4.18B The Effects of Deforestation (Edexcel IGCSE Biology)

• Deforestation is the clearing of trees (usually on a large scale)
• If trees are replaced by replanting it can be a sustainable practise
• Generally the trees are being cleared for the land to be used in a different way (for building, grazing for cattle, planting of monocultures such as palm oil plantations etc) and therefore it is not sustainable
• As the amount of the Earth’s surface covered by trees decreases, it causes increasingly negative effects on the environment and is a particularly severe example of habitat destruction
• Undesirable effects of deforestation include:
  • Extinction of species
  • Soil erosion
    • Which leads to leaching

  • Flooding
  • Increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
  • Disturbance of water cycle

Consequences of Deforestation Table