Deforestation

Human activities have had tremendous impact on modern forests. Since agriculture began about 11,000 years ago, large forest areas have been cleared for farms and cities. Beginning in the 1800's, great expanses of forest have also been eliminated because of logging and industrial pollution. The destruction and degrading of forests is called deforestation.

Severe deforestation now occurs around the world, even in the most remote rain forests and boreal forests. Until the late 1940's, rain forests covered about 8.7 million square miles (22.5 million square kilometers) of the earth's land. Today, they cover less than half that area. Millions of acres or hectares of rain forests are destroyed each year.

Since 1800, huge areas of temperate forests have also been cleared. Many parts of eastern North America, for example, have less than 2 percent of even degraded forests remaining.

Industrial pollution is a chief cause of deforestation. Factories often release poisonous gases into the air and dangerous wastes into lakes and rivers. Air pollutants may combine with rain or other precipitation and fall to earth as acid rain. Acid rain and polluted bodies of water can restrict plant growth or even kill most plants in a forest.

Massive deforestation has made many remaining forest tracts small, isolated islands. As forests become smaller, their ability to sustain the full variety of plant species decreases. Many forests are so seriously degraded by logging activities that they fail to regenerate replacement forests.

Loss of forests has helped create many ecological problems. For example, rain water normally trapped by the forests is causing more floods around the world. In addition, as forest areas decrease or degrade, the production of oxygen from photosynthesis also decreases. Oxygen renewal is vital to the survival of oxygen-breathing organisms. At the same time, as less carbon dioxide is taken up by photosynthesis, the amounts of carbon dioxide released into the air increases. Thus more heat from the sun is trapped near the earth's surface instead of being reflected back into space. Many scientists believe that this greenhouse effect is causing a steady warming that could lead to threatening climatic conditions. 

The destruction of forest ecosystems also destroys the habitats of many living creatures. Countless species of animals and plants have been wiped out by deforestation, and more are killed each year at an increasing rate.

To combat these problems, people and governments have been seeking out and protecting old growth forests that remain undisturbed by humans. Such protection enables scientists to conduct long-term research on how old growth forests sustain the variety of plants and animals that live there.