Forest why its important

Erawan National Park, Thailand. Sagano Forest, Japan. Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina. Black Forest, Germany. Ontario Forests, Canada. Erawan National Park Thailand : attracts attention for the golden colour of its trees in autumn and for its fauna - it is inhabited by a multitude of birds, flying squirrels and monkeys.

Sagano Forest Japan : a bamboo forest with 50 different species and specimens up to 20 meters high. Kahurangi National Park New Zealand : a tropical and dense forest where kiwis and wekas reside among tree ferns, red beeches and nikau palms, among other plant species.

Black Forest Germany : comprises an area of 6, km2of fir trees, meadows, lakes and villages between the towns of Fribourg and Basel. Ontario Forests Canada : great expanses where red, orange and yellow colours predominate on a green base reflected in a thousand lakes and rivers.

Did you find it interesting? Subscribe to our Newsletter! I have read and accept the Newsletter's privacy policy. The ecosystem of every forest includes both biotic living and non-biotic components. The biotic components include plants, trees, shrubs, vines, grasses, mosses, algae, fungi, insects, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and microorganisms. Forests are made of four main layers as shown below.

Emergent Layer. The tallest trees in the forest which are around feet form the emergent layer. These trees have broad leaves and get abundant sunlight. Canopy Layer. Canopy layer is just below the emergent layer. It is thickened by a maze of smooth oval leaves and branches. It is the primary layer of the forest. Understory Layer. Sunlight cannot reach the layers below the canopy layer and hence the plants develop larger leaves to absorb it. Forest Floor. Sunlight cannot reach the forest floor and hence it is dark and humid in this layer.

It offers a rich source for the growth of fungus. There are three major forest zones based on the distance from the equator, which are the i tropical, ii temperate and iii boreal forests.

Tropic rainforests have different subcategories as follows:. Tropical and subtropical. Subcategories of temperate forests include moist conifer, evergreen broad-leaved, dry conifer, Mediterranean, and temperate broad-leaved rainforest.

Boreal forests grow in higher latitudes, where the temperatures reach the freezing point. Importance of forest in our life. The rise in carbon levels is believed to be the main reason behind global warming. In spite of the advantages of forests, deforestation has become very rampant in the modern era causing several problems like pollution, soil erosion, and climate change. Here are some of the reasons that explain the importance of forests for all living beings See figure 1 and why they should be preserved proactively.

Forests are natural habitat to many animals. The trees supply oxygen to the atmosphere. They affect the rainfall in a particular region. They also provide us wood, medicines, food, perfumes, paper, clothes etc. In turn, humans depend on those very animals to spread the seeds of the plants they have eaten, which helps fertilize the soil. The same soil that humans grow their food in, too.

And the list of benefits that forests provide only gets longer. Forests are a barrier against erosion, landslides and avalanches. The roots of trees give the soil the structure it needs to absorb and retain water when it rains, avoiding floods that would otherwise wash away perfectly fertile soil, which we need in order to grow food.

The more ancient the forest, the more efficient it is at taking the excess CO2 humans produce out of the air, hiding some of it away and using the rest to create healthy branches, nutritious fruits, nuts, and even soul-nourishing landscapes. Every time we cut down a forest, we are automatically emitting tons of CO2.

We expose land on which ancient forests once stood that have been storing carbon over thousands of years. That's to say, for every vanishing forest, we lose the most important buffer against climate warming. And yet every second, the world loses about one football pitch worth of forest area. The main causes of deforestation are agriculture, unsustainable forest management, mining, infrastructure projects and increased fire incidences, which are also increasing in intensity.