Deforestation: A Worldwide Epidemic
Raekwon J. Filmore
Department of Biology
Spring 2016
Photosynthesis is a key contributor to the survival of humans. Earth is an open system requiring the input energy to drive life processes. Photosynthesis uses light energy to produce chemical energy which is glucose. Photosynthesis deals with plant growth as well as being a source of energy and food. The four things needed for plant growth: energy in the form of solar radiation, carbon in the form of carbon dioxide, mineral nutrients and water (Kirk, 1994). In order for plants to be able to conduct photosynthesis plants need chloroplasts. Chloroplasts, green colored cells depending on the plant, are a plastid that contains chlorophyll and
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Glycolysis breaks down the glucose that is going to be used into pyruvate. Pyruvate produced during glycolysis is transported from the cytosol to the mitochondria. The second stage of respiration is pyruvate processing which is catalyzed by the enzyme pyruvate dehydrogenase in the mitochondrial matrix. In pyruvate processing, pyruvate is oxidized to form Acetyl CoA. The Acetyl CoA produced from the pyruvate processing enters the Kreps Cycle. In the Kreps Cycle, the Acetyl CoA is oxidized to form CO2. The final stage of respiration is The Electron Transport Chain. The byproducts that were produced from stages one three are oxidized and thus respiration occurs. The importance of photosynthesis and respiration go hand in hand. Photosynthesis is indeed critical for the survival of humans and plants, but the oxygen needed to start photosynthesis is depleting. This paper will elaborate on a major cause of the depletion of oxygen in the atmosphere and affecting people worldwide. Homo sapiens has a huge impact on photosynthesis and plants. Humans are continuing to develop and it is making it more difficult to compensate for everyone’s needs. The population is exponentially increasing and they need shelter. The only way to make room for more people is to cut down forests and use the wood and lumber to create shelter. The cutting down of trees is known as deforestation. Trees are not only cut down for shelter, but for also businesses. Areas that were once
Photosynthesis occurs each time the sun’s light reaches the lives of a plant. The chemical ingrediants for photosynthesis are carbon dioxide (CO2), a gas that passes from the air into a plant via tiny pores, and water (H20), which absorbed from the soil by the plant’s roots. Inside leaf cells, tiny structures called chloroplasts use light energy to rearrange the atoms of the ingrediants to produce sugars, most importantly glucose (C6H12O6) and other organic molecules. Chlorophyll gives the plant its green color (Simon, 02/2012, pp. 92-93). Chemical reactions transfers the sun’s light energy into the chemical bonds that hold energy-carrying molecules. The most common are
In order to survive, all organisms need to have a source of energy. Photosynthesis is the process by which plants use light energy and simple molecules to make chemical energy. The majority of all living things on earth benefit either directly or indirectly from the ability of photoautotrophs to do photosynthesis. Plants provide oxygen to Earth’s atmosphere and all animals, including humans, depend on plant material for food or to feed the food that they ultimately consume. Photosynthesis takes place inside the chloroplasts of a eukaryotic cell. Many factors affect the rate of photosynthesis in photoautotrophs including temperature, carbon dioxide concentration, the presence of water, and light intensity.
Photosynthesis is a very complicated process. It is not as simple as plants need a little sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide, and viola oxygen is produced. There are many steps and processes that occur during photosynthesis which make it very complicated. Now the actual word photosynthesis in Greek means photo- “light”, and –synthesis “putting together”. This is the overall basic foundation that photosynthesis stands behind. Photosynthesis can only happen in plants and some algae, due to them having an organelle called chloroplast. Chloroplast has a pigment, which is called chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is a light absorbing pigment, which allows the plant to control solar energy and use it to distribute energy and food for the plant itself. Chloroplasts are usually located in the green tissue in the interior of the leaf called the mesophyll. A usual cell has around thirty to forty chloroplast. In the inner compartment there is a thick fluid called the stroma, with a system of interconnected membranous
The affect of environmental issues occur everyday and in particular deforestation is becoming a highly ranked subject. From animals to the human race, the alacrity of trees that are cut down affects every individual in a variety of ways. Not only do people need to help the planet but they need to help themselves and further generations to come, such as children and grandchildren because these natural resources that are being taken away from society are as well shaping the future. For comprehensible reasons, forests use to make up the world, until man made creatures started to destroy and destruct the most important supply to human kind which are trees. Trees are crucial to every living entity for the reason of providing oxygen to all.
