How Deforestation affects Animals.

 Deforestation affects animals in many ways. It causes habitat destruction, increased risk of predation, reduced food availability, and much more. As a result, some animals lose their homes, others lose food sources – and finally, many lose their lives. In fact, deforestation is one of the main causes of extinction.

Let’s find out how exactly this happens.

What is deforestation?

Deforestation is the total removal of trees or other vegetation from land. It can be caused by human activity such as logging or agriculture, but also natural disasters like forest fires. It has a negative impact on many species because it causes habitat fragmentation and loss.

But that’s not all. Animals are equally affected by forest fragmentation and/or forest degradation. Forest fragmentation is the reduction in the size of an intact forest area, or the development of gaps in a formerly contiguous forest. This means less space to live in, more competition, and higher risks of disease transmission. On top of that, they may have trouble finding enough food due to changes in plant composition and distribution.

Forest degradation occurs when forests are damaged or destroyed in ways that reduce their ability to provide ecosystem services. This process leads to changes in soil structure, water flow patterns, plant communities, wildlife populations, and more. These changes also have serious consequences for animal survival.

What causes deforestation and forest degradation?

There are many reasons why trees are being cut down. These include commercial exploitation for agriculture, fuelwood harvesting, timber, fires, mining, population growth, and urbanization. Let’s discuss a few of these quickly below.

Agriculture, cattle ranching, fuelwood, and timber

Conversion to farmland is one of the biggest causes. Large-scale crops, like cattle ranching or growing soybean and oil palm, requires huge areas of agricultural lands. Fuelwood and firewood are used for cooking and heating around the world, and timber is used for building houses, furniture, and paper products.

Fires

Fires destroy or degrade millions of hectares of forest yearly. They are often used to clear land for other uses, but it’s also important to note that some degree of fire is a natural part of many ecosystems. The problem is when these natural fires increase in severity, frequency, and intensity, or grow out of control. As we burn fossil fuels, climate change worsens, and unnatural fires are becoming more and more common. This worsens climate change even more, as trees burn down and release their carbon dioxide. The 2021 wildfires in British Columbia are a perfect example of this .

Whether natural or man-made, alter the structure and composition of forests, sometimes permanently, and usually with drastic effects on forest residents. You may recall reading that Australia’s 2020 bushfires killed or harmed almost three billion animals.

Mining and roads

Most minerals require vast tracts of land to dig up, and once extracted, must be transported to processing centers. In turn, this requires hundreds of miles of road construction, which leads to further degradation. With new roads, people are able to access new areas that were previously inaccessible, and thus begin to clear the forest.

Road building is actually a major cause of deforestation, even if the road is just being built to reach somewhere else. This applies to anything from dam sites to military bases or even to highways cutting across a forest.

Population growth and urbanization

Many of these drivers are also related: as populations increase around the world, demand for meat increases, and so more land is cleared for cattle pastures. This is particularly a problem in Amazonian forests.

Or, farmers expand into previously forested areas in search of fertile soil to meet increased market demand for commodities. These sorts of compounding drivers can increase the rate of deforestation exponentially.

This means that essentially, deforestation is an economic problem.

Why does deforestation affect animals?

Wild animals need suitable habitat: areas where where they are safe, secure, and comfortable. They use these areas for resting, sleeping, feeding, breeding, hiding, and escaping predators. But when we disrupt these areas, animals lose access to important resources and become exposed to new threats.

What are the effects of deforestation on animals?

It can cause them to completely lose their homes or be forced out of their natural range.

It can change existing habitats and remove sources of shelter, water, and food, such as fruit-bearing trees.

It also causes soil erosion, which can change the landscape and make it harder to find food.

And it worsens climate change by increasing greenhouse gas emissions. This can affect weather and water availability, and increase the risk of natural disasters.

Animal species threatened by forest loss may also face increased competition with others, and can be at higher risk of being killed by predators who have also lost their natural habitat.

Thus, the impacts of deforestation may be direct or indirect, but the end result is the same: population decrease and higher risk of extinction.

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