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A discussion of the extent to which
human activity has impacted this particular biome:
As human population grows the need for agriculture, energy and development space increases. Tropical rainforests cover a massive amount of the world’s tree surface and each year over 90,000 square miles are removed. This is a worry to environmentalists because of the release of carbon from the machinery and the vegetation. It is believed that deforestation may be an addition to the effects of global warming and transform the rainforest climate. The massive deforestation of the forest has caused the total land mass to go from 15 million km squared to about 8 million km squared, this is nearly half; it is estimated that nearly 2% of the rainforest is lost annually. Furthermore, Approximately 137 species are lost in this biome per day, including both species of plants and animals and insects.
POSITIVE IMPACT:
1. Human Activity in the Rainforest Biome has allowed for the discovery of many different medicines, nearly 120 prescription medications today are derived from plants in the tropical rainforest, nearly ⅔ of these drugs are known to have cancer fighting properties, not only are the drugs used to combat cancer, they are used in fighting malaria, heart disease, hypertension, bronchitis, diabetes and arthritis. Human impact of the rainforest has produced significant medical development. Because of the impact that the tropical rainforest has had on medical studies it is an extreme vital resource and is known as the ‘chamber of medicines’.
NEGATIVE IMAPCT:
As human population grows the need for agriculture, energy and development space increases. Tropical rainforests cover a massive amount of the world’s tree surface and each year over 90,000 square miles are removed. This is a worry to environmentalists because of the release of carbon from the machinery and the vegetation. It is believed that deforestation may be an addition to the effects of global warming and transform the rainforest climate. The massive deforestation of the forest has caused the total land mass to go from 15 million km squared to about 8 million km squared, this is nearly half; it is estimated that nearly 2% of the rainforest is lost annually. Furthermore, Approximately 137 species are lost in this biome per day, including both species of plants and animals and insects.
POSITIVE IMPACT:
1. Human Activity in the Rainforest Biome has allowed for the discovery of many different medicines, nearly 120 prescription medications today are derived from plants in the tropical rainforest, nearly ⅔ of these drugs are known to have cancer fighting properties, not only are the drugs used to combat cancer, they are used in fighting malaria, heart disease, hypertension, bronchitis, diabetes and arthritis. Human impact of the rainforest has produced significant medical development. Because of the impact that the tropical rainforest has had on medical studies it is an extreme vital resource and is known as the ‘chamber of medicines’.
NEGATIVE IMAPCT:
- Deforestation -
Because of people cutting down trees it is also destroying animal’s habitats
and killing many of the earth’s species. Environmentalists estimate that we are
losing 137 plant, animal, and insect species every day due to rainforest
deforestation. Deforestation occurs because of the industries of mining,
lumber, and agriculture. The economic development in these areas are polluting
tropical rainforests, reducing the habitat of numerous species, and producing
loud and disturbing noises from the machinery. More and more of the natural
vegetation is being replaced with farmland because the fertility of the soil
depletes only a few years after it was originally cleared. Rainforests once
covered about 14% of the earth’s land surface; now they cover approximately 6%.
- Overexploitation:
Human activity and development in the tropical rainforest has lead to massive
amounts of forest land being converted into other human uses such as mining or
agriculture. Overexploitation of the rain forests Natural resource is a highly
damaging impact that humans have on the rainforest, massive amounts of trees
are cut down in the rainforest which are used for the timber industry, this
cutting down of the trees causes a massive drop in the habitat of the forest’s
organisms and the machinery used to complete this process provide a
massive source of pollution and habitat destruction. Approximately 80% of the
rainforests nutrients comes from trees and plants. That leaves 20% of the
nutrients in the soil. when trees are over exploited conditions change very
quickly, the soil dries up and causes erosion. Poaching and hunting are a major
issue in the tropical rainforest, exotic creatures are being over hunted
causing their populations to go into the danger zones and on the verge of
extinction. Furthermore, the rainforest is being used up at an exeptional rate
for mining purposes: oil, gold and iron ore are being mined at a massive rate.