Research prospectus introduction and Works Cited

The issue of deforestation has been debated in environmental circles for quite some time. The debate has ranged across several different topics, including but not limited to: clear cut logging, slash and burn agriculture, acid rain among the causes, climate change, carbon emissions, decreases in biodiversity and mass extinction, and soil aridation and erosion among the effects. The topic of deforestation is so vast, that it would, and has, taken many studies across many disciplines to even begin to scratch the surface of the issue. Therefore, the subjects treated will be the effects, specifically aridation and erosion of the soil, caused by deforestation. The geographic location will be focused in the Americas, though studies from other regions will be discussed as well.

According to NationalGeographic.com and their online article entitled “Deforestation”, the loss of trees and forested areas is a loss of habitat, and this loss of habitat is responsible for species loss. According to this article, “seventy percent of Earth’s land animals and plants live in forests”. This means that the loss of habitat affects seventy percent of land animals. The loss of the trees and other forest greenery do not just provide homes for these animals. They help to regulate the temperature and soil of the area. Once these regulators are gone, the area becomes more arid, and more chaotic in its temperature. This is due to the fact that the shade provided by trees and other forest greenery keeps the sun off of the soil, and keeps it moist. Once the trees are gone, the sun dries out the soil, making it much more arid. The loss of the shade also causes fluctuations in the temperature, since “removing trees deprives the forest of portions of its canopy, which blocks the sun’s rays during the day and holds in heat at night” (Deforestation).

The sun is not the only thing affecting the aridity of the soil. The study discussed in the article “Validation and Use of a Semidistributed Hydrological Modeling System to Predict Short-Term Effects of Clear-Cutting on a Watershed Hydrological Regime” show that there is a significant increase in rainwater runoff in deforested areas. The annual runoff of an area where 71% of the plants and trees have been removed is 63%. The annual runoff for the control (an area that has not undergone deforestation) was 40% (Lavigne, 2004) This means that there was an increase of 23% in the rainwater runoff, meaning that there is now 23% less water remaining in the area.

With all of this runoff, there is, of course, erosion. According to the online article, “Erosion and its Effects” by Rhett A. Butler, when the trees are removed, the roots that held the fertile topsoil in place die out. The soil is then carried away by the rain. This is especially true in areas with heavy rainfall, like the tropics. This means that “Costa Rica loses about 860 million tons of valuable topsoil every year” (Butler, 2009). In other areas, this loss is even greater, such as in Madagascar, which loses about 400 tons per hectare (Butler, 2009).


Works Cited

Butler, Rhett A. "Erosion and its Effects." Mongabay.com. 18 Feb. 2009. Web. 30 Jan. 2010. .

"Deforestation." National Geographic. Web. 26 Jan. 2010. .

Lavigne, Martin-Pierre, Alain N. Rousseau, Richard Turcotte, Anne-Marie Laroche, Jean-Pierre Fortin, and Jean-Pierre Villeneuve. "Validation and Use of a Semidistributed Hydrological Modeling System to Predict Short-Term Effects of Clear-Cutting on a Watershed Hydrological Regime." Earth Interactions Vol. 8.1 (2004): 1-19. EBSCOhost. Web. 26 Jan. 2010. .



*note: The works cited is not yet complete, since one source that I will be consulting is microfiche, and I have not as yet had time to get to the library, so this may be edited and expanded within the next week.