Rainforest Deforestation
Rainforest Deforestation
LA298: Associate Degree Capstone
June 30, 2012
Rainforest Deforestation The world’s rainforests are disappearing at an alarming rate and the consequences could be devastating. Global climate change is accelerating, due in part to deforestation of the rainforests around the world which help to maintain the hydrologic cycle of the Earth, and play a large part in cleaning the air that the population breathes. There exists a diverse collection of species in these ecosystems and as the area they cover becomes smaller the species that live in the rainforests must compete for fewer resources and at times disappear due to a lack of natural habitat. Governments around the world are attempting to preserve the rainforests, but they are not doing enough to keep these valuable resources from becoming extinct. If the rainforests continue to disappear, and are ultimately wiped out of existence, then the climate changes that are seen today will only get worse. Global climate change is accelerating due to rainforest deforestation. There is a debate as to how much oxygen the rainforests of the world actually produce. While trying to find a good figure results of anywhere from 18 percent to 80 percent can be found, but there is no research included to back up the numbers that are provided. Several sources even state that the rainforests do not provide any of the Earth’s oxygen because it is absorbed by the organisms that are consuming the decaying plant and animal life on the forest floor. While the rainforest’s contribution to the oxygen supply is up for debate, there have been studies on how much carbon the rainforests consume helping to lessen the amount of buildup in the atmosphere.
Carbon is assimilated by the biosphere through photosynthesis and released through autotrophic (plant) and heterotrophic (animals, microbes, etc.) respiration. The magnitudes of these processes vary from biome to biome, but some of the largest fluxes are expected
LA298: Associate Degree Capstone
June 30, 2012
Rainforest Deforestation The world’s rainforests are disappearing at an alarming rate and the consequences could be devastating. Global climate change is accelerating, due in part to deforestation of the rainforests around the world which help to maintain the hydrologic cycle of the Earth, and play a large part in cleaning the air that the population breathes. There exists a diverse collection of species in these ecosystems and as the area they cover becomes smaller the species that live in the rainforests must compete for fewer resources and at times disappear due to a lack of natural habitat. Governments around the world are attempting to preserve the rainforests, but they are not doing enough to keep these valuable resources from becoming extinct. If the rainforests continue to disappear, and are ultimately wiped out of existence, then the climate changes that are seen today will only get worse. Global climate change is accelerating due to rainforest deforestation. There is a debate as to how much oxygen the rainforests of the world actually produce. While trying to find a good figure results of anywhere from 18 percent to 80 percent can be found, but there is no research included to back up the numbers that are provided. Several sources even state that the rainforests do not provide any of the Earth’s oxygen because it is absorbed by the organisms that are consuming the decaying plant and animal life on the forest floor. While the rainforest’s contribution to the oxygen supply is up for debate, there have been studies on how much carbon the rainforests consume helping to lessen the amount of buildup in the atmosphere.
Carbon is assimilated by the biosphere through photosynthesis and released through autotrophic (plant) and heterotrophic (animals, microbes, etc.) respiration. The magnitudes of these processes vary from biome to biome, but some of the largest fluxes are expected