Deforestation

1. Deforestation What is deforestation? www.nasa.com

2. What is Deforestation? Deforestation: Clearing the land of trees in order to convert the space into non-forest use. Before After www.thegef.org and www.inhabitat.com

3. Scenario and Situation • Deforestation can be caused naturally, or by humans. Unfortunately, deforestation in one part of the world can cause great stress on the planet. In terms of the lithosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere bringing down tress upsets the balance of nature and forces the planet into a set of unbalance.

4. Understanding, Ideas, or Hunches • Deforestation means the destroying of whole forests. • More human deforestation takes place than natural. • People deforest areas and fail to plant in others to replace the forest they tore down. • Animals, birds, and insects are displaced due to deforestation. • The lithosphere is exposed when deforestation occurs. • Hydrosphere becomes upset, which exposes clean water to dirty water. • The atmosphere loses essential amounts of quality by taking down trees.

5. List What Is Known • Forests are filled with many trees, which aid the lithosphere. • Specific plants will no longer grow without the protection of the trees. • Animals will either die or have to relocate their homes, which puts them at risk to die. • Animals will either die or have to relocate their homes, which puts them at risk to die. • The soot from the fires are taken up into the atmosphere and they could produce “acid rain”.

6. List What Is Unknown • If the act of deforestation causes global warming. • If forest fires could be prevented, which would decrease deforestation. • The survival rate for those animals who are forced to relocate. • What percentage of increase is there in acid rain due to deforestation. • If the lithosphere is upset by deforestation.

7. How does deforestation effect the earth’s spheres? Deforestation and Earth’s Spheres Lithosphere – Earth Biosphere – Living Things Hydrosphere – Water Atmosphere - Air www.nature.org

8. Deforestation and Earth Forests are filled with many trees, which aid the lithosphere in the following ways: • Helps keep soil in place avoiding soil erosion. The idea of soil erosion leads to basic changes to the lithosphere. Uncovering what should be covered implies the idea of unbalance in the eco-system. • Protects the soil from the sun and other harmful substances from reaching the ground. In many cases, a forest purifies the air quality around the globe. Robbing trees is like taking away a natural purifier for humans. • Provides protection from natural disasters such as flooding. A forest helps absorb water and then filtrates it back into the atmosphere, keeping it from pooling in places where water need not be.

9. Deforestation and Living Things Forests provide life for both man and natural habitats. With the destruction of the forest come the end to various living things. • Specific plants will no longer grow without the protection of the trees. Trees create a canopy which protect the plants from the sun. Many plants that grow in forests are used for medical purposes. • Animals will either die or have to relocate their homes, which puts them at risk to die. The forest provides shelter and food for many animals. Destroying it will kill off plant life and make animals look elsewhere for food. • Insects will not be able to adapt to a dryer climate increasing their population to die off. The once protected, humid, forest will turn into a desert, making it impossible for many plans and animals to survive.

10. Deforestation and Water With the destruction of the natural habitat the hydrosphere will go through many negative changes, such as: • Decrease in water levels. Animals will either die or have to relocate their homes, which puts them at risk to die. This acts as a balancing for keeping a specific area in a humid zone, which it needs to produce living things. • Soil not good for growing agriculture. If the moister level is not where it should be then the plants that survive there cannot.

11. Deforestation and Air With deforestation comes the fear of bad air quality. Factors involved and related to the relationship between the cutting down of trees and air are: • Fire outbreaks causing bad air quality. The soot from the fires are taken up into the atmosphere and they could produce “acid rain”. • Decrease of global precipitation levels. A correlation between the number of tress and rain levels exist. The absence of trees, where a great number of them were, means the absence of the necessary amount of water for that region. Many times deserted forest areas will turn into deserts because of the lack of trees and water. • Global Warming is also of concern. Trees are necessary for the oxygen exchange between the land and air. Less tress mean a hotter core lithosphere, which will eventually play a role in the idea of global warming.

12. What Needs To Be Done • Over view: Plan the investigation. Such actions may include questioning an expert, getting online data, or visiting a library to find answers to the questions developed in Step 4. When working with a team, divide the duties. • Student 1: organize information step 1, look up scholarly articles to include in study. • Student 2: organize information step 2, look up information online to include in study. • Student 3: organize information step 3, look up images to include in presentation. • Student 4: organize information step 4, develop step 5 and 6.

13. Develop A Problem Statement • Over view: A problem statement is a one or two sentence idea that clearly identifies what you are trying to solve, produce, respond to, test, or find out. • Deforestation effects negatively the lithosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere, which creates an imbalance in these four parts of the Earth’s system causing the earth and its’ inhabitants to die off little by little.

14. Gather Information • Students will gather, organize, analyze, and interpret information from multiple sources. Exchange ideas; think about solutions; weigh alternatives; and consider the pros and cons of potential courses of action. As more information is gathered, the problem statement may be refined or altered. Or, based upon your research data, a recommended solution or opinion may be appropriate.

15. Present Findings • Prepare a report or presentation in which you make recommendations, predictions, inferences, or other appropriate resolutions of the problem. Be prepared to support the positions you take. If appropriate, consider a multimedia presentation using images, graphics, or sound.

16. References National Geographic. (1996-2013). Modern - Day Plague. Retrieved from http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation-overview/ Eidderf. (2013). Yahoo7! Answers. [Web Log Comment]. Retrieved from http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060907001131AAoGfDy Cool Earth. Rain Forest Protection. Retrieved from http://www.coolearth.org/306/whats-new-32/news-155/deforestation- has-lead-to-poor-air-quality-549.html Brazilian Deforestation. https://myutb.blackboard.com/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=null&url=%2Fwebapps%2F blackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_208063_1%26url%3D http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation-overview/