Habitat destruction is one of the many ways humans abuse of nature. Why do they do it? Do we destroy habitats intentionally? What are habitat destruction's effects on the wildlife? Not all of the effects are negative; human relationships with the environment have both negative and positive consequences. Tropical rainforests and coral reefs are the areas that are affected the most.
Many years ago fourteen percent of the Earth’s surface was covered by rainforests but now only six percent of the forests remain. “Pinning down exact numbers is hard but most experts agree that we are losing about eighty-thousand acres of tropical rainforests daily,” said an article on the Scientific American website. “Along with this loss and degradation, we are losing one hundred thirty-five plant and animal species everyday” Humans destroy rainforests due to logging, agriculture, cattle ranching, dam building and mining. Rainforests are home to fifty percent of the world’s species but at this rate most of these species will be extinct or in danger of extinction. Eighty-two percent of the bird species are endangered because of habitat destruction, and scientists predict that by the year two thousand thirty most species will be extinct.
Coral reefs are also one of the world’s threatened habitats. Although coral reefs aren’t as fragile as people many years ago thought their temperature, light, water clarity, salinity requirements and oxygen are very specific. Temperatures that are too high or too low can have negative impacts on the coral reefs that could take up to fifty years to fix. Like other “communities” of living things reefs can tolerate natural changes in the environment but they’re not strong enough to tolerate human induced change. Most threats relate to the fact that coral reefs are located in areas where there are a lot of people. The largest coral reef is located in Australia and the second largest is located in Honduras. Specially tourists. Many fish that have predators live in coral reefs because it helps them camouflage and they’re harder to find. People often break apart coral, which hurts them.
People are doing the best they can to protect the wildlife. In parts of the tropics there are too many species of threatened plants and few scientists to identify them individually so their best approach is having a protection center for plant diversity. There are many places around the world where endangered animals are being helped but one thing we could do to stop them from becoming extinct is that we could simply stop destroying their habitats. It’s the only place where they can go. There are places around the world where it is illegal to cut down trees and to kill an animal. Should all places be like this? I don’t think they should all be like this but we should definitely be more careful of what we cut down.
Research shows that by destroying natural habitats animals don’t get affected positively and it happens way too much. Imagine a world without trees, animals, or rare plants. Wouldn’t that be horrible? People should stop destroying habitats or else all wildlife will die.
Many years ago fourteen percent of the Earth’s surface was covered by rainforests but now only six percent of the forests remain. “Pinning down exact numbers is hard but most experts agree that we are losing about eighty-thousand acres of tropical rainforests daily,” said an article on the Scientific American website. “Along with this loss and degradation, we are losing one hundred thirty-five plant and animal species everyday” Humans destroy rainforests due to logging, agriculture, cattle ranching, dam building and mining. Rainforests are home to fifty percent of the world’s species but at this rate most of these species will be extinct or in danger of extinction. Eighty-two percent of the bird species are endangered because of habitat destruction, and scientists predict that by the year two thousand thirty most species will be extinct.
Coral reefs are also one of the world’s threatened habitats. Although coral reefs aren’t as fragile as people many years ago thought their temperature, light, water clarity, salinity requirements and oxygen are very specific. Temperatures that are too high or too low can have negative impacts on the coral reefs that could take up to fifty years to fix. Like other “communities” of living things reefs can tolerate natural changes in the environment but they’re not strong enough to tolerate human induced change. Most threats relate to the fact that coral reefs are located in areas where there are a lot of people. The largest coral reef is located in Australia and the second largest is located in Honduras. Specially tourists. Many fish that have predators live in coral reefs because it helps them camouflage and they’re harder to find. People often break apart coral, which hurts them.
People are doing the best they can to protect the wildlife. In parts of the tropics there are too many species of threatened plants and few scientists to identify them individually so their best approach is having a protection center for plant diversity. There are many places around the world where endangered animals are being helped but one thing we could do to stop them from becoming extinct is that we could simply stop destroying their habitats. It’s the only place where they can go. There are places around the world where it is illegal to cut down trees and to kill an animal. Should all places be like this? I don’t think they should all be like this but we should definitely be more careful of what we cut down.
Research shows that by destroying natural habitats animals don’t get affected positively and it happens way too much. Imagine a world without trees, animals, or rare plants. Wouldn’t that be horrible? People should stop destroying habitats or else all wildlife will die.
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