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deforestation and loss of biodiversity
deforestation and loss of biodiversity
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1. Introduction
In many communities worldwide, people depend on forests, for fuel wood-gathering, harvesting of wood and non-wood forest products, for larger-scale commercial purposes, habitat for more than half the world’s terrestrial species, clean water, and other important ecosystem services (De Groot et al., 2002, Santangeli et al., 2013, Chhatre and Agrawal, 2009). However, the forest biodiversity is continuously undergoing loss which directly or indirectly contributes to forest ecosystems being transformed and in some cases irreversibly degraded. A large number of species have gone extinction or have been threatened to extinctions and reduction in population (Morris, 2010, Kuussaari et al., 2009). The main causes of biodiversity lose are a complex combination of social, economic and natural process, which includes continued growth of human population and per capita consumption, climate change, ocean acidification and other anthropogenic environmental impacts (Butchart et al., 2010, Geist and Lambin, 2002). Currently, the changes in forest biodiversity are more drastic than at any time in human history.
The different conservation programs for the management of biodiversity loss in the present days have been or are often being tracked from discipline-bound approaches, a solution which is problematic or with little success (Sunderland et al., 2009). One of the reasons for little success is, it ignores the complexity of the challenge being addressed (Moslemi et al., 2009) and the views of the different stakeholders about the forest resource. Therefore, the sustainable management of forest biodiversity loss needs interdisciplinary approaches that creates theoretical, conceptual and methodological ways that focus on and blendi...
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...ss. Conservation biology, 24, 957-965.
SANTANGELI, A., HANSKI, I. K. & MÄKELÄ, H. 2013. Integrating multi-source forest inventory and animal survey data to assess nationwide distribution and habitat correlates of the Siberian flying squirrel. Biological Conservation, 157, 31-38.
SIEVANEN, L., CAMPBELL, L. M. & LESLIE, H. M. 2012. Challenges to Interdisciplinary Research in Ecosystem‐Based Management. Conservation biology, 26, 315-323.
SUNDERLAND, T., SUNDERLAND‐GROVES, J., SHANLEY, P. & CAMPBELL, B. 2009. Bridging the gap: how can information access and exchange between conservation biologists and field practitioners be improved for better conservation outcomes? Biotropica, 41, 549-554.
WUBET, T., KOTTKE, I., TEKETAY, D. & OBERWINKLER, F. 2003. Mycorrhizal status of indigenous trees in dry Afromontane forests of Ethiopia. Forest Ecology and Management, 179, 387-399.
Soule, Michael E et al. “Ecological Effectiveness: Conservation Goals for Interactive Species.” Conservation Biology 17.5 (2003) : 1238-1250.
Tropical rain forests and temperate forests are two different types of forests. They differ in density, diversity of species, regions, altitudes and their usefulness to humans. This usefulness is referred to as values. The values obtained from forests are aesthetics, scientific and educational purposes. In addition forests have the ability to absorb and store carbon dioxide released into the air from man’s endeavours. This CO2 contributes to the sudden increase in global warming. The total value of a forest ecosystem is the combined value of each individual species living within that habitat.
FAO: State of the World's Forests. Rome: Food and Agriculture Office of the United Nations; 2007. Print.
This review will be useful for research scientists and conservation practitioners as it will highlight the current paradigms of biodiversity conservation in relation to reducing habitat fragmentation through the use of ecological
Soulé, M., & Orians, G. (Eds.) (2001). Conservation biology: Research priorities for the next decade. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.
Human beings are heavily reliant on nature’s biodiversity. This biodiversity, however, is threatened by accelerating extinction rates which are approaching past mass extinction levels. Human activities are largely responsible for this trend, and, while there has been some success in preserving select species, the scale of the impending extinction will necessitate the conservation of existing ecosystems if biodiversity is to be preserved. Fortunately, the relative geographical concentration of most biodiversity makes such efforts both possible and economically feasible.
Landscape fragmentation can impose devastating and irreversible consequences on the biodiversity of ecosystems. Because of the conflicting interests between ecology and human economic benefit, it has become increasingly important to find solutions for a harmonic balance. It is imperative for people to recognize the impacts of biodiversity loss and increased extinction of many species. These impacts must be understood in order to protect landscapes and the immense biodiversity they contain. Raising environmental consciousness through education and public cooperative efforts, as well as promoting resource conservation and changing consumptive patterns, are just a few ways that we can begin to protect biodiversity.
