What effect does cutting down trees have on the environment?
The loss of trees and other vegetation can cause climate change, desertification, soil erosion, fewer crops, flooding, increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and a host of problems for indigenous people.
How does cutting down trees cause desertification?
When the land is cleared of trees, the roots of the trees no longer hold the soil together so it is more vulnerable to soil erosion . Overgrazing – an increasing population results in larger desert areas being farmed. Sheep, cattle and goats are overgrazing the vegetation. This leaves the soil exposed to erosion.
Why cutting down trees is bad?
The reason that logging is so bad for the climate is that when trees are felled they release the carbon they are storing into the atmosphere, where it mingles with greenhouse gases from other sources and contributes to global warming accordingly.
What is the cause and effect of cutting trees?
As trees are cut down, there is less water in the air to return to the soil. The result of deforestation is dryer soil that eventually will no longer support agriculture or cattle ranching. Without trees, precious topsoil erodes and washes away, leaving the land sterile and more prone to flooding.
Is deforestation bad or good?
Deforestation is very bad news for the environment and for the climate. But the science is increasingly certain that deforestation is bad for agriculture too. It causes increases in temperatures as well as changes in rainfall patterns which generally create a drier climate.
What are the benefits of not cutting down trees?
Without trees, we lose the environmental benefits they provide. We need to have our forests for a variety of reasons, including the fact that they absorb carbon dioxide from our atmosphere and what we exhale. This biome will also stop the heat-trapping greenhouse gases that we produce from our regular activities.
What is cutting down trees called?
Felling is the process of cutting down trees, an element of the task of logging. The person cutting the trees is a feller.
Is General Sherman still standing?
The ‘General Sherman’ tree in California (pictured on the right) is still standing, for example. It is believed to be the largest in the world by volume, at 275ft high and 100ft in circumference around the base.
What is the thickest tree in the world?
A Mexican cypress – Taxodium mucronatum in the village of Santa Maria del Tule is the thickest tree in the world with a diameter of 11.62 metres and a circumference of 36.2 metres.