DEFORESTATION: THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY
1: Natural Capital:Forests
Ecological Services
Support energy flow and chemical cycling
Reduce soil erosion
Absorb and release water
Purify water and air
Influence local and regional climate
Store atmospheric carbon
Provide numerous wildlife habitats
Economic Services
Fuelwood
Lumber
Pulp to make paper
Mining
Livestock grazing
Recreation
Jobs
2: What are the 3 main types of forests?
Old-forest, second-growth forest and tree plantation
3: What are some of the problems associated with deforestation?
• Decreased soil fertility from erosion
• Runoff of eroded soil into aquatic systems
• Premature extinction of species with specialized niches
• Loss of habitat for native species and migratory species such as birds and butterflies
• Regional climate change from extensive clearing
• Release of CO2 into atmosphere • Acceleration of flooding
4: What are the methods for harvesting trees?
Selective cutting, clear-cutting and strip cutting.
5: Clear-Cutting Forests
Advantages
Higher timber yields
Maximum profits in shortest time
Can reforest with fast-growing trees
Short time to establish new stand of trees
Needs less skill and planning
Good for tree species needing full or moderate sunlight
Disadvantages
Reduces biodiversity
Disrupts ecosystem processes
Destroys and fragments wildlife habitats
Leaves large openings
Increases water, pollution, flooding and erosion on steep slopes
Eliminates most recreational value
6: What are some solutions for sustainable forestry?
• Identify and protect forest areas high in biodiversity
• Grow more timber on long rotations
• Rely more on selective cutting and strip cutting
• Stop clear-cutting on steep slopes
• Cease logging of old-growth forests
• Prohibit fragmentation of remaining large blocks offorest
• Sharply reduce road building into uncut forest areas
• Leave most standing dead trees and fallen timber for wildlife habitat and nutrient recycling
• Certify timber grown by sustainable methods
• Include ecological services of forests in estimating their economic value
• Plant tree plantations on deforested and degraded land
• Shift government subsidies from harvesting trees to planting trees
7: What is the Healthy Forest Restoration Act? What are the PROS and CONS?
The pro is that it allows timber companies to cut medium and large trees in 71% of the national forests. The con is that it could increase sever fires by removing fire resistant trees.
8: Logging in National Forests
Advantages
Helps meet country's timber needs
Cut areas grow back
keeps lumber and paper prices down
Provides jobs in nearby communities
Promotes economic growth in nearby communities
Disadvantages
Provides only 4% timber needs
Ample private forest land to meet timber needs
Has little effect on timber and paper prices
Damages nearby rivers and fisheries
Recreation in national forests provides more local jobs and income for local communities than logging
9: What are some causes of tropical deforestation?
Subsidies, population growth, poverty, crop and timber exports, fires, logging, roads and tree plantations
10: Why should we care about the loss of tropical forests?
2,100 of the 3,000 identified are identified as cancer-fighting chemicals.
11: Sustaining Tropical Forests
Prevention
Protect most diverse and endangered areas
Educate settlers about sustainable agriculture and forestry
Phase out subsidies that encourage unsustainable forest use
Add subsidies that encourage sustainable forest use
Protect forests with debt-for-nature swaps and conservation easements
Certify sustainably grown timber Reduce illegal cutting Reduce poverty Slow population growth
Restoration
Reforestation
Rehabilitation of degraded areas
Concentrate farming and ranching on already-cleared areas
12: Why are rangelands/grasslands so important?
Rangelands and grasslands are so important because it keeps soil formation, erosion control and nutrient cycling.
13: How can we sustain rangeland productivity? What are some solutions to overgrazing?
We can sustain rangeland productivity by controlling the number and distribution of livestock. Solutions to overgrazing are to ban grazing and off-road vehicles and rotational grazing.
14: What is the 4 point strategy to restoring biodiversity worldwide?
Biodiversity hotspot are areas that concentrate on rare and potentially endangered species. There are 34 hotspots worldwide
16: What are the top 6 hotspots in the United States?
1 Hawaii
2 San Francisco Bay area
3 Southern Appalachians
4 Death Valley
5 Southern California
6 Florida Panhandle
17: What are the five basic science-based principles for ecological restoration?
– Identify cause.
– Stop abuse by eliminating or sharply reducing factors.
– Reintroduce species if necessary.
– Protect area form further degradation.
– Use adaptive management to monitor
18: Define:
Preservation-Setting aside or protecting undisturbed natural areas from harmful human activities
Remediation-Reparing an ecosystem that has been destroyed
Sustainability-ability of a system to survive for some specified time
18: What are the eight priorities for protecting biodiversity?
– Take immediate action to preserve world’s biological hot spots.
– Keep intact remaining old growth.
– Complete mapping of world’s biodiversity for inventory and decision making.
– Determine world’s marine hot spots.
– Ensure that the full range of the earths ecosystems are included in global conservation strategy.
– Make conservation profitable.
– Initiate ecological restoration products to heal some of the damage done and increase share of earth’s land and water allotted to the rest of nature.
19: Define: Reconciliation/Applied Ecology
To establish and maintain a new habitat to conserve a species in places where people work, live and play.
