About 1,000 million hectares in the world are covered by tropical forests, of which up to 50% are represented by wet jungles. The vast majority of these forests and jungles are distributed by South America, Africa and Southeast Asia.
The function of these forests and jungles is very important for the ecosystem of these places and also for the global climate and, therefore, in ecology, we talk about Why is the conservation of tropical forests important.
They stabilize the weather
Our land is a planet that maintains a global temperature between 0ºC and 40ºC. This temperature allows many things, for example, that the water is kept in a liquid state or that the proteins that are part of living beings do not coagulate, among many more things, but what happens so that this balance in global temperatures exists?
It is known that the temperature of the earth at the distance of the sun is and if there was no gas layer that catches infrared radiation, it would barely reach -15ºC. The energy of the sun penetrates the planet at the tropics level, so that if it did not leave there, the life that lives in those places would be cooked and the rest of the planet would remain frozen and that is where they come into play Tropical forests. These forests produce a A large amount of water vapor Through its leaves through the phenomenon of evapotranspiration and, in this way, they represent an immense reflector that returns to space a large part of the energy that the Earth receives from the sun. A tropic without forests would mean a much colder land and the disappearance of the rivers that carry the humidity of the sea to the interior of the continents in the temperate regions.
In addition, they help stabilize the global temperature of the planet, thanks to its function of Carbon dioxide absorption atmospheric. An excess of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere contributes to the global warming of the planet.
Finally, these forests also have great importance in the local climate, since facilitating the production of rainfall, they help stabilize temperatures premises.
They are important in the global ecosystem
Tropical forests and jungles represent the natural “laboratories” where the New speciesbeing the Vital Reserve of the Planet.
Due to its favorable conditions (rainforest and stable climates), in these forests life evolves at high speed, so the number of species, both animals and plant, is greater than in other regions. Many of these species are in danger of extinction. An example of these tropical jungles with high biodiversity is The Amazon jungle.
They keep the water cycle
He Water cycle or hydrological cycle It is the cycle that describes the continuous movement of water inside, on and below the earth’s surface.
The Tropical forests and forests help maintain this cycle through perspiration or evapotranspiration process (Loss of water vapor through plants’ leaves). This contributes to the condensation phenomenon of the clouds that then release the water in the form of rains. Thus, in the Amazon jungle, 50% -80% of moisture can remain in ecosystems.
Here you can learn more about what the water cycle is.
Reduce soil erosion
This is because The roots of tropical forests and in general the vegetation They serve as an anchor to the ground. In the event that these trees are talled, there is no subject that can protect the floor of the area and this is more exposed to the action of the wind, river water and rains and, therefore, to erosion. This is a natural process that happens very slowly, but if it occurs accelerated as it would happen in the case of not keeping tropical forests well, then it would be very harmful to the climate in the area, biodiversity, human activities and, even, even for the global climate.
Check this other ecology article to know everything about what is the erosion of the soil, its causes and consequences.
Negative impacts of felling tropical forests
The felling of the trees of tropical forests and jungles, which is done for various reasons such as the construction of infrastructure, obtaining wood as raw material, talies for land use in agriculture or livestock or more natural ones, such as fires, has important consequences. So, If we do not keep tropical forests These are some of The consequences that will be given, in fact some already happen:
- Impoverishment of nutrient forests: With important negative effects for harvests, flora and fauna, so we are all harmed in serious way.
- Loss of biodiversity: Tropical forests are the areas with the greatest biodiversity on the planet.
- Global warming and more changes in the weather.
- Decrease in moisture: with the consequent declines of rainfall and drought. Mainly at the local level.
- Death of fish and damage to the human being: As a consequence of erosion and contamination of waters, a large number of fish will die, which not only endangers species survival, but is also a problem for the human that feeds on them.
Now that you have known more the importance of conservation of tropical forests, you can know them even better reading our article about tropical forests: characteristics, flora and fauna.
If you want to read more articles similar to Why is the conservation of tropical forests importantwe recommend that you enter our category of other environment.
