Species Extinction And Habitat Destruction Have A Negative

Deforestation plays a big role in global warming. The “land use connection” referred to as “land use changes” is a huge contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. Land use change involves all the destructions of land in order to produce and distribute food. Every year rainforests are demolished for agriculture intentions. “The biggest factors are the destruction of vital rainforests through burning and clearing and the elimination of wetlands” (Lappe 753). Deforestation of these habitats leads to the discharge carbon dioxide into the environment.

The scale and pace of change is dramatic; for example, the extinction of species is occurring at around 100-fold pre-human rates4. The population sizes of vertebrate species have, on average, declined by half over the last 45 years5. More than 2.3 million km2 of primary forest has been felled since 20006. About

According to a Collective Evolution article published on March 4, 2013, “260 million acres...of US forests have been clear-cut to create land for producing feed for livestock” (Ketler 1). In addition to this, National Geographic has released an article about deforestation stating that one of the worst outcomes of deforestation is the destruction of habitats for animals. The article goes on to state that deforestation is also a major cause of climate change and global warming. What is even worse is that this deforestation will likely not stop, as the world population swells and the demand for meats as well. So, this tragedy must be stopped now, or this could materialize extremely negative, complex issues for the environment and the population of the

Forests play a critical role in mitigating climate change because they act as a carbon sink soaking up carbon dioxide that would otherwise be free in the atmosphere and contribute to ongoing changes in climate patterns. Deforestation undermines this important carbon sink function. It is estimated that 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions are the

As you are reading this, sixty seconds from now approximately over 100 acres and roughly about 2,000 trees are being destroyed at an alarming rate worldwide. As a result an estimated 140 species of rainforest plants and animals go extinct every day. That is the equivalent of at least 42 million acres of tropical forests in Asia, Africa, and Latin America are lost each year, an area the size of the state of Washington (RFA). Now some may say in a geographical perspective the continents listed above are not in correlation to North America’s natural resources, but it is of vital importance to take swift precautionary methods to help reduce this process before it is too late. Even the most conservative estimates project

Deforestation of rainforests as such, physically kills of plant species, and these plants and the environment they form are the habitats that are vastly inhabited by all types of living matter, from elephants in the African jungles, to the beetles that live in logs. An approximation of extinct species of mammals would be about 60, since 1600. 125 species of birds have also become extinct since then. Currently, there are around 1000 to 1100 species of birds and mammals that are facing extinction, or on the brink of extinction. Including plants and invertebrates too would bring this number to 20 000. This is solely to do with the fact that Europeans use whatever land available to make way for industrial, commercial and residential use.

The biodiversity of the tropical rainforest is so immense that less than 1 percent of its millions of species have been studied by scientists for their active constituents and their possible uses. When an acre of tropical rainforest is lost, the impact on the number of plant and animal species lost and their possible uses is staggering. Scientists estimate that we are losing more than 137 species of plants and animals every single day because of rainforest deforestation.

Deforestation is another known contributor to global climate change. This is by contributing to global warming. According to Nanda (2011), trees are the main absorber of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Therefore, deforestation contributes global warming because less carbon dioxide was absorbed. Furthermore, decaying of these trees produces carbon dioxide. Therefore, governments should make legislation aimed at conserving and rehabilitating destroyed forests (Solomon et al., 2011).

Deforestation on the island of Madagascar, an island off of the coast of Africa, has caused major destruction of habitat for species and a reduction in numbers of plants and trees. The island used to be largely covered in dense forests which were home to many species of lemur and other animals. Now, ⅘ of the island is bare and uninhabitable for these animals. Deforestation on the island progresses at around 150,000 to 200,000 hectares of forests cut down each year. Because of this many plants and animals that only occur in the wild on Madagascar are endangered. The problem has effects on both abiotic factors as well as the biotic factors, which include animals and plants. Some of the abiotic things impacted include lakes and shorelines. One of the main causes for the deforestation is slash-and-burn agriculture. In this technique, small areas of forest are cut down and everything is burned to clear the area and introduce some nutrients into the ground. Then, rice is planted and grown for a few years. After some time, all of the nutrients are depleted from the ground and rice cannot grow well anymore. Because of this, farmers have to continuously cut down more and more forest. The reason that this is such a common thing on Madagascar is because most people are poor and need food, so they resort to this destructive technique that leaves land barren and unable to support growth.

With new technology such as satellites systems, low altitude photography and side looking radar scientists now figure that the world is losing about twenty million hectares of tropical forests annually. It has been suggested that the high deforestation rates are caused partially by the fact that the new surveys are more accurate and thus reveal old deforestation rates that were miscalculated with previous methods (Westoby, 202).

Nowadays deforestation is the one of the most important and controversial environmental issues in the world. Deforestation is cutting down, clearing away or burning trees or forests. Particularly tropical rainforests are the most waning type of forests because of its location in developing countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines, India, central African countries and Brazil. Deforestation rate in those regions is high enough to worry about, because of large economic potential of forest areas. As the result of causes such as agriculture land expansion, logging for timber, fire blazing and settling infrastructure there might be serious impacts in future. For instance, extinction of endemic species of animals and plants which will be

“Seventy percent of Earth’s land animals and plants live in forests, and many cannot survive the deforestation that destroys their homes.” The trees of the rainforest that provide shelter for some species also provide the canopy that regulates the temperature, a necessity for many others. Its removal through deforestation would allow a more drastic temperature variation from day to night, much like a desert, which could prove fatal for current

The rate of deforestation is increasing and the tropical forests are falling at approximately 140,000 acres per day (Miller & Tangley 1991: xvi). The forests are crucial to the environment. They are important in minimizing erosion, providing a stable habitat for many animals, and helping to keep the environment clean. Deforestation has devastating effects, not only on the biological dependents within the depleted forests, but also on the surrounding human-populated communities.

Deforestation is a major global problem with serious consequences to the planet. These consequences have a negative effect on the climate, biodiversity, the atmosphere and threatens the cultural and physical survival of life. Deforestation is the permanent destruction of indigenous forests and woodlands. It has resulted in the reduction of indigenous forests to four-fifths of their pre-agricultural area, so that now indigenous forests cover only 21% of the earth's land surface. The world Resources Institute regards deforestation as one of the worlds most pressing land use problem.

Deforestation around the world has not only affected the forests in which species live in but now is being recognized as one of the main causes of climate change. Since the destruction of the rainforests has sped up in recent years, a cooling band around the equator forms and those emissions can outweigh any