Foods Produced From forests
Believe it or not, foods like chocolate, popcorn, salsa and even popular drinks like cola have foods which were originally discovered in a type of forests; rainforests. Many of the fruits today, like bananas, pineapples, oranges, lemons, coconuts were found in forests. Although these fruits are now commonly found in groceries and supermarkets, they were all first produced by rainforests. Rainforests are the type of forests that mainly provided us with food. Now however, most of the food we eat is grown in temperate forests, because of their rich and fertile soil. Walnuts, apples, mushrooms, and maple sugar are all made in temperate forests. Food supply inside temperate forests for animals, affects where and when wildlife is found. Animals have babies during these seasons. Food is produced more often in spring and summer, when the climate is mild, whereas very little is grown in winter months.
However, while soil in temperate forests are rich and fertile, and excellent for farming, humans have cut down forests for farming purposes, destroying wildlife and natural habitats. This is called land clearing, and is growing to be a prevalent problem. Deforestation for farming is impacting heavily on forests. Temperate forests used to cover more than 3-4% of the Earth's surface. Due to deforestation, they only cover 2-3% now. Over the last 50 years, 55% of the temperate forests have been chopped down. Deforestation not only affects the animals and fauna in forests, but also the soil. It increases the soil erosion, because it increases the runoff, reducing protection of the soil from tree litter. Land clearance also allows invasive weeds and animals, to spread.
Land clearing began because of the perception that land was "wasted" unless it was used for agriculture. The majority of the cleared land in Australia has been used for cattle, sheep and wheat production, with about 46.3% of Australia used for cattle grazing. Unfortunately, most of the remaining forests in New South Wales have cleared, due to the high fertility of the land. While we are using this land for food production, there will soon be no forests to clear, and no fertile land left. Unless we start protecting our forests, we will have nowhere to grow our food to sustain our ever-growing population.
However, while soil in temperate forests are rich and fertile, and excellent for farming, humans have cut down forests for farming purposes, destroying wildlife and natural habitats. This is called land clearing, and is growing to be a prevalent problem. Deforestation for farming is impacting heavily on forests. Temperate forests used to cover more than 3-4% of the Earth's surface. Due to deforestation, they only cover 2-3% now. Over the last 50 years, 55% of the temperate forests have been chopped down. Deforestation not only affects the animals and fauna in forests, but also the soil. It increases the soil erosion, because it increases the runoff, reducing protection of the soil from tree litter. Land clearance also allows invasive weeds and animals, to spread.
Land clearing began because of the perception that land was "wasted" unless it was used for agriculture. The majority of the cleared land in Australia has been used for cattle, sheep and wheat production, with about 46.3% of Australia used for cattle grazing. Unfortunately, most of the remaining forests in New South Wales have cleared, due to the high fertility of the land. While we are using this land for food production, there will soon be no forests to clear, and no fertile land left. Unless we start protecting our forests, we will have nowhere to grow our food to sustain our ever-growing population.