20: Define:
Background Extinction: Continuous, low level of extinction of a species
Extinction Rate:Expressed as a percentage or number of species that go extinct within a certain time period
Mass Extinction: Extinction of many species in a relatively short amount of time
21: What are characteristics of vulnerable species?
Low Reproductive Rate
Specialized Feeding Habits
Feed at high trophic levels
Large size
Specialized nesting or breeding areas
Found only in one place or region
22: What is HIPPCO?
– Habitat destruction, degradation, and fragmentation
– Invasive species
– Population growth
23: What can you do about invasive species?
• Do not allow wild animals to escape.
• Do not spread wild plants to other areas.
• Do not dump the contents of an aquarium into waterways, wetlands, or storm drains.
• When camping use wood near your campsite instead of bringing firewood from somewhere else.
• Do not dump unused bait into the water.
• After dogs visit woods or the water brush them before taking them home.
• After each use clean your vehicle, mountain bike, surfboard, kayaks, canoes, boats, tent, hiking boots, and other gear before heading for home.
• Empty all water from canoes, kayaks, dive gear, and other outdoor equipment before heading home.
• Plant a variety of trees, shrubs, and other plants in your yard to reduce losses from invasive species.
• Do not buy plants from overseas or swap them with others using the Internet.
24: What are some characteristics of successful invader species?
25: How is pollution affecting species?
• High reproductive rate, short generation time (r-selected species)
• Pioneer species
• Long lived
• High dispersal rate
• Release growth-inhibiting chemicals into soil
• Generalists
• High genetic variability
26: What is overexploitation?
When species are killed for their valuable parts or are sold live to collectors
27: What is the U.S. Endangered Species Act?
The act forbids federal agencies to carry out projects that would jeopardize an endangered species. It makes it illegal for Americans to engage in commerce associated with endangered or threatened species.
28: What is the CITIES Treaty?
A treaty that bans international trade in elephant products. It was signed by 152 countries and lists moer than 800 species that cannot be traded as live specimens or wildlife products.
29: What can you do to help terrestrial biodiversity? What can you do to help protect species worldwide?
• Adopt a forest.
• Plant trees and take care of them.
• Recycle paper and buy recycled paper products.
• Buy sustainable wood and wood products.
• Choose wood substitutes such as bamboo furniture and recycled plastic outdoor furniture, decking, and fencing.
• Restore a nearby degraded forest or grassland.
• Landscape your yard with a diversity of plants natural to the area.
1: Natural Capital:Forests
Ecological Services
Support energy flow and chemical cycling
Reduce soil erosion
Absorb and release water
Purify water and air
Influence local and regional climate
Store atmospheric carbon
Provide numerous wildlife habitats
Economic Services
Fuelwood
Lumber
Pulp to make paper
Mining
Livestock grazing
Recreation
Jobs
2: What are the 3 main types of forests?
Old-forest, second-growth forest and tree plantation
3: What are some of the problems associated with deforestation?
• Decreased soil fertility from erosion
• Runoff of eroded soil into aquatic systems
• Premature extinction of species with specialized niches
• Loss of habitat for native species and migratory species such as birds and butterflies
• Regional climate change from extensive clearing
• Release of CO2 into atmosphere • Acceleration of flooding
4: What are the methods for harvesting trees?
Selective cutting, clear-cutting and strip cutting.
5: Clear-Cutting Forests
Advantages
Higher timber yields
Maximum profits in shortest time
Can reforest with fast-growing trees
Short time to establish new stand of trees
Needs less skill and planning
Good for tree species needing full or moderate sunlight
Disadvantages
Reduces biodiversity
Disrupts ecosystem processes
Destroys and fragments wildlife habitats
Leaves large openings
Increases water, pollution, flooding and erosion on steep slopes
Eliminates most recreational value
6: What are some solutions for sustainable forestry?
• Identify and protect forest areas high in biodiversity
• Grow more timber on long rotations
• Rely more on selective cutting and strip cutting
• Stop clear-cutting on steep slopes
• Cease logging of old-growth forests
• Prohibit fragmentation of remaining large blocks offorest
• Sharply reduce road building into uncut forest areas
• Leave most standing dead trees and fallen timber for wildlife habitat and nutrient recycling
• Certify timber grown by sustainable methods
• Include ecological services of forests in estimating their economic value
• Plant tree plantations on deforested and degraded land
• Shift government subsidies from harvesting trees to planting trees
7: What is the Healthy Forest Restoration Act? What are the PROS and CONS?
The pro is that it allows timber companies to cut medium and large trees in 71% of the national forests. The con is that it could increase sever fires by removing fire resistant trees.
8: Logging in National Forests
Advantages
Helps meet country's timber needs
Cut areas grow back
keeps lumber and paper prices down
Provides jobs in nearby communities
Promotes economic growth in nearby communities
Disadvantages
Provides only 4% timber needs
Ample private forest land to meet timber needs
Has little effect on timber and paper prices
Damages nearby rivers and fisheries
Recreation in national forests provides more local jobs and income for local communities than logging
9: What are some causes of tropical deforestation?