In South America lies the largest and most wondrous rainforest in the world, the Amazon Rainforest. This 1.4 billion acre forest represents over half of the planets remaining rainforests, and comprises the largest and most bio-diverse tract of rainforest in the world. Ten percent of all known species on the planet are found in this rain forest, most of which have yet to be discovered. For the past century, the Amazon has been gradually decreasing in size due to agricultural expansion, ranching, infrastructure projects, energy exploration and illegal logging. At its current state, the Amazon is losing land equal to the size of the state of Delaware every year. The destruction of this forest releases 340 million tons of carbon per year according to the World Wildlife Foundation, or WWF, which in turn cause climate changes everywhere around the world. Undiscovered species can hold the key to curing a plethora of diseases, but if those species become extinct those keys are lost forever. If nothing is done to prevent this, the world’s treasure trove of bio-diversity will cease to exist, creating irreversible damage to not only the South American people but also the rest of the world.
Rainforests once covered 14% of the worlds land surface, however now it only covers a mere 6%. It is estimated that all rainforests could be consumed in less than 40 years. Trees are becoming more needed and used everyday. We need them cut down for many reasons such as paper and timber, while also needing them ‘untouched’ for other reasons like oxygen, we have to ask ourselves, which is more important? At the current rate, most of the rainforests are being cut down for resources like paper and timber, but less importance is being placed on main resources like oxygen.
Habitat loss is one of the main reasons why some species of animals are considered endangered. For example, the population of Africa doubles every twenty-four years. This means forests are destroyed to create space for people, to live and to grow crops, with the wood fro...
Wothington, D., Dann, N., and Bond, S. (2002). Issues in Conservation Management. Proceedings of the CIB W070 2002 Global symposium: Glasgow, 18-20 September pp. 292-302
The effect of forest fragmentation is a growing concern among ecologists and forestry managers. Habitat fragmentation is often defined as a process during which “a large expanse of habitat is transformed into a number of smaller patches of smaller total area, isolated from each other by a matrix of habitats unlike the original” (Wilcove et al., 1986). The exact definition of fragmentation differs among studies and commentators, but such features as size of biggest fragment, total amount of perimeter, mean size of fragment, number of fragments, and average distance between fragments have been seen as aspects of fragmentation. The definition of habitat fragmentation above implies four effects of the process of fragmentation on habitat patterns: (a) reduction in habitat amount, (b) increase in number of habitat patches, (c) decrease in size of habitat patches, and (d) increase in isolation of patches. These four effects form the basis of most quantitative measures of habitat fragmentation (Fahrig, 2003). Because fragmentation is generally accompanied by habitat loss, parsing the effects of the two processes is a difficult matter (Wilcove et al., 1986). Many people use the term “fragmentation” loosely, to refer to both processes together. Habitat fragmentation is generally thought to have a large negative effect on biodiversity and is therefore widely viewed as an aspect of habitat degradation (Haila, 2002). This conclusion is, however, generally valid only for conceptualizations of fragmentation that are inseparable from habitat loss. Empirical studies to date suggest that habitat loss has large, consistently negative effects on biodiversity. Habitat fragmentation per se has much weaker effects on biodiversity that are at least as li...
Many of the issues of biodiversity loss can be traced back to human interaction to the environment. One of the issues is alteration and loss of habitats. A lot of this issue is based on the destruction of habitats and for the land to be used for human consumption. The land is either used up for agricultural use or for neighborhoods. Destroying habitats and building them for our own use can have a positive impact on our way of living but a negative impact on the environment. We would gain land for building land for crops and communities to be built. The habitat for the animals would be destroyed and the species local to the land would either relocate or die. There are restrictions to deforesting land and there are organizations to help protect the land.
Loss of biodiversity is an environmental issue that is causing a lot of global concern. Some of the main causes for loss in biodiversity are alteration of habitats, increasing levels of pollution and human population growth. There are measures that are being taken worldwide to prevent loss of biodiversity. Many wildlife sanctuaries have been built worldwide to preserve the lives of various endangered species. However, it is important to remember that every individual has a role in the protection of wildlife and biodiversity. Every human being should play his part of the role by following simple rules such as stopping others from the hunting of endangered species, preventing deforestation, encouraging reforestation and creating awareness among fellow human beings.
Biodiversity is so important that if any chain or link is disturbed then the whole system will come to a halt. Biodiversity also boosts ecosystem productivity and if it declines automatically our ecosystem also declines as both are interdependent upon each other, where all the species play an essential role in the way ecosystem functions, so local and global species loss could threaten the stability of the ecosystem services on which humans depend. This is an interesting topic as well as a global issue concerning the whole human civilization and their existence. . The said issue as well as many other issues regarding our natural processes cannot be neglected as our present and future depends entirely on the sustainability and growth of this ecosystem and biodiversity. Our ecosystem completely depends on the way biodiversity functions. This is the reason I have chosen this topic and gathered information about how it e...