Deforestation

Group Members: Troy Wu                           Violetta Rucinski                          Shemanta Akanda                           Amber Jin                          Alfred Gan (Group Leader))

What is deforestation?

• Once there were many trees in which many diverse animals lived. However, now there is a growing environment problem called, deforestation. Deforestation is the clearing of forests through cutting or burning them. Deforestation has many impacts not just on the environment but also on humans and the economy. It has been a growing problem for many years now and thanks to that we are losing many of our animals that live in the trees.But, there are ways in which we can stop deforestation, however there is no quick fix.

• FACT- more than 50 %of tree cover has disappeared thanks to us

What are the causes of deforestation?•  need of agricultural

land-  land must be cleared away in order for the crops to grow,and most of the time the trees are in the way

• creation of urban areas-in order for buildings, stores, homes, highways,etc. to be built the trees that covered the land must be cleared

• construction uses- trees are used as lumber and make building materials to be made into sources of food- trees are cut down and are turned into firewood or turned to charcoal which then we can use to heat a house

• made into products- furniture and most importantly paper products etc.

    

 Effect on the environment •  destories habitats of

animals, and kills animals • kills trees, our main

source of oxygen•  doesn't allow trees to

grow back, the rate at which humans are cutting down trees are faster then the rate at which the forest is growing

•  change in climate of the surrounding area

 

• contributes to global warming

•  will cause deplition of the water table, the main soucre of water for people living around forest areas

  

How does this effect the human health?

• the main way that it effects our health is by decreasing our oxygen levels (since trees produce oxygen for us to breath and when they are cut down carbon dioxide builds up with the oxygen decreasing)

•  with no oxygen we can not go through respiration(the processes that gives us energy)

• cutting down trees decreases the amount of supplies we need to manufacture medical products and other products as well

• since some animals eat leaves from trees and we eat the animals we can have a decrease in food supply

How does this affect our economy?  • deforestation gives us

agricultural land but some forest land does not have fertile soil

• the slash and burn method as a way of getting nutrient into the soil but that will only last a few years. and due to this method it will take even longer for the trees to grow back.

 

 •  our economy is driven by

deforestation since almost all the producuts come form trees

• the lumber industy also profits from deforestion but wood cannot  be renewed

• the government also funds deforestation

Increase of carbon dioxide graph

 

 

Area of land left in the world

Deforestation and its impact on ecosystems

• since many diverse animals live in trees cutting them down will force them to leave

• the animals may not be adapted to other areas so they can die out in other ecosystems

• can have an impact on predator and prey relationships

• increased competition between animals

• complications in food webs

• lost of habitats

How can we adress the issue of deforestation?

•We can help by planting more trees. •Reduce reuse recycle. You can reduce reuse and recycle paper products so that there is a less demand for timber, leading to reduced amount of trees being cut down.•Help reduce pollution. Acid rain from pollution contributes to deforestation.

•One very important thing we should do is inform others about the epidemic so they can help or spread the word to other people. The more people are informed the better. 

Groups that are help try to Stop Deforestation

        

- NWP (Nicodemus Wilderness Project)- WWF (World Wildlife Fund)- Rainforest2Reef

  

Works cited pageCauses and effects of deforestation.Rita  Putatunda.http://www.buzzle.com/articles/causes-and-effects-of-deforestation.html.  Miller,Kenneth.Levine,Joseph.Biology. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2003 http://www.globalforestwatch.org/english/about/faqs.htm  http://www.wildernessproject.org/members_join_nativetrees.php?gclid=CO-L_Mmz9qQCFeJN5QodpxUjhw http://www.worldwildlife.org/what/globalmarkets/forests/index.html http://www.rainforest2reef.org/?_kk=stop%20deforestation&_kt=4caf4108-b5e3-42ea-bb6d-d824d590d321&gclid=CNb0pIi09qQCFQ915Qod1QUAjw