Forest resources- the importance of forests

Question 1

How much of earths land is covered by forest?

Answer 1

30%

Question 2

What type of community are forests? (succession)

Answer 2

Climax community

Question 3

What resources can you get from forests?

Answer 3

Timber
Fibres
Fuel
Food
Medicines

Question 4

Why is wood/ timber so useful?

Answer 4

Strong
High strength:weight ratio
Flexible
Little processing (usually)
Readily available

Question 5

What trees are used for timber from tropical rainforests?

Answer 5

Mahogany
Teak

Question 6

What trees are used for timber from broadleaf forests?

Answer 6

Oak
Beech

Question 7

What are the uses of timber?

Answer 7

Structural uses: building construction, telegraph poles, shuttering for concrete structures
Furniture
Tools

Question 8

Where is an example of wood being used to create houses?

Answer 8

Central America

Question 9

What is the problem with using wood for shuttering on concrete structures?

Answer 9

imprint of wood grain used once then thrown away

Question 10

What is most paper made from?

Answer 10

flattened sheets of interwoven cellulose fibres from pulped wood

Question 11

What is cotton made from?

Answer 11

the fibres that surround the seeds of the cotton bush

Question 12

How are viscose (rayon) textiles made?

Answer 12

chemical treatment of cellulose fibres extracted from wood

Question 13

What is the most common fuel used for cooking?

Answer 13

Wood

Question 14

When was wood the main energy source?

Answer 14

before the industrial revolution and the use of coal, oil and gas

Question 15

Where is wood still one of the main fuels?

Answer 15

LEDCS- less economically developed country

Question 16

What do trees provide for livestock? (food)

Answer 16

Fodder

Question 17

What do trees provide for humans? (Food resources)

Answer 17

fruit and nuts
Bushmeat in LEDCs

Question 18

What forest plant species are commercially grown?

Answer 18

coffee
Cacao (chocolate)
bananas papayas
Brazil nuts

Question 19

Where do pigs and chickens originate from? (forest resources)

Answer 19

Forest animals

Question 20

What does the wide variety of species in forests allow for?

Answer 20

genes for new characteristics that may be important in future selective breeding programmes
Many more species that can be cultivated or domesticated

Question 21

How can trees help medicine?

Answer 21

Trees produce many chemicals that have medicinal

Question 22

How might medicines from forests have changed?

Answer 22

originally from trees tissues but now synthesized artificially

Question 23

What is an example of an artificially synthesized tree medicine?

Answer 23

Quinine originally extracted from Cinchona tree

Question 24

What are the ecosystem services of forests?

Answer 24

Atmospheric regulation
Regulation of the hydrological cycle
Forest microclimate
Habitat and wildlife refuge
Soil conservation
Recreation/ amenity use

Question 25

What important part of forests regulate the levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide and oxygen?

Answer 25

The balance of photosynthesis and respiration

Question 26

Where is most carbon stored in the forest reservoir?

Answer 26

carbohydrate cellulose (main wood component)

Question 27

What would happen if carbon wasn't stored in wood?

Answer 27

most carbon would be in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide

Question 28

Why does carbon in wood have a relatively long residence time?

Answer 28

Cellulose is hard to digest

Question 29

What is carbon sequestration in forests?

Answer 29

the process during which growing trees take more carbon out of the atmosphere during photosynthesis and store it in more wood

Question 30

What is the process of planting trees to try counteract global climate change called?

Answer 30

Afforestation

Question 31

What do processes that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere release?

Answer 31

oxygen

Question 32

Why is oxygen essential?

Answer 32

needed by all aerobic organisms and for ozone maintenance

Question 33

Is carbon stored in forests greater in soil or vegetation?

Answer 33

Soil (especially boreal forests)

Question 34

How much is the mass of carbon in the forests over the atmosphere?

Answer 34

double

Question 35

Why are forest transpiration rates important?

Answer 35

important for increasing precipitation rates downwind

Question 36

What is the effect on interception by foilage?

Answer 36

Increases evapouration rates Decreases infiltration

Question 37

How do forests help soils?

Answer 37

Help soil formation and reduce soil erosion allowing greater soil depth Soil will retain water and moderate flow into rivers

Question 38

What does the low albedo of forests mean?

Answer 38

INcreased rates of absorption of sunlight and the storage of the heat in the water in the wood

Question 39

How are the temperature extremes reduced between day and night in forests?

Answer 39

Forests absorb sunlight in the day, much of which is converetd to heat which is radiated at night

Question 40

What abiotic conditions do trees change underneath the canopy?

Answer 40

Light Wind velocity Humidity

Question 41

How do forests affect light?

Answer 41

Canopy absorbs a lot of solar insolation (red and blue wavelengths by chlorophyll) Plants below the canopy have less light (mostly green light- not chlorophyll effective)

Question 42

What special adaptatations fo plants that live below the forest canopy need to have?

Answer 42

Denser chlorophyll Additional pigments Additional growth periods (when trees have lost leaves)

Question 43

How do forests affect wind velocity?

Answer 43

lower wind velocity by the shelter of trees

Question 44

What is the effect of reduced wind velocity in forests?

Answer 44

plants below the canopy layer use animals to help with seed dispersal and pollination

Question 45

What is the benefit of humidity in forests?

Answer 45

High humidity levels means animals such as amphibians can survive more easily as their skin does not dry out

Question 46

How much light does the canopy layer absorb?

Answer 46

75-98%

Question 47

How much of the worlds terrestrial plant and animal species live in tropical rainforests?

Answer 47

50%

Question 48

What makes rainforests unique? (habitat refuge)

Answer 48

you will not find precisely the same species living in all tropical rain forests

Question 49

Why is biodiversity so high in tropical rainforests?

Answer 49

Hot and wet climate provides ideal conditions nutrients are rapidly recycled speeding up growth, producers with food, consumed by primary consumer large areas of rainforest are untouched by humans (nature allowed to thrive)

Question 50

How are forests and soil linked?

Answer 50

Forests aid soil formation and reduce soil erosion

Question 51

How do forests conserve soil?

Answer 51

DOM contributes humus and nutrients (food for detritivores) Prevent soil washed or blown away (interception, reduce wind velocity) Trees and leaf litter reduce wind velocity and raindrop impact Roots hold soil together reduces run-off Humus binds soil Worms increase infiltration reducing runoff

Question 52

What recreational activities are forests important for?

Answer 52

walking Orienteering cycling camping Educational activities

Question 53

What forest do we need to know about?

Answer 53

Broadleaf Tropical Mangrove