Introduction
For our year 9 science biodiversity unit we had to come up with a key question about how climate change is affecting biodiversity and produce a report that showed our findings.
"How does deforestation in Ecuador affect the forests biodiversity and contribute to climate change?"
"How does deforestation in Ecuador affect the forests biodiversity and contribute to climate change?"
Background
Ecuador, a fairly small country of 283,560 sq. km, is located on the equator in the tropical Andes of South America. It's boarders hold 4 principle regions including part of the headwaters of the Amazon basin; earth's largest and most bio diverse watershed and tropical rain forest, which makes up the eastern half of the country. Since the 1970's about 30% of Ecuador's amazonian forest mass has been cut down, today, it is among the most threatened rain forest ecosystems on the planet.
Research Questions
While looking into the deforestation in Ecuador several question arose which needed to be answered to fully understand the issue:
What parts of Ecuador are affected by deforestation?
In northwest Ecuador thousands of hectares of forest are being cleared for huge plantations of African palm.in the Interandean basin the native vegetation has been replaced by crops, pasture, towns and cities, and exotic tree plantations like pine and eucalyptus. This region now suffers serious soil erosion problems. Soil erosion caused when there is not enough vegetation to stabilize the soil so when it rains it is all washed away leaving the rocky under-bed. The Coastal region of Ecuador is also seriously affected with estimated only 5% of forest remain having been destroyed in the past 50 years by logging and colonization.
What is the wood used for?
Who cuts it down?
This may not seem a particularly essential question but to find out who is culling the trees helps in methods of prevention. Colonization is a big cause of deforestation; people clearing the land to build small communities and towns. These people can be targeted directly by raising awareness of the impact this has on the rain forest, biodiversity and climate change. However a minority of deforestation is caused by illegal logging which means these people know what they're doing is illegal and damaging yet continue to do so. They are also unknown individuals (or organisations) which makes it extremely difficult for them to be tracked down, prosecuted and stopped.
Why is the wood cut down?
This loss of native woodland and forest is mostly due to illegal cutting, crop expansion, exotic tree plantations, and pressure from oil and mining companies. All of these factors are contributing equally to the demise of the Ecuadorian Amazon rain forest.
Farming- Agricultural has now spread far and wide in Ecuador, with thousands of hectares of forest being cleared to grow
Mining exploration-
Colonization-
Logging- logging in Western Ecuador areas is now responsible for the loss of 99% of the country's rainforest in this region. The logging itself is not only a huge promblem causing wide spread destruction and loss of biodivisity and habitate but the logging continue to effect the land months and years after the logging has stopped. after an area has been selectively logged and abandoned, settlers follow logging roads and set up homesteads, slashing and burning the surrounding forest for agriculture and cattle pasture.
What animals are affected by the loss of habitat?
Ecuador has 2703 known species of amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles. Of these 14.2% are endemic, meaning they exist in no other country, and 10.2% are threatened. Ecuador is home to at least 19362 species of vascular plants, of these 20.7%are endemic and 9.3% of Ecuador is protected under IUNC categories I-V, meaning that the rest are vulnerable to loss of habitat and home by deforestation.
- What parts of Ecuador are affected by deforestation?
- What is the wood used for?
- Who cuts it down?
- Why is the wood cut down?
- What animals are affected by the loss of habitat?
- How is deforestation in the Ecuadorian Amazon affecting climate change?
What parts of Ecuador are affected by deforestation?
In northwest Ecuador thousands of hectares of forest are being cleared for huge plantations of African palm.in the Interandean basin the native vegetation has been replaced by crops, pasture, towns and cities, and exotic tree plantations like pine and eucalyptus. This region now suffers serious soil erosion problems. Soil erosion caused when there is not enough vegetation to stabilize the soil so when it rains it is all washed away leaving the rocky under-bed. The Coastal region of Ecuador is also seriously affected with estimated only 5% of forest remain having been destroyed in the past 50 years by logging and colonization.
What is the wood used for?
Who cuts it down?
This may not seem a particularly essential question but to find out who is culling the trees helps in methods of prevention. Colonization is a big cause of deforestation; people clearing the land to build small communities and towns. These people can be targeted directly by raising awareness of the impact this has on the rain forest, biodiversity and climate change. However a minority of deforestation is caused by illegal logging which means these people know what they're doing is illegal and damaging yet continue to do so. They are also unknown individuals (or organisations) which makes it extremely difficult for them to be tracked down, prosecuted and stopped.
Why is the wood cut down?
This loss of native woodland and forest is mostly due to illegal cutting, crop expansion, exotic tree plantations, and pressure from oil and mining companies. All of these factors are contributing equally to the demise of the Ecuadorian Amazon rain forest.
Farming- Agricultural has now spread far and wide in Ecuador, with thousands of hectares of forest being cleared to grow
Mining exploration-
Colonization-
Logging- logging in Western Ecuador areas is now responsible for the loss of 99% of the country's rainforest in this region. The logging itself is not only a huge promblem causing wide spread destruction and loss of biodivisity and habitate but the logging continue to effect the land months and years after the logging has stopped. after an area has been selectively logged and abandoned, settlers follow logging roads and set up homesteads, slashing and burning the surrounding forest for agriculture and cattle pasture.
What animals are affected by the loss of habitat?
Ecuador has 2703 known species of amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles. Of these 14.2% are endemic, meaning they exist in no other country, and 10.2% are threatened. Ecuador is home to at least 19362 species of vascular plants, of these 20.7%are endemic and 9.3% of Ecuador is protected under IUNC categories I-V, meaning that the rest are vulnerable to loss of habitat and home by deforestation.