Potential Environmental Problems

   There are many contributing factors to a plants survival. Some of these factors are as follows:

Drought

What is drought and how does drought affect plants? Although drought is normal, the recurrence of little precipitation is extremely hazardous to nature. Drought has many definitions, it originally can be defined as a deficiency in precipitation over an extended period of time, usually lasting a season or more. Humans have an impact on drought also. When the water levels are down there is an increased demand on the water supply, thus causing an increase in damage. ( Information taken from The National Drought Mitigation Center, November 15, 1995)

Trees are large complex plants that respond slowly to drought. The damage or symptoms that droughts leave may not become apparent until years later, after rain has returned. A study performed in Europe in 1980 on beech tress indicated the damages of drought. Friends of the Earth found that the beech trees had begun not only change the colors of the leaves but shed leaves earlier than normal. ( Information taken from Temperate Forests, Michael Allaby.)

For more information on Drought go to: http://www.discovery.com./drought

FIRE

Imagine being surrounded by 1200 degrees of raging furry. That is what plants, trees, and wildlife feel when nature unleashes a furry called fire. What once was a vast array of life now becomes a vacant landscape full of destruction and death. Though fire is devastating, it is a natural part of nature. Life in the environment needs fire in order for re-growth to take place. Ashes from plants, trees, and wildlife put nutrients back into the earth and in time a new landscape will form.  In addition, without fire, some species of plants would not be able to germinate or release seeds.

HUMANS

Since the beginning of time, humans have used the land for survival. In order to have shelter one must have timber, thus logging became a way of life. Hundreds of thousands of trees were cut down to provide pasture land and to build homes. But at one point the demand for timber became too high and the rate of logging exceeded the rate in which new trees could grow.

REGENERATION

Society has wised up and today organizations have been created in order to protest trees/plants. After an industry logs out a landscape, they must replant the barren land with new trees. As these new baby trees grow, life is brought back to the land. In time, the trees and plants become a vast forest full of various wildlife.