Conservation of Plants and Animals – Introduction and Deforestation Causes

Table of Contents

• Deforestation
  • Causes
  • Consequences
• Summary
• What’s Next?

In the last segment of the chapter ‘Microorganisms’, we learnt about nitrogen fixation and nitrogen cycle. In this segment of the chapter ‘Conservation of Plants and Animals’, let us get ourselves introduced to the causes of deforestation.

What is Deforestation?

Clearing up forests for human benefit is called Deforestation. The main causes of deforestation are:

• Agriculture – Clearing land to bring more land under cultivation
• Construction – Building factories, houses and roads

Wood and Fuel

Trees and plants are a part of an ecological chain and they maintain a specific balance. Hence, deforestation gave rise to several consequences. Some of these consequences are:

Global warming

• • Trees and plants give out oxygen and use carbon dioxide during photosynthesis.
  • With the reduction in plants and trees, the level of carbon dioxide on the earth is increasing.
  • Carbon dioxide cannot escape into space and like many other harmful gases, it spreads like a blanket of heat around the earth.
  • This increasing heat has led to Global Warming.
  • This causes an increase in the temperature of the earth.

Droughts and Floods

• • High temperatures affect the water cycle.
  • Glaciers keep melting at an alarming pace.
  • Soil cannot hold excess water during rainfall or even rise in sea level.