Summary
Contents
Subject index
This unique addition to reference literature provides an introduction to the major concepts and contemporary issues that are essential for students of environmental science and environmental studies to know. With over 200 entries authored by world-class names like Anthony Brazel, John Day and Edward Keller, this text is divided into six sections: Environmental Science, Environments, Paradigms & Concepts, Processes & Dynamics, Scales & Techniques, and Environmental Issues.
Deforestation
Deforestation
Ever since hunter-gatherer times, humans have interacted with forests in ways which have resulted in the disappearance of trees, either temporarily or permanently. Using fire, some hunting groups maintained openings in woodlands which then attracted game animals. Shifting agriculture had been present for thousands of years in both tropical and temperate zones and can be seen as a way of growing crops in forests without clearing them entirely. Since trees are the dominants in the local ecosystem, their removal has considerable ecological consequences. They form the primary energy-fixing role and so any replacement vegetation is likely to have a lower capacity to turn solar radiation into chemical energy. They are also the physical habitat for many other species; further the fragmentation of a formerly continuous ...
- Loading...
