The rapid destruction of woodlands or removal of trees from forests is known as deforestation. Every year, vast areas of forests are cleared to make way for agriculture and development.
Tropical rainforests play important ecological roles:
1. Rainforests are the oldest ecosystems on Earth and house almost half of the world’s flora and fauna.
2. They contain many unique species which provide food, medicine and other biological products. Plants from tropical rainforests already provide about one-quarter of today’s pharmaceutical products. According to the National Cancer Institute, 70% of the plants useful in the treatment of cancer can only be found in the tropical rainforests.
3. Rainforests regulate the world’s climate by influencing wind,
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They also serve as water catchment areas.
Effects of Deforestation
Despite their importance, it has been estimated that more than 50 million acres of rainforests are destroyed or seriously degraded every year.
1. Deforestation causes soil erosion, landslides and flash floods
During the rain seasons and it rains for a long period of time, the top layer of soil loosens and slide down which cause landslides. Landslides may cause the loss of lives and properties. Deforestation causes the soil to lose its stability. Decreasing of trees causes there is lack of tree leaves to protect the soil from the collision of raindrops and also causes the lack of tree roots to hold the soil. Thus, the soil is exposed directly to the raindrop. The top layer of soil is easily washed away by the heavy rainfall. This leads to soil erosion. The water carries away the eroded soil and the eroded soil may be deposited in rivers. Rainwater flows quickly into rivers during heavy rain because there is no reservation of water by plant roots as well as water catchment areas. Due to oozing in the rivers, the water flow is slowed down and become blocked. Thus, water flow interior and causes flash floods in low areas. Flash floods may cause loss of lives and properties. Soil erosion will leads to loss of minerals for the land. The land cannot be used for
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Deforestation results in the loss of biodiversity
Deforestation is having its most devastating effect on biodiversity in tropical rainforests. The destruction of millions of hectares of forests by human activities means:
• The removal of the bases of numerous food webs
• The loss of habitats for many species of flora and
• This book is about finding medicinal plants in the Amazon Rainforest to cure common diseases. • Sometimes, Western medicines cannot cure the common diseases. • This book was written by Mark Plotkin and it was published in 1993. • Mark Plotkin travels to different parts of the rainforest and collect several medicinal plants for a research experiment. •
In North Carolina there is huge deforestation problem. We are losing trees at a rapid pace and this must slow down or we will lose many of our natural ecosystems. I propose a solution to this problem, for every tree that is cut down you are legally required to plant a new tree. This would be put into place on a state level and would definitely help with the issue of the destruction of forests in North Carolina. Deforestation is the act of cutting down a large quantity of trees in a short period of time.
Deforestation has led to another of many reasons of global warming and low rainfall, which can affect crops for farmers. How it affects resources, services and finance and etc- In resources, deforestation provides a lot of different type of oil, like palm oil and lumber, cattle ranching, farming, buildings, paper, homes, furniture and urbanization. Even though it decreases a natural resources, many different types of other resources are created as a result. Since it provides people with enterprise, it can benefit the distribution of trade with other countries, and increase job opportunities.
There are many characteristic that make this rainforest very distinguishing, especially things such as the rainfall and species diversity. There are a number of significant abiotic features of this rainforest are severe rainfall causing flooding, little light reaches the ground, and because it rains all year round the soil is always moist. The rainforest is known to have the biggest tropical trees, one called the Bull
Floods, and specifically flash floods are easily susceptible because creeks and rivers that were once dry fill quickly during heavy rain. Colorado also has problems with flash floods because of the massive wildfires and droughts. Wildfires burn up all of the plants and leave burn scars. In term, water is not being absorbed in the soil and plants as it normally would have been. Droughts can cause flooding because the dryness associated with droughts causes the soil to harden and become arid.
4. Habitat alteration: Removal and reduction of natural habitat by flooding, soil erosion and water
These include floods and droughts. However, the most concrete impact recently has been by drought. The government and the people have not been able to provide enough food supply for themselves. Due to the growth
Tropical rainforests are essential to the global ecosystem and human survival. They form a world like no other and are incomparable in terms of their biological diversity. Tropical rainforests are a natural reservoir of genetic diversity which offers a rich source of therapeutic plants, high yield foods, and a myriad of other useful forest products. They are an important habitat for nomadic animals and continue as much as 50 percent of the species on Earth, as well as a number of diverse and unique cultures.
Despite the absolute vitality of healthy forest environments, deforestation is destroying swaths the size of Panama every year. There are many types of forests, ranging from the coniferous evergreens in the taiga to the temperate and deciduous forests of North America to the tropical palms of pacific islands, but tropical rainforests are the most commonly destroyed for a variety of purposes. Lush rainforests once covered over 16% of the Earth’s surface. They now cover around 2% and that number is dwindling. Forests like these
The Brazilian Amazon is home to 40% of the world’s tropical rainforest. Incidentally, it also has the world’s fastest rate of deforestation. Tropical Rainforests around the world are lost at the rate of one acre per second with the average rate of Brazilian Amazon being such that 2 million hectares of forest land are cleared every year. There are multiple causes for this extensive rate of deforestation and this paper will address four such causes namely (1) rapid population growth, (2) industrial logging and mining, (3) changing spatial patterns of deforestation, and (4) wildfires. Moreover, there are several Brazilian state policies that encourage deforestation practices of which this paper will look at five key aspects – (1) taxes on agricultural income, (2) rules of land allocation, (3) land taxes, and (4) tax credit schemes and subsidized credits.
Animals and organisms living in a forest where they get all their food, water and where their habitat is located get’s taken over by deforestation, many do not survive because they can’t physically adapt to new an environment quickly enough. According to National Geographic, effects of deforestation in most forests causes a decrease in water and soil quality and it also contributes to climate change. Not only because of the pollution that is produced when the trees are burnt down, but, trees take in carbon dioxide (CO2) and produce clean oxygen, so living organisms can breathe, however, we are slowing cutting off our clean oxygen supply and
Deforestation in the amazon has had a great impact to the ecosystem and its biodiversity. It has caused loss of habitat, extinction of its native animals, and degradation of the soil; the complete after math is not yet determined, but scientist state it has an impact on many factors such as biodiversity, and global warming. The Amazon rainforest is home to a large complex of species, animals and plants. Deforestation is not only the cutting, logging, or burning of trees, but is also the destruction of habitats at a fast rate.
2.8.2 Urbanization Urbanization led many areas becomes more modernized. Lowland areas have been reclaimed by taking land from the hills. There are also small rivers that filled up to be used as a building site. Activities such as these are a common factor of flooding. In the past, creeks and valleys turned into water flow, now the area has been covered with soil.
Without the transpiration of trees, deforested areas become drier. Changes in weather and shelter cause deforested areas to undergo a tremendous loss of biodiversity. The scientist hasn’t even come close to testing 1% of the plants in the tropical rainforests for medicinal use, but they regularly discover species that are helpful to us the people. But, these forests and their potential benefits are looking like they may disappear by the end of this century if we don’t stop
Hence, deforestation increases. This is another effect of overpopulation that impacts the worsening of the environment [2]. For example decreased forest size increases the amount of carbon in the environment. More specifically, deforestation affects the wildlife and results in biodiversity loss and species extinction [1].