Importance of Forests

Serena Cuoghi
Title of Professor of Biology

Forests are spaces whose roots can be both natural and planned and accompanied by the human being, which are defined by the dense presence of a predominant group of large plants, with very little variety among their species; however, they lend themselves as rich reservoirs for a fauna biodiverse, thanks to the generous amount of resources that they provide to their inhabitants, such as: 1) High amount of insects for birds, mammals, reptiles and insectivorous amphibians. 2) High humidity with frequent influx of water for all species. 3) A considerable percentage of mosses, lichens and ferns for herbivores that in turn serve as food for carnivorous animals. 4) A permanent flow of nutrients and energy in very high quantities for a self-sustaining dynamic that guarantees the survival of the entire biome over time. We can now understand that forests represent much more than a romantic landscape full of refreshing greenery, however, the The importance of forests transcends beyond their own extensions, representing an ecological model that generates great contributions to all the planet.

The Lungs of the Earth

The dense population of bushes, shrubs or trees that make up a forest plays a vital role in the reincorporation of oxygen into the atmosphere, especially in the case of forests made up of large trees, the high photosynthetic activity that they produce for the generation of their own nutrients, allows a massive exchange of carbon dioxide for oxygen to take place, maintaining the balance of these gases in the earth's atmosphere, otherwise In the same way, without the existence of these marvelous chemical laboratories of nature, very little would be the duration of the presence of available respirable oxygen. for all the living beings terrestrial, even more so with the excessive production of carbon dioxide as a consequence of human activities.

The conservation of natural forests and the generation of new wooded areas, then represent a real and indispensable need for the maintenance of the atmospheric balance that has made life possible as we know it, otherwise, the disturbance of that balance will generate increasingly drastic effects towards a climate change, with consequences that will undoubtedly put the vast majority of living beings at risk, including the human species itself.

The Natural Source of Water

There is a deep link between water, its cycle and the existence of forests. This phenomenon develops as a consequence of the protection that forests provide to soils against the sun's rays, reducing the level of evaporation of surface water in the first instance, which is why forests are wetter and cooler than any other area with less density of plants and rivers find a refuge for their headwaters, before managing to incorporate enough water to become large flow rates.

In a second contribution, the natural barrier represented by the forests, produces a dynamic flow of the winds that allows its direction towards other areas, allowing a distribution of atmospheric humidity in such a way that the rains can occur with greater frequency and extension, thus reducing the risks caused by rainfall concentrated in limited areas and generously sharing the vital liquid with others biomes.

A third guideline linked to water corresponds to the protection that forests provide to soils against erosion that high rainfall and water runoffs they cause, helping to maintain both the stability of the soils and the reservoir of nutrients available for all species of the forest.

The more Resources, the More Life

The value of forests for preservation of the species transcends beyond its geographical limits, the most essential elements for the development of life, such as carbon and nitrogen, are also found in forests a greater stimulus for the development of their cycles, due to the abundance of available resources, through the degradation of a higher amount of organic matter with respect to others biomes and high humidity that allows the proliferation of fungi and microorganisms responsible for this essential process, thus generating more fertile soils that more easily allow extraction of these nutrients by plants, a factor that in turn results in a greater population of the same and therefore a greater abundance of food available to the herbivores.

On the other hand, forests represent a comfortable refuge for animals, who find among trunks, branches, rocks and caves such a wide variety of homes that they no one is left without sleeping peacefully in their own and safe space, and it is that when they have the joy of enjoying a walk in a forest, the peace and harmony that in them is well felt exists.

References

ORTEGA f. (2001). Forests, their value and importance. Science Magazine, (064). Institute of Ecology, A.C.

Perez, C., Locatelli, B., Vignola, R., & Imbach, P. (2007). Importance of tropical forests in climate change adaptation policies.

Villa, C. (1996). Biology. 8th Edition. Mexico. McGraw-Hill.