Learn how the Andes Mountains block warm moist air, causing heavy rainfall that feeds the Amazon River

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A brief introduction to the Andes Mountains and the Andean condor.

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The Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve in Costa Rica is a conservation area owned by a nonprofit organization. Ecotourism generates income for the local economy.

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Alpaca and sheep are herded on the Altiplano of Bolivia and Peru, where many Aymara and Quechua people still produce wool using the ancient drop-spindle technique.

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The water cycle begins and ends in the ocean.

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Overview of water moving through the hydrologic cycle, or water cycle: it evaporates from Earth's surface as water vapor, which condenses in the atmosphere, forming clouds and precipitation, which falls to the land and flows through lakes, rivers, and oceans, from which water evaporates as the cycle repeats.

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Deforestation of the Amazon River basin has followed a pattern of cutting, burning, farming, and grazing. This process is then repeated on adjacent plots of land, steadily pushing back the borders of the Amazon Rainforest.

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Learn about the essential aspects of the hydrologic cycle.

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The Transamazonian highway was intended to connect several South American countries.