Deforestation

1. Deforestation BY: Chelsea Crockwell

2. This Presentation will discuss the three pyramids that explain food chains, and in depth what is deforestation and the effects it has. To Understand the three pyramids you must first understand some terms and definitions.

3. ECOSYSTEM Key Terms ENVIORNMENT NICHE Niche- is the “role” each organism has in the environment which it lives in; where and when it feeds, what it eats and its daily activities. An ECOSYSTEM is an ecological unit which includes every single organism that lives in a particular area ; and also includes all the non living features of the local environment. An ENVIORNMENT is the conditions that surround an organism; this includes biotic factors and abiotic factors. • ABIOTIC- non living • BIOTIC- living REMEMBER THESE TWO TERMS!!

4. Energy that is stored in plants are transferred into other organisms in the ecosystem along food chains. • Each link within a food chain is called trophic level. • Food chains can be expressed as pyramids. There are three types of pyramids. They are: Pyramids of Numbers, Pyramids of Biomass and Pyramids of Energy. • The area of each block within each pyramid expresses the size of the tropic level. Pyramid of Biomass Pyramid of Numbers Pyramid of energy

5. Pyramid of Numbers • Pyramids of Numbers show the numbers of the different organisms present in the community of a particular ecosystem. This pyramid is the easiest to produce due to that fact that you are simply counting the organisms that are seen. • This however is not reliable and often gives a non-symmetrical pyramid. This happens due to the presence of small numbers of large organisms and vice versa. An example would be that there are more caterpillars then there are trees.

6. Pyramid of Biomass • Pyramids of Biomass are pyramids that measure the dry mass of an organism. Doing this will allow the production of a pyramid structure that is always symmetrical and always drawn to scale. The units of measurement for this type of pyramid are kilograms per square meter (kg/m2). • Although this type a pyramid give such accurate results; gathering the raw data is difficult because it involves killing the organism to obtain the data.

7. Pyramid of energy • Pyramids of Energy like its name measures the amount of energy that is present within the organism; the units being kilojoules per square meter per year (kJm-2yr-1). • How does each pyramid measure the data, and what problems may be encountered doing so? • Which pyramid has the best method of collection and measuring data? Why? • This set of data is extremely difficult to collect and measure, but they give the best picture of a food chain and are always symmetrical. It is beneficial because it gives more accurate pyramids then the Pyramids of Numbers and does not require killing organisms to obtain data such as Pyramids of Biomass.

8. Benefits of Forests include: • Absorption of a lot of rain fall and the encouragement of rain fall. • The recycling of minerals from being living biomass within trees to decomposing in soil. • Using the CO2 in the atmosphere and converting it to oxygen. • Providing and preserving biodiversity, and medicines. • Forests are extremely important not only to provide a balance of carbon dioxide and oxygen levels in the atmosphere, but they also provide habitats for wildlife, and wood and medicines for modern everyday use. Therefore deforestation abused causes extreme loss of resources which can lead to a lot of issues for both human and wildlife. Deforestation • Reasons for deforestation: • Trees are cut down for the production of paper and chip board. • Trees are cut down for the production of timber. • Woodlands are removed to increase surface area for agriculture. • Woodlands are removed for production of modern development. • Problems that occur due to Deforestation: • Nutrients and minerals are loss due to the interruption of the cycle of leaves falling and decomposing. • Wind erosion occurs because the land is exposed, and due to the fact that tree roots are no longer binding the soil together the soil structure weakens. • Areas are susceptible to flooding due to the fact that forest absorbs the majority of rain fall. • Loss of habitats leads to the extinction of wildlife, thus diminishing biodiversity. • Loss of forest means less transpiration hence less rain; this leads to drought. • Carbon dioxide levels increase thus contributing to global warming. • Loss of resources to provide and discover chemicals found in plants to produce medicines. Within Britain alone forest coverage has decreased from being 85% to a merely 8%.

9. Questions What to do NOW?? • Timber production- growing wood specifically to cut down. Species that grow quickly such as pine is typically used. This method reduces the amount of forest to be felled. • A traditional method of timber production is coppicing which is cutting trees like sweet chestnut down to the base so it still sprouts. • For leisure management of woodlands can help tremendously by making habitats such as shrubs or leaving decaying leaf beds that supply habitats for many organisms. Also having clear paths and open spaces so that nature and humans can commune in a balance. • Habitats can be conserved by protecting areas. Examples of this are national parks, nature reserves; also restricting building permits on certain land, restricting urban development, industrial development and farming. • Conversation of seed banks allows storage of seeds of different plant species. This helps to conserve endangered plants and different varieties of plant species. Explain how the felling and burning of trees on a large scale could affect the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere? Both rapidly-growing trees and slow growing hardwood trees grow in tropical rainforest. When a small area of trees has been cut down it can return naturally to being a tropical rain forest. Suggest and explain how re-establishment of rainforest ecosystem may occur in such areas?

10. Reference Slide Images • A Review of Ecosystems Ecology (No Date) (Online Image) Available from: http://science.kennesaw.edu/~jdirnber/oceanography/LecuturesOceanogr/LecEcosystem/LecEcosystem.html Accessed: 25th April 2011 • Ecology- Biomass Pyramids (No Date) (Online Image) Available from: http://buffonescience9.wikispaces.com/Unit+4+-+Ecology Accessed: 26th April 2011 • Ecosystems-Components and classification of Ecosystems (16th February 2011) (Online Image) Available from: http://www.environmentabout.com/734/ecosystems-components-and- classification-of-ecosystems Accessed: 26th April 2011 • Grasslands Ecosystems Food Pyramid (No Date) (Online Image) Available from: http://www.scienceart.com/image/?id=597&pagename=Grasslands_Ecosystem_Food_Pyramid

11. Murder is Everywhere (2nd May 2011) (Online Image) Available from: http://murderiseverywhere.blogspot.com/2011/05/trans-amazonian-highway.html Accessed: 3rd May 2011 • Startup Ecosystems (9th April 2010) (online Image) Available from: http://www.andysalo.com/2010/04/09/startup-ecosystems/ Accessed: 26th April 2011 • Willows as a diverse habitat benefitting pollinator incest's in early spring (May 2011) (Online Image) Available From: http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/pollenthesis.html Accessed: 3rd May 2011 Print Exam Board AQA. CGP. “A2-Level Biology” New Castel: Coordination Group Publication Ltd. 2009. 38-39.Print.