Subsidies, population growth, poverty, crop and timber exports, fires, logging, roads and tree plantations
10: Why should we care about the loss of tropical forests?
2,100 of the 3,000 identified are identified as cancer-fighting chemicals.
11: Sustaining Tropical Forests
Prevention
Protect most diverse and endangered areas
Educate settlers about sustainable agriculture and forestry
Phase out subsidies that encourage unsustainable forest use
Add subsidies that encourage sustainable forest use
Protect forests with debt-for-nature swaps and conservation easements
Certify sustainably grown timber Reduce illegal cutting Reduce poverty Slow population growth
Restoration
Reforestation
Rehabilitation of degraded areas
Concentrate farming and ranching on already-cleared areas
12: Why are rangelands/grasslands so important?
Rangelands and grasslands are so important because it keeps soil formation, erosion control and nutrient cycling.
13: How can we sustain rangeland productivity? What are some solutions to overgrazing?
We can sustain rangeland productivity by controlling the number and distribution of livestock. Solutions to overgrazing are to ban grazing and off-road vehicles and rotational grazing.
14: What is the 4 point strategy to restoring biodiversity worldwide?
- Map global ecosystems
- Locate and protect endangered ecosystems & species
- Restore as many degraded ecosystems as possible
- Make development biodiversity- friendly
Biodiversity hotspot are areas that concentrate on rare and potentially endangered species. There are 34 hotspots worldwide
16: What are the top 6 hotspots in the United States?
1 Hawaii
2 San Francisco Bay area
3 Southern Appalachians
4 Death Valley
5 Southern California
6 Florida Panhandle
17: What are the five basic science-based principles for ecological restoration?
– Identify cause.
– Stop abuse by eliminating or sharply reducing factors.
– Reintroduce species if necessary.
– Protect area form further degradation.
– Use adaptive management to monitor
18: Define:
Preservation-Setting aside or protecting undisturbed natural areas from harmful human activities
Remediation-Reparing an ecosystem that has been destroyed
Sustainability-ability of a system to survive for some specified time
18: What are the eight priorities for protecting biodiversity?
– Take immediate action to preserve world’s biological hot spots.
– Keep intact remaining old growth.
– Complete mapping of world’s biodiversity for inventory and decision making.
– Determine world’s marine hot spots.
– Ensure that the full range of the earths ecosystems are included in global conservation strategy.
– Make conservation profitable.
– Initiate ecological restoration products to heal some of the damage done and increase share of earth’s land and water allotted to the rest of nature.
19: Define: Reconciliation/Applied Ecology
To establish and maintain a new habitat to conserve a species in places where people work, live and play.
20: Define:
Background Extinction: Continuous, low level of extinction of a species
Extinction Rate:Expressed as a percentage or number of species that go extinct within a certain time period
Mass Extinction: Extinction of many species in a relatively short amount of time
21: What are characteristics of vulnerable species?
Low Reproductive Rate
Specialized Feeding Habits
Feed at high trophic levels
Large size
Specialized nesting or breeding areas
Found only in one place or region
22: What is HIPPCO?
– Habitat destruction, degradation, and fragmentation
– Invasive species
– Population growth
23: What can you do about invasive species?
• Do not allow wild animals to escape.
• Do not spread wild plants to other areas.
• Do not dump the contents of an aquarium into waterways, wetlands, or storm drains.
• When camping use wood near your campsite instead of bringing firewood from somewhere else.
• Do not dump unused bait into the water.
• After dogs visit woods or the water brush them before taking them home.
• After each use clean your vehicle, mountain bike, surfboard, kayaks, canoes, boats, tent, hiking boots, and other gear before heading for home.
• Empty all water from canoes, kayaks, dive gear, and other outdoor equipment before heading home.
• Plant a variety of trees, shrubs, and other plants in your yard to reduce losses from invasive species.
• Do not buy plants from overseas or swap them with others using the Internet.
24: What are some characteristics of successful invader species?
25: How is pollution affecting species?
• High reproductive rate, short generation time (r-selected species)
• Pioneer species
• Long lived
• High dispersal rate
• Release growth-inhibiting chemicals into soil
• Generalists
• High genetic variability
26: What is overexploitation?
When species are killed for their valuable parts or are sold live to collectors
27: What is the U.S. Endangered Species Act?
The act forbids federal agencies to carry out projects that would jeopardize an endangered species. It makes it illegal for Americans to engage in commerce associated with endangered or threatened species.
28: What is the CITIES Treaty?
A treaty that bans international trade in elephant products. It was signed by 152 countries and lists moer than 800 species that cannot be traded as live specimens or wildlife products.
29: What can you do to help terrestrial biodiversity? What can you do to help protect species worldwide?
• Adopt a forest.
• Plant trees and take care of them.
• Recycle paper and buy recycled paper products.
• Buy sustainable wood and wood products.
• Choose wood substitutes such as bamboo furniture and recycled plastic outdoor furniture, decking, and fencing.
• Restore a nearby degraded forest or grassland.
• Landscape your yard with a diversity of plants natural to the area.