Updated Octover 23, 2002:

Freshwater Riches of the Amazon
                Natural History September 2001 (by. John Lundberg)

Biogeography is the science that seeks to document and explain patterns of diversity and regional differences in species abundance.

  • More than 35 tropical American species of fishes, including catfisehs, characins, electric fishes, killifishes, and cichlids have newly been discovered and named
  • Amazon River basion is a large, watery place, covering more than 2.5 million square miles, or 30 percent of the South Amercian continent
  • In the rainy season, Amazon discharges 3-6 million cubic feet of water per second into the Atlantic and accounts for 20 percent of the worldwide flow of freshwater into the oceans.
Reason why there's so diverse fish population in Amazon River?
  1. Size: it's great size is a partical explanation for the Amazon's bounty
  2. Location/Position: It is geographically near the equator, where the earth receives more energy from the sun, temperature and day length are more seasonally stable. Under these conditions, vegetation abounds and, in turn, can support many animals of many species.

    3. Low extinction rates are part of the formula for fish species richness in the Amazon basin.
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