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Deforestation and Habitat Loss
This category deals with the causes and effects of changes in natural habitat. Examples would include questions about cutting down forests, plowing grasslands for agriculture, coral reef die-offs, and the natural process of succession.
2,589 Questions
Does deforestation happen in rural areas?
The answer is yes. No matter what the area it can always be affected by deforestation in some shape or form.
Good examples of this is the Amazon Rainforest. Local businesses cut down trees locally to cut down costs and transportation to serve the local community.
What is notable is that rural deforestation is harder to monitor and control and so makes it more appealing.
More information is available from the NASA Earth Observatory.
What is the average temperature of mangrove swamps?
The average temperature of a swamp is 90 degrees Fahrenheit
Why is habitat destruction important?
Most habitat has been altered in order to convert it to some other purpose useful for humans. The production of food is the first and foremost reason wildlands are "destroyed," and I think you will agree that food is a necessity. In some cases, valleys are flooded when we create reservoirs with dams; these dams provide an aquifer of water for times when water is more scarce and may provide electrical power.
The meaning of ecological problems refers to problems in the environment. They are the problems that relate to ecology and include conservation and climate change.
What will happen to the environment if a dam is built?
A dam was built in Canada years ago. And one day the controller thought that the water level was too high so he let the water run out into the river that had been dammed.
It just so happened that a large group of migrating cariboo wanted to cross that same river that same day. Needless to say the water level was so high in the river that all the cariboo drowned and never made it to the other side.
So my answer is: Maybe nothing bad will happen to us, but maybe a lot of bad things will happen the animals near the dam.
Obviously, a large area is submerged when a dam is built, and this may be home to unique and endangered flora and fauna. Water which flows from hydroelectric dams is from the bottom of the dam where it is cold, dark, low in oxygen, and almost lifeless. This affects the ecosystem for many miles downstream.
BenefitThe reservoir created by a dam, while taking away some terrestrial habitat, can improve wetland, shoreline, and aquatic habitat.
Another perspective...I have not heard of any examples of reservoirs improving wetlands except maybe in arid climates, but then many types of wetlands do not naturally belong in arid climates. Also, they do not create aquatic habitat so much as just change it from a naturally flowing wild river to a lake, which is a completely different water body and supports a completely different ecosystem.
Dams do provide more shoreline probably, and also help control water supply, generate electricity, improve agriculture, help in flood control, and provide additional water contact recreational opportunities.
However, dams are, by and large, damaging to the environment. They disrupt the natural flow regime of a river, disconnecting the river from its flood plain. The previous commenter mentioned dams improving wetlands. That may be true around the reservoir, but usually, all the wetlands wetlands below the dam suffer and often disappear completely.
We like to think that reservoirs help to improve water supply and aid in flood control, but sometimes, dams can have exactly the opposite effect. In many years, average rainfall will result in our ability to operate dams to their full effect, capturing more the snowmelt, reserving water for increased demand later in the year, controlling potential flooding from heavy rainstorms, etc. And while engineeers have done a lot of good for us, I have zero confidence in the ability of engineers to overcome nature in the long run. A river and its wetlands are already designed to deliver exactly the amount of water for natural communities in the watershed. Wetlands have numerous functions essential to healthy riverine processes. They serve as habitat for aquatic and terrestrial wildlife, serve as nurseries for young fishes and amphibians, and help filter out pollutants. They also act like sponges, absorbing water during the spring melt and releasing it back to the river later in the year when the river requires more water. All of those ecosystem functions may be taken away when a dam is built.
In addition, natural communities in the river are adapted to river life. Dams interrupt those communities. Dams are responsible for endangering numerous species, including salmon and freshwater mussels. They are hurting salmon by impairing the ability of adult salmon to swim up their home rivers to spawn, and also impede the ability of spawned salmon fry to swim downstream as they migrate toward the ocean. Also, as a family, the Unionidae (freshwater mussels) are probably the most endangered family of any in the animal kingdom. Most freshwater mussels require flow, an some exist in very localized populations. So when a dam is built and suddenly there is no flow, whole species of mussels may go extinct, and many probably already have.
Unintended consequencesMany dams have been built to control the flow of rivers. Recent flooding in the midwestern United States is thought to be caused not by climate change but the fact that the dams have allowed silt to build up and, in effect, have shallowed the riverbed. Periodic natural flooding creates a deeper channel and lessens the severity of future flood events, and this is not possible with the system of dams the way it is.
Why do countries cut down trees?
there are many reasons countries cut down trees. One reason is to make shelter, such as a house. Another reason is to have firewood, and even paper!
Are bamboo and fast-growing trees renewable or non-renewable?
They can be grown again quickly, so they are renewable.
Forest fires, disease and pest epidemics, flooding, avalanches, and even beavers and elephants can kill trees. However, these events are all part of a forest cycle; the trees will return given time. The difference with man-made deforestation is that we may not replant the trees and our activities on the deforested land may prohibit the regrowth of trees for a long time (or, in the case of desertification, perhaps never).
