Review of the Literature on the Effects of Outside Factors on Farmed Forests
Kinzie Jones, CSH, Biology, APA
An important question is how outside factors can impact the sustainability of farmed
forests. The question is important because farmed forests could be sustainable but are heavily
affected by outside influences. The finding of this review focuses on two aspects: carbon dioxide
levels and natural instances such as fires. This review shows that future research in order to
increase biodiversity in farmed forests could better their longevity.
Carbon Dioxide and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
An important factor that researchers have focused on is the effects of carbon dioxide
levels and greenhouse gas emissions on farmed forests. Their discussions lead to the question of
how carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases harm artificial forests. Maciver and Wheaton (2005)
looked at climate change on earth and how it is constantly changing. The increase of carbon
dioxide and greenhouse gases can lead to a global increase in temperature. Farmed forests do not
possess a great amount of biodiversity thus making them not very adaptable to environmental
changes including temperature. An increase as small as 1°C can be detrimental to a farmed forest
“especially where forest climates have little or no buffering capacity” (Maciver and Wheaton
276). These authors point out that farmed forests are very sensitive to changes in climate. Watt et
al. (2019) found that with the increase of carbon dioxide levels, there are some potential gains
that can be made in the productivity of farmed forests, but there are also some changes that arise
(pp. 2). Temperature increases lead to an abundance of many forest pests such as insects. Insects
be very harmful to the forests, and with their lack of variability, diseases from pests spread very
quickly. Similarly to Maciver and Wheaton (2005), Watt and others (2019) found that
temperature rises can have negative effects on farmed forests. Pulido and others (2001) also
found that low biodiversities make the increases in gas levels more likely to inhibit farmed
forests’ regenerative capacities (pp. 1). The influx of gas levels changes the surrounding climate,
so farmed forests have trouble reproducing in an environment they have yet to adapt to and
cannot obtain long-term sustainability. Because of their lack of variability, the effects of these
gas increases are more detrimental and spread quicker. Much of this information regarding things
affecting farmed forests helps raise new questions. Since biodiversity seems to be a very big
factor, would changing the biodiversity of these farmed forests do any good? Specifically, what
would increasing biodiversity do for farmed and artificial forests? (340 words)
Natural Instances
Another factor that researchers have focused on is the effects of natural instances on
farmed forests. Their discussions lead to the question of how increasing biodiversity of farmed
forests could help them. Watt et al. (2019) investigated how natural occurrences such as fire put
farmed forests at risk due to their low biodiversity. As a result of climate change and greenhouse
gas emissions, there are higher levels of carbon dioxide in the environment. These high levels
warm and dry out the environment thus making fires, especially forest fires, more common. Watt
et al. (2019) compared the increases of carbon dioxide and biodiversity to fire risk. Because of
the lack of biodiversity in artificial forests and increased carbon levels, farmed forests are more
susceptible to fires. Their lack of variability allows fires to catch onto everything surrounding it
quicker, and they can spread quicker throughout the ecosystem (pp. 4-6). When there is a low
biodiversity, the ecosystem lacks the resources to reduce the leaf litter that results from the trees.
Fires use the leaf litter to spread quicker and more aggressively (pp. 15). To prevent the effects
that the lack of biodiversity has on farmed forests regarding natural instances, Maciver and
Wheaton (2005) found that it is necessary to make these man-made forests more adaptable and
increase their biodiversity (pp. 275). Having a higher biodiversity will allow the environment
surrounding the farmed forest to have the means to better adapt to the changes that arise around
it, such as climate change. Overall, increasing the biodiversity of farmed forests will decrease
fire risks and allow them to be more adaptable and thus more sustainable. This leads to potential
research opportunities to determine which plants would best amplify and increase biodiversity in
farmed forests. (291 words)
References
Maciver, D.C. & Wheaton, E. (2005). Tomorrow’s forests: Adapting to a changing climate.
