked to the importance of stopping deforestation, restoring the hydrological cycle and planetary cooling. [2][3]