Tad VandenBrink
Environ 111.005
Biome Lab
2.15.06
Question 3.b.1
What trends do you see in natural forests versus plantation forests around the
world?
1. The general trend that I am seeing more natural forests then plantation
forests. Although this is not true for the entire world. Some of the countries
do have a plantation forest that dramatically outnumbers the natural forests.
Countries in the Middle East and the north eastern part of Africa (particularly
Egypt) have a large percentage of forest plantations. The availability of water
and the unfavorable natural climate for forests in these reasons may be why
there are more plantations than natural forests.
Question 3.b.2
What trends do you see in rates of deforestation around the world? Please be
specific about which areas of the world are showing forest loss and speculate on
why this might be occurring.
Many of the larger countries like the United States, Brazil, Russia, Australia and
the majority of Europe have even forest deforestation and reforestation. Yet, all
of Central America and the Caribbean, except Cuba, have a negative
deforestation. Reasons for this may be that the people may not be aware of
what they are doing. They don’t realize what is at stake and no government
actions have taken place to limit deforestation. Also, the countries here have little
percentage of their land protected. Another thing is that in Mexico, to keep down
urbanization, land is being given to poorer people to occupy, which then leads to
deforestation to clear the land. Another area is the southern part of South
America (Chile, Argentina, Uruguay). Argentina and Chile both have a low
percentage of land protected by the government (Uruguay has 0%). This means
a small number of the forests are protected which could lead to high
deforestation. Another area is sub-Sahara Africa. Here the rate at which
deforestation occurs may not be able to be countered by reforestation because of
the climate.
Question 3.b.3
Which regions of the world have the greatest number of threatened plants? How
does deforestation rate correspond with threatened plants?
The regions are southern Central America and the Caribbean, the northwest,
west, and southwest side of South America, southeast Asia including Indonesia
and Malaysia, and Central east and west Africa including Madagascar, and then
Portugal. I expected to see the areas with high deforestation having the most
threatened plants, but there were also several countries which had a
reforestation or even balance that had a large number of threatened plants. Even
an area like China, which was blue for reforestation had a large number of
threatened species. Yet, places like Mexico that had deforestation had no
threatened species, so it is hard to find a trend.
Deforestation 
Figure 1.1
Population and Urbanization figure 1.2
Population Demographics figure 1.3
Question 3.b.4
After comparing different field values, do you think there is a relationship
between threatened plants or deforestation with population? Provide evidence to
support your claims with screenshots of your maps examining different fields
within the data.
The trend that I am seeing is that areas with low urbanization and population
have a higher rate of deforestation. This is particularly the case in sub-Sahara Africa.
Here there is a low population of people, and a low level of urbanization (figures 1.2
and 1.3). If you compare these areas to where there is a high percentage of
forestation, the countries match up. Also, if you look at southern South America
(Chile and Argentina), the population and urbanization are lower than other areas of
the world. Also, these areas have a higher percentage of deforestation. Now look at
areas with high urbanization and high population. China fits this criteria. When
looking at figure 1.1 Deforestation, China has a positive reforestation percentage.
This case also proves true for the United States and other populated-urbanized
nations throughout the world. So for some countries the trend is that for more
populous countries with more urbanization, the deforestation is low. Yet, other
factors we may have to look at are how developed the country is and the economic
state of the country. Mexico for example is highly urbanized, and has a middle range
for population, but it has a negative deforestation rate.
Question 3.b.5
Using Figure 3.b.8, in which biomes do you find most of the threatened plants?
Which biomes do you find the greatest increase in human population? Which
themes and field values did you use to answer this question?
The biome with the most threatened plants is the Tropical Evergreen forest of
the western part of Africa, northwest South America, and Indonesia and
Malaysia. Biomes with the greatest increase in human population are the tropical
deciduous forest of Mexico and part of India and Southeast Asia and sub-Sahara
Africa which is the hot desert biome. The field values is used were the population
demographic of 2002 and then to 2025. I looked at which countries changed
color showing population increase, and then compared those countries to what
biome it has in it.
Question 3.b.6
What trends do you see in the cereal production since 1992? Why might there be
missing data for the countries in the former Soviet Union?
Some trends are that for some of the more agriculture countries like the United
States had an increase in cereal production. The trend that I found interesting
was the increase in cereal production in Africa, particularly sub-Sahara Africa.
Several countries like Niger and Mali had an increase, along with the
northeastern part of Africa like Egypt, Sudan, and Libya. This may be a direct
effect from the Green Revolution that used technology from developed countries
in developing countries to increase yields. There may be missing data from
countries that were former Soviet Union because data may not have been
collected during this time. The countries were still developing after the break up
in 1992 and many of the countries may not have collected data because of the
break.
Question 3.b.7
Do you see a relationship between deforestation rate and change in cereal
production since 1992? What might be happening in countries that do not follow
the same pattern?
After looking at the map I came to the conclusion that a relationship may be that
countries with increase cereal production often had a decrease in deforestation.
Argentina, Mexico, and Sudan for example all had increases in cereal production, but
their deforestation rate were negative. This is especially the case for many countries
in Africa. Other than countries in the Sahara, and a few others, the majority of the
continent saw increase in cereal production and decreases in deforestation. This could
be a direct affect of the Green Revolution to increase crop yields in African countries.
Countries that do not follow this pattern may have not grown crops that produced
larger yields or were unable to successfully take care of the crops with proper care
(more fertilizer, irrigation, etc).
Cereal Production and Deforestation
Question 3.b.8
How do the distribution of the Earth’s grasslands relate to changes in cereal
production? Where do you see exceptions to this pattern?
The relationship that I am seeing is that areas with larger concentrations of
grasslands had usually a cereal production increase. These areas included The United
States, Southern South America, North Central Africa, and Australia. An exception to
this relationship was Asia, especially in China. Here there was a large amount of
grasslands but no too little change in cereal production.
Cereal Production and Grassland Concentrations
Question 3.b.9
Based on the status of each biome, which biomes do you think are most at risk
from human pressures? Which biomes should receive priority for conservation?
Why? What strategies could be implemented to better protect Earth’s biomes?
The most at risk biomes are the Temperate Broadleaf & Mixed Forests,
Temperate Grasslands, Savannas & Shrublands, and a lot of the Tropical &
Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests. The biome that should receive the highest
priority for conservation is the Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
because this biome contains some of the highest distribution and population of
animal life that lives in no other biome. It also plays a vital role in the climate of
the Earth. Areas where this biome is located is South America, Central Africa,
Southeast Asia, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Some strategies that could be
implemented to better protect the Earth’s biomes are to first bring world wide
education to what the destruction of these biomes mean. Show the affects it
could have on the world and future generations. Governments of the world’s
nations should then create world wide joint policies that protect large and
necessary areas of specific biomes across the world. They need to be protected
and the only way to insure their safety is to make laws prohibiting their
destruction and hire people to enforce these laws. It will take a lot of money but
to ensure the safety of the biomes it is worth it. Technology will continue to make
this easier by creating systems used to monitor critical biome areas and to find
alternatives to such things as woods that are a large part of the destruction of
biomes.
Question 3.b.10
Using the Biome Status theme overlaid on the Biomes theme, or by using two
data frames to compare Biomes and Biome Status maps simultaneously, create
a JPEG layout (like you did for Africa earlier in the lab) of the continent or region
that includes some of the biome that you think should receive priority for
conservation. To accomplish this, use the layout view and zoom in on the region
that includes the biome you selected for conservation. Make sure that your layout
includes titles, legends, your name and any other relevant information