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Environmental Science > Forest resources- the importance of forests > Flashcards

Forest resources- the importance of forests Flashcards

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1
Q

How much of earths land is covered by forest?

A

30%

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2
Q

What type of community are forests? (succession)

A

Climax community

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3
Q

What resources can you get from forests?

A

Timber
Fibres
Fuel
Food
Medicines

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4
Q

Why is wood/ timber so useful?

A

Strong
High strength:weight ratio
Flexible
Little processing (usually)
Readily available

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5
Q

What forest do we need to know about?

A

Broadleaf
Tropical
Mangrove

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5
Q

What trees are used for timber from tropical rainforests?

A

Mahogany
Teak

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6
Q

What trees are used for timber from broadleaf forests?

A

Oak
Beech

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7
Q

What are the uses of timber?

A

Structural uses: building construction, telegraph poles, shuttering for concrete structures
Furniture
Tools

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8
Q

Where is an example of wood being used to create houses?

A

Central America

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9
Q

What is the problem with using wood for shuttering on concrete structures?

A

imprint of wood grain used once then thrown away

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10
Q

What is most paper made from?

A

flattened sheets of interwoven cellulose fibres from pulped wood

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11
Q

What is cotton made from?

A

the fibres that surround the seeds of the cotton bush

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12
Q

How are viscose (rayon) textiles made?

A

chemical treatment of cellulose fibres extracted from wood

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13
Q

What is the most common fuel used for cooking?

A

Wood

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14
Q

When was wood the main energy source?

A

before the industrial revolution and the use of coal, oil and gas

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15
Q

Where is wood still one of the main fuels?

A

LEDCS- less economically developed country

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16
Q

What do trees provide for livestock? (food)

A

Fodder

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17
Q

What do trees provide for humans? (Food resources)

A

fruit and nuts
Bushmeat in LEDCs

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18
Q

What forest plant species are commercially grown?

A

coffee
Cacao (chocolate)
bananas
papayas
Brazil nuts

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19
Q

Where do pigs and chickens originate from? (forest resources)

A

Forest animals

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20
Q

What does the wide variety of species in forests allow for?

A

genes for new characteristics that may be important in future selective breeding programmes
Many more species that can be cultivated or domesticated

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21
Q

How can trees help medicine?

A

Trees produce many chemicals that have medicinal

22
Q

How might medicines from forests have changed?

A

originally from trees tissues but now synthesized artificially

23
Q

What is an example of an artificially synthesized tree medicine?

A

Quinine originally extracted from Cinchona tree

24
Q

What are the ecosystem services of forests?

A

Atmospheric regulation
Regulation of the hydrological cycle
Forest microclimate
Habitat and wildlife refuge
Soil conservation
Recreation/ amenity use

25
Q

What important part of forests regulate the levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide and oxygen?

A

The balance of photosynthesis and respiration

26
Q

Where is most carbon stored in the forest reservoir?

A

carbohydrate cellulose (main wood component)

27
Q

What would happen if carbon wasn’t stored in wood?

A

most carbon would be in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide

28
Q

Why does carbon in wood have a relatively long residence time?

A

Cellulose is hard to digest
(Trees live for a long time)

29
Q

What is carbon sequestration in forests?

A

the process during which growing trees take more carbon out of the atmosphere during photosynthesis and store it in more wood

30
Q

What is the process of planting trees to try counteract global climate change called?

A

Afforestation

31
Q

What do processes that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere release?

A

oxygen

32
Q

Why is oxygen essential?

A

needed by all aerobic organisms and for ozone maintenance

33
Q

Is carbon stored in forests greater in soil or vegetation?

A

Soil (especially boreal forests)

34
Q

How much is the mass of carbon in the forests over the atmosphere?

A

double

35
Q

Why are forest transpiration rates important?

A

important for increasing precipitation rates downwind

36
Q

What is the effect on interception by foilage?

A

Increases evapouration rates
Decreases infiltration

37
Q

How do forests help soils?

A

Help soil formation and reduce soil erosion allowing greater soil depth
Soil will retain water and moderate flow into rivers

38
Q

What does the low albedo of forests mean?

A

INcreased rates of absorption of sunlight and the storage of the heat in the water in the wood

39
Q

How are the temperature extremes reduced between day and night in forests?

A

Forests absorb sunlight in the day, much of which is converetd to heat which is radiated at night

40
Q

What abiotic conditions do trees change underneath the canopy?

A

Light
Wind velocity
Humidity

41
Q

How do forests affect light?

A

Canopy absorbs a lot of solar insolation (red and blue wavelengths by chlorophyll)
Plants below the canopy have less light (mostly green light- not chlorophyll effective)

42
Q

What special adaptatations fo plants that live below the forest canopy need to have?

A

Denser chlorophyll
Additional pigments
Additional growth periods (when trees have lost leaves)

43
Q

How do forests affect wind velocity?

A

lower wind velocity by the shelter of trees

44
Q

What is the effect of reduced wind velocity in forests?

A

plants below the canopy layer use animals to help with seed dispersal and pollination

45
Q

What is the benefit of humidity in forests?

A

High humidity levels means animals such as amphibians can survive more easily as their skin does not dry out

46
Q

How much light does the canopy layer absorb?

A

75-98%

47
Q

How much of the worlds terrestrial plant and animal species live in tropical rainforests?

A

50%

48
Q

What makes rainforests unique? (habitat refuge)

A

you will not find precisely the same species living in all tropical rain forests

49
Q

Why is biodiversity so high in tropical rainforests?

A

Hot and wet climate provides ideal conditions
nutrients are rapidly recycled speeding up growth, producers with food, consumed by primary consumer
large areas of rainforest are untouched by humans (nature allowed to thrive)

50
Q

How are forests and soil linked?

A

Forests aid soil formation and reduce soil erosion

51
Q

How do forests conserve soil?

A

DOM contributes humus and nutrients (food for detritivores)
Prevent soil washed or blown away (interception, reduce wind velocity)
Trees and leaf litter reduce wind velocity and raindrop impact
Roots hold soil together reduces run-off
Humus binds soil
Worms increase infiltration reducing runoff

52
Q

What recreational activities are forests important for?

A

walking
Orienteering
cycling
camping
Educational activities

Environmental Science (90 decks)

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