The importance of environmental trees

In fact, life as we know it begins with The plants. Long before, about four billion years ago, the first molecules were formed, considered the most primitive life forms. But it was not until oxygenic photosynthesis occurred, about 3.5 billion years ago, when the atmosphere began to oxygenate.

Therefore, the first land plants, which emerged around 450 million years ago were not pioneers to perform the process of photosynthesis and release oxygen to the atmosphere. Although it is true that solar radiation was used to form sugars from water and carbon dioxide of the atmosphere, key to photosynthesis, and that from those developed the first plant cells, predecessors of algae and plants.

The plants began to be erect and create the wood after a great drought, first like herbs or shrubs, and then as trees. Human beings, on the other hand, come from the hominoid, whose fossils exceed 6 million years. And, as is well known, our history, undoubtedly, is linked to trees since its inception.

Apart from the immediate profits we obtain from the trees, Its existence is key to our survivalas well as for countless living beings.

In figures, trees are necessary for the survival of nine out of ten of the known species, and the percentage would probably increase if we go beyond habitat and focus on oxygen production.

The trees, that’s, They help us breathe. Only algae and other sea plants produce about 70 percent, but trees are decisive for the atmosphere to be breathable by humans. In another case, it would be a rarely air.

Only a tree can produce enough oxygen for 18 people, although it varies greatly depending on species and sizes. Together with the rest of the plants, they are responsible for a fifth of the oxygen of the planet.

If they are known as the planet’s lungs, it is also due to their Important role in the carbon cycle. Acting as gigantic carbon sinks, as the ocean does, slows global warming.

The role of tree masses in the carbon cycle, in this way, is a capital aspect when it comes to understanding its importance for the environment.

The same photosynthesis It is what makes the CO2 present in the atmosphere absorb, releasing oxygen in return. That is, reforestation, thus, constitutes an effective way to fight climate change. Not surprisingly, carbon dioxide or CO2 is one of the greenhouse gases that contribute the most to its progress.

By passive, deforestation is an increase in greenhouse gases. Not only because many of them break down and release much of the CO2 that they absorbed, but also because their industrial transformation starts a production chain that also multiplies pollution.

It is estimated that a fifth of the emissions of greenhouse gases is a consequence of deforestation in the Amazon, different areas of Asia and other regions.

In addition to the deforestation caused by the industry, trees suffer the constant threat of agriculture and loss of water resources.

Its disappearance entails habitat reduction, which is a hard blow to biodiversity, putting numerous species against the strings.

Constant loss of habitats due to deforestation It has led scientists to consider the planet a hostile environment that walks towards the sixth mass extinction. As published in 2014, the journal Science, we are on the verge of this study, which in turn threatens to be a point and final for the human species.

According to ecologists from the University of Duke, in the United States, human activity is provoked a disappearance of species ten times faster than we thought. Or, if you want, a thousand times more than they did in the origins of the human being, when it was not quiet, precisely.

Months before, NASA gave the reason to previous studies concluding that planetary destruction in the near future, and from time to time new investigations support this same argument. In June 2015, for example, the collapse of human civilization for 2100 was announced, according to a study published in Science Advances.

In short, there are many studies that speak of a massive extinction that threatens human existence, and all agree that, together with climate change, Habitat loss It is one of its main causes.

Both problems associated with the constant Loss of forest mass. So that we get an idea, the life that bursts in the tree ecosystems, in just one hectare of tropical forest there can be around 500 plant species and, for example, it has been found that in a single tree 43 species of ants lived.

With regard to land vegetables and animals, 90 percent of them find refuge in trees or in their surroundings. And birds do not need comments about it.

In addition, deforestation and extinction run couples, and most of the species that suffer a growing risk of extinction are in areas that have also received a strong varapalo. Again, the same panorama: reduction in habitat that implies beheaded trees and species of agonizing animals.

Without them, world biodiversity would plummete because, in addition to the pointed, they help to regulate the worldwide water cycle and to prevent erosion and retain soil moisture.

The rhythm of disappearance of the trees is alarming. Reports presented annually by the UN on world deforestation does not allow being optimistic. On the contrary, the forecasts of the last studies are apocalyptic.

If we continue with the current deforestation rate, the consequences will be disastrous. According to a recently published study in Nature magazine, In about 300 years there will be not a single tree left on the face of the earth.

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