We first learned about the process of photosynthesis. During photosynthesis, plants use the energy of light to produce glucose (their food). Photosynthesis only occurs for plant cells. The equation of photosynthesis is 6CO2+6H20+light energy=C6H1206+602. The chloroplasts have many parts. There is the thylakoids, granum, and stroma. The thylakoids have chlorophyll, which attracts the light energy. The granum is basically stacked thylakoids. In the chloroplasts, and in photosynthesis,
Deforestation is a serious problem today, and has been for a long time. It is one of the greatest threats to nature on Earth, if not the single greatest. It is one root cause of soil erosion, the root cause of global warming, and the greatest contributor to the endangerment and extinction of so many species throughout the world. To understand deforestation though, one must know exactly what it is first. Therefore, deforestation is defined by the Encyclopedia Britannica Online as "The cutting down and clearing of trees from forests, usually causing ecological harm. The process has occurred as long as wood has been used as an energy source." Furthermore, "In the 1990's, the deforestation of tropical rainforests threatened to increase Earth's
Although deforestation is helping the development of many countries, cities and states, humans should work as hard as they possibly can to bring a halt to deforestation. This plague among the forests is causing harm not only to humans, with the drastic climate change, but this is also causing animals to become extinct. In some ways, deforestation makes our society come across as self-serving, by using the cleared lands for our own personal advantages, such as: construction of homes, businesses, amusement parks, dams, performances of oil extraction, mining and industrial agriculture. “The Amazon has lost at least seventeen percent of forest cover in the last half century due to human actions” (Giant Panda). The
Putting an end to deforestation has been a political goal for many years. The forest provides us with essential materials that we need for our everyday lives, like paper. It is a source of renewable energy for some people and it has become one of their main sources for food and living. Wood is also still the main source today in heating and cooking. Demand for wood products is increasing in these past few years. Trade in forest products increased by 15 percent in 2010. (Global Forest Product Trade Slows on Weak Demand From China, EU, USDA) It contributes to more than 4% of global trade. The restoration of the forests would provide economic benefits up to $80 million. Moreover, deforestation can also result in species extinction because the habitats of animals are destroyed by wildfires. Most importantly, it affects us as humans because the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere is lessened. Therefore, deforestation is a global major problem because it increases the chances of global warming occurring and forests should be sustained because they benefit the economy and the environment by providing us essential materials, habitats for animals, and the basic necessity we need in order to survive, oxygen.
According to dictionary.com, deforestation is defined as the clearing of a wide area of trees. An estimated 18 million acres of forest is cut down per year. This is the same size as about 13,621,013 football fields. People are using deforestation as a source of building materials and land for pastures. As stated by Dana Desonie in Humans and the Natural Environment, “Ecosystems are disappearing as people convert the land to other uses or use up the resources that are found within it.” However, when deforestation occurs, it is hurting more than just than just forests. It is releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and changing the climate range of the world on extreme levels. Although deforestation is bringing about benefits to our modern world, it is also causing extreme, seen and unseen, damage to not only rainforests but the world.
According to Adam, D 4000 years ago, the history of deforestation cutting trees has been purifying the forest on a large scale, often adversely affecting the quality of the land and causing climate change. Forests still cover about 30% of the world's area. Today, valuable trees are cut down indefinitely and the quality of the land has been impaired today , problems are occurring on this earth. This is because trees have many uses for mankind and the world. Biodiversity expert Dr. Md. Mizanur Rahman says "Climate and forest are interrelated". The rise of rainforest destruction, which forms a precious cooling zone around the Earth's equator, is recognized as one of the main causes of climate change. Forests capture and store carbon dioxide and play a major role in mitigating climate change. On the other hand, the forest becomes a source of greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide is destroyed, excessively harvested and burned. Forest destruction brings about climate change such as the internal fever of the earth, change of weather patterns, rainfall exceeded.
The rapid rate of tropical deforestation has raised widespread concern about the consequential irreversible environmental changes that lead to the loss of plant and animal species, on scale never before experienced in human history. Tropical deforestation is the leading cause of biodiversity loss. Behind fossil fuel combustion, tropical deforestation is the second leading cause of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with almost 20% of all global CO2 emissions are caused by deforestation.
Trees are essential to life, there is no doubt about it. They provide us with oxygen, paper products, and they even absorb greenhouse gases. However, the world is losing trees at an alarming rate. Trees can not grow at a fast enough rate to replenish what has been cut down. This is called deforestation. Deforestation is when many trees in one area are cut down, mostly for logging and agricultural reasons.
The biosphere of the Earth is threatened by deforestation every year due to human expansion. Which is the act of clearing a wide area of tress to a non-forested area. Usually for either agricultural uses, paper usage, or wasteland. Over 30% of the Earth is currently covered in forests. Unfortunately, it is estimated that in 100 years, there will be no forests left. (Rinkesh. 2017)The removal of forests can lead to imbalances ecologically, and environmentally, and it can result in a decrease of the biosphere of the planet. As tress produce vital oxygen, and provide homes for wildlife, and over 1.6 billion people, including medicine, fresh water, and food. Agriculture uses, illegal logging, fires, and fuel wood harvesting are some of the main causes of deforestation. Mainly resulting in reduced biodiversity, greenhouse gas emissions, the disruption of water cycles, soil erosion, and impacts on species and plants survival. In order to save our planet, and halt the removal of forests, solutions such as hemp farming, and land re-purposing need to be issued, and put in place. The consequences to the ecosystem and its human and animal residents, due to the threats it faces, could alter our planet, and way of life. (World Wildlife Fund. 2017)
Deforestation is an underrated environmental issue! It has many problems that most people are failing to acknowledge, there are so many complications circling around it that are not being talk about as often as it should be. Deforestation contributes to other environmental issues that are going on in our earth, such as global warming. Deforestation is damaging our world slowly every day. Deforestation is ruining thousands maybe millions of species' habitats and it's even causing pollution, so I have listed some simple ways to help reduce it.
Deforestation is the act of destroying forests and trees permanently. Each year around 18 million acres of forest is lost. At this rate, the world’s rainforests will be completely gone within 100 years. Humans have managed to do this because of the need for fuel, housing, wood and paper products, and space for crops and livestock. Because of deforestation, seventy percent of the world’s animals and plants are losing its habitats. On top of this habitat loss, deforestation is creating deserts because there are no tree canopies to block the sun from drying out the soil (Bradford). Today, science has created many solutions to end deforestation such as the making of more products from recycled materials, eco-forestry, prohibiting logging, and reforestation programs. One example is several corporations are making products from recycled paper, pulp, and fiber. The Forest Stewardship Council is helping customers find more forest-friendly products by offering independent certification for