How many trees are cut down to make a pack of notebook paper?
It would take a rough average of 24 trees to produce a ton of paper. We can estimate that it takes about 12 trees to make a ton of ground wood and newsprint.
SOME TYPICAL CALCULATIONS:
- 1 ton of uncoated virgin (non-recycled) printing and office paper uses 24 trees
- 1 ton of 100% virgin (non-recycled) newsprint uses 12 trees
- A "pallet" of copier paper (20-lb. sheet weight, or 20#) contains 40 cartons and weighs 1 ton. Therefore,
- 1 carton (10 reams) of 100% virgin copier paper uses .6 trees
- 1 tree makes 16.67 reams of copy paper or 8,333.3 sheets
- 1 ream (500 sheets) uses 6% of a tree (and those add up quickly!)
- 1 ton of coated, higher-end virgin magazine paper (used for magazines like National Geographic and many others) uses a little more than 15 trees (15.36)
- 1 ton of coated, lower-end virgin magazine paper (used for newsmagazines and most catalogs) uses nearly 8 trees (7.68)
- 23 trees needed for make a ton of paper
Does deforestation effect erosion?
Deforestation frequently causes erosion. Tree roots hold the soil in place and impede the flow of water from a rainstorm. As a result, they make the water run much slower. Slower water carries far less dirt. That causes far less erosion. When the material making water move slower is removed, water speeds up. It caries more stuff away. Try an experiment. If you have a garden hose, turn it on. Point it at a tree trunk. See what happens. Then point it at some bare dirt. See what happens. Notice the difference between what happens when something is there to hold back the water and something is not there. Now picture the difference when tree roots hold the soil in place and when they are not there.
In South America, the Incas terraced the mountains so they would not wash away. In Nicaragua, the mountains have washed away. Deforestation without making any adjustment has caused mudslides with the mud covering the villages below killing the inhabitants.
How is agriculture and deforestation linked?
deforestation takes away the roots of trees that help hold the ground together. when you remove the trees, the soil is less packed and is more liable to wash away in a storm, therefore changing the elevation, coastline, etc.
Deforestation destroys the habitats of millions of species of plants and animals that will need the areas of forest to survive. Thus, it may lead to the extinction of these species, causing havoc in the biological food chains and the delicate balance of the ecosystem of these areas.
Deforestation leaves the soil bare to erosion and leaching (the depletion of nutrients in the soil). Thus, over time the soil will lose its fertility, and eventually desertification may occur in the area that was once covered by trees.
The removal of trees adds to the high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, as trees are needed to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, and when there is too much of it global warming results.if there will be less trees due to heavy rainfall it cause flood.
What will happen if nothing is done about deforestation?
everyone will die because we wont be able to breath
By far, the most oxygen is produced by marine plants and algae, though forests are significant too. Deforestation will stop because it will become economically non-viable.
What human activity would not impact the environment in a negative way?
hmmm, watching how much we reproduce...
How does building of new roads leads deforestation?
The clearing of Forrest and expiation of roads can lead to deforestation.
How might massive deforestation alter the carbon cycle?
All the organisms and living things in that forest will become homeless, and there will be a short supply of food for everything that was living in the forest, and a lot of things wouldn't survive.
True . :P
How can you stop deforestation in the Amazon?
Use less paper, and walk/bike/public transit more often, Recycle. Basically keep doing good enviromental things (even if they dont seem to connect to the rainforest) and your good deeds will eventually reach the rainforest :)
How many square miles in the rainforest is cut down?
In the rainforest's, every few years 60% of the forest is cut down. This is equal to about 2.3 million square miles. Also, if you need to know, 6.8 BILLION metres of waste fills the rainforest's, so this is damage too. This can cause the cutting down of trees so be ready for more. :)
creating legislation like the Forests Now Declaration
In what ways do organims interact with their physical environment?
organisms interact because they need each other for foodsources and to say alive. \
What is the disadvantages of cutting trees?
Less CO2 would be used up by trees = Less oxygen to be produced = Global warming speeds up = Many animals lose their homes; thus their lives = Our universe will become meaningless eventually
Without trees, there will be flooding as trees can soak up to 1,000 gallons a day. Without trees, there will be very little to soak up carbon dioxide and cleanse the air. Without trees all species depending on it would become extinct. Without trees, the climate would heat up faster as there will no natural "air-conditioning."
What do you get out of deforestation?
people like cattle ranchers need a lot of space to herd cattle etc. cutting down trees can provide that space, also some trees in forests like the Amazon forest are very valuable especially trees like mahogany, but in the felling of the particular mahogany tree trees around can also be toppled over having a domino effect. other people do it for mining, the forest can contain many valuable metals such as gold and people need to move the trees in order to get to these trees, and also as you well know alot of trees are vital in the world today many things are made out of trees, e.g. paper, tables etc.
What are the effects of habitat loss on the food chain?
deforistation ruins the foodchains because it affects the habitat of a producer so then there are less which means less food for the preditor above and so on.
