EGE 311

People and the Earth’s Ecosystem

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 Module 2
Renewable and Non-renewable Resources

Lesson 1 People and the Forest

Learning Outcomes
● Define sustainable forestry and explain how monocultures and wildlife corridors
are related to it.
● Define deforestation, including clearcutting, and list the main causes of tropical
deforestation.
● Describe national forests and state which government agencies administer them
and current issues of concern.

Introduction
This lesson talks about the how forest corridors help in sustainable farming,
and the incidence of deforestation around the globe.

Abstraction
FORESTS and their ROLES
• Provide many goods and services to support human society
• occupy less than one-third of Earth’s total land area.
• Timber harvested from forests is used for fuel construction materials, and paper
products.
• supply nuts, mushrooms, fruits, and medicines.
• provide employment for millions of people worldwide and offer recreation and
spiritual sustenance in an increasingly crowded world.

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 Role of forests in the hydrologic cycle
• regulating global biogeochemical cycles like those for carbon and nitrogen
• Photosynthesis by trees removes large quantities of heat-trapping carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere and fixes it into carbon compounds, while
releasing oxygen back into the atmosphere.
• act as carbon “sinks,” which may help mitigate climate warming,
• produce oxygen for cellular respiration of organisms
• Tree roots hold vast tracts of soil in place, reducing erosion and mudslides
• protect watersheds; moderation of water flow provides a more
• regulated flow of water downstream
• Forest soils remove impurities from water, improving its quality.
• provide a variety of essential habitats for many organisms
Forest Management
• Management for timber production disrupts a forest’s natural condition and
alters its species composition and other characteristics.
• Monoculture- Ecological simplification in which only one type of plant is
cultivated over a large area.
• Disadvantage of monocultures: at increased risk of damage from insect pests
and disease-causing microorganisms.
• Sustainable forestry- the use and management of forest ecosystems in an
environmentally balanced and enduring way
• wildlife corridor- A protected zone that connects isolated unlogged or
undeveloped areas.

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 • Harvesting Trees
• about 3.5 million m3 (120 million ft3) of wood are harvested annually
(forfuelwood, timber, and other products)
• 5 countries with the greatest tree harvests: United States, Canada, Russia,
Brazil, and China
• About 50% of harvested wood is burned directly as fuelwood or used to make
charcoal.
Harvesting trees
• Selective cutting- mature trees are cut individually or in small clusters while
the rest of the forest remains intact, allows the forest to regenerate naturally.
• shelterwood cutting- The removal of all mature trees in an area over an
extended period. In the first year of harvest, undesirable tree species and
dead or diseased trees are removed. Subsequent harvests occur at intervals
of several years, allowing time for remaining trees to grow.
• seed tree cutting- almost all trees are harvested from an area; a scattering of
desirable trees is left behind to provide seeds for the regeneration of the
forest.

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 • clear-cutting A logging practice in which all the trees in a stand of forest are
cut, leaving just the stumps.
Deforestation
 The temporary or permanent clearance of large expanses of forest for
agriculture or other uses.
 Causes of the decades-long trend of deforestation include fires caused by
drought and land clearing practices, expansion of agriculture, construction of
roads, tree harvests, insects, disease, and mining.
• Most of the world’s deforestation is currently taking place in Africa and South
America
Results of Deforestation
• decreased soil fertility
• Uncontrolled soil erosion
• Increased sedimentation of waterways caused by soil erosion harms
downstream fisheries.
• formation of deserts
• Disruption of Regulation of water flow  alternating periods of flood and
drought
• extinction of many species
• habitat modification and destruction
• regional and global climate changes
• increase in global temperature by releasing carbon originally stored in the
trees into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide
Boreal Forests and Deforestation
• Extensive deforestation in boreal forests due to logging began in the late
1980s.
• Boreal forests

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 • occur in Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia, and northern Russia and are
dominated by coniferous evergreen trees such as spruce, fi r, cedar,
and hemlock.
• the world’s largest, covering about 11% of Earth’s land.
• primary source of the world’s industrial wood and wood fi ber.
Tropical Forests and Deforestation
• two types of tropical forests: tropical rain forests and tropical dry forests.
• Tropical rain forests
• prevail in warm areas that receive 200 cm (79 in) or more of
precipitation annually.
• are found in Central and South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia,
but almost half of them are in just three countries: Brazil, Democratic
Republic of the Congo, and Indonesia
• Tropical dry forests
• occur in other tropical areas where annual precipitation is less but is
still enough to support trees.
• India, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Egypt, and Brazil
Why are tropical rain forests disappearing?
• Population growth
• Deforestation
• Agricultural expansion
• economic, social, and government factors
• 3 agents: subsistence agriculture, commercial logging, and cattle ranching
• For fuelwood
• Wood as heating and cooking fuel
• wood cut for fuel is converted to charcoal, which is then used to power steel,
brick, and cement factories.

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