Climatic Change, 70, 273–282. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-005-5950-z [Approved]
Pulido, F. J., Dı́az, M., & Hidalgo de Trucios, S. J. (2001). Size structure and regeneration of
Spanish holm oak Quercus ilex forests and dehesas: Effects of agroforestry use on their
long-term sustainability. Forest Ecology and Management, 146(1), 1–13.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-1127(00)00443-6 [Approved]
Watt, M. S., Kirschbaum, M. U. F., Moore, J. R., Pearce, H. G., Bulman, L. S., Brockerhoff, E.
G., & Melia, N. (2019). Assessment of multiple climate change effects on plantation forests in
New Zealand. Forestry (London), 92(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1093/forestry/cpy024
[Approved]
Drafted by: Kinzie Jones Reviewed by: Melia Fretwell
 How does the INTRODUCTION get your AUDIENCE'S attention? Does it make clear
why your topic matters?
o The introduction is straight-forward and follows the guidelines given. It is clear
that sustainable farming methods should be used to conserve farmed forests, but it
might be a good idea to define ‘farmed forest’ in the introduction for clarity to the
reader. It does lack a further question, the ‘further’ question provided is more of a
restatement that the original question needs more research.
 Is your point stated explicitly in a THESIS-and if not, should it be?
o The thesis is explicitly stated in the first sentence of the introduction. It might be
good to format it as a question though: An important question is, how do outside
factors impact the sustainability of farmed forests?
 Have you provided sufficient REASONS and EVIDENCE to support your thesis? If not,
do you need to find more evidence? Or do you need to QUALIFY your thesis to make it
one you can support?
o There is a lot of evidence provided and it is very comprehensive. One sentence in
the first section, starting with “Watt et al. found...” also has an in-text citation
after, which isn't needed due to the author reference in the beginning of the
sentence (+ forgot (2019)). This happens more than once so I would go through
and double check.
 Have you clearly distinguished what they say from what you say-and provided
DOCUMENTATION?
o Yes, citations are included.
 How does the text CONCLUDE? What does it leave readers thinking? Have you invited
your readers to respond? How else might you conclude?
o I don't think there is a prompt for further research, but there is an answer to the
original question. I would go on to say, ‘despite the conclusion that increasing the
biodiversity of farmed forests will decrease fire risks and allow them to be more
adaptable and sustainable, the current research begs the question of...or “it would
be interesting to see....’ Personally, I think it would be interesting to see what sort
of plants can be used around the amplify the growth of farmed forests, could go
into a question about companion planting.
 Does your TITLE announce the topic and give some idea of what you have to say about
it-and will it get your audience's attention? If not, might it help to add a subtitle?
o Title is specific and gives a clear idea of what the literature review includes.
Drafted by: Melia Fretwell Reviewed by: Kinzie Jones
 How does the INTRODUCTION get your AUDIENCE'S attention? Does it make clear why
your topic matters?
o The introduction helps get the audience’s attention by starting the introduction
with a thought-out question. The introduction explains that the topic is important
to conservation of wildlife.
 Is your point stated explicitly in a THESIS-and if not, should it be?
o The thesis explicitly states that they are reviewing literature to examine how
urbanization affects urban squirrel populations.
 Have you provided sufficient REASONS and EVIDENCE to support your thesis? If not, do
you need to find more evidence? Or do you need ·to QUALIFY your thesis to make it one
you can support?
o They researched how urbanization around squirrels affects their food sources and
fear of predation. They later evaluate if these effects are beneficial to the squirrels
or not. I think that the evidence is sufficient. The author was able to form new
questions from it as well as do research on those and answer them.
 How does the text CONCLUDE? What does it leave readers thinking? Have you invited your
readers to respond? How else might you conclude?
o The text concludes with an ending that allows the reader to somewhat form their
own opinion as to whether urbanization is beneficial or not. The conclusion could
include something that is more influencing to make the readers feel more of a
need to take more action.
 Does your TITLE announce the topic and give some idea of what you have to say about itand will it get your audience's attention? If not, might it help to add a subtitle?
o The title is very clear and explicitly states the content of the text. I think the title
might be a little long, so it might help to condense it to focus on more of the key
words or to add a subtitle.
 Have you provided Documentation?
o Efficient documentation was provided for each source used to write the text.