Selective cutting allows ecosystems to support more wildlife than clear cutting and allows forests to retain some of their resistance to disease and pests. In addition, studies show that carbon uptake levels will quickly recuperate if selective cutting is done properly.
for instance, Why is selective cutting bad?
“Selective logging, unless it is practiced at very low harvest intensities, can significantly reduce the biomass of a tropical forest for many decades, seriously diminishing aboveground carbon storage capacity, and create opportunities for weeds and vines to spread and slow down the ecological succession.”
significantly, How is selective cutting done?
Selective cutting is the cutting down of selected trees in a forest so that growth of other trees is not affected. This is done according to criteria regarding minimum tree size for harvesting, specifications of the number, spacing and size classes of residual trees per area, and allowable cut.
also Is Strip cutting better than selective cutting?
According to NASA, clear cutting is much more damaging to a tropical rain forest because when all of the trees are removed, the soil loses its nutrients and becomes barren (NASA, 1998). However, according to Ashton, in some cases, it is better to clear-cut a forest than to selectively log it.
What are some pros and cons of selective cutting?
- Pro: Financial Reasons. Clearcutting advocates argue that the method is the most efficient for both harvesting and replanting trees.
- Con: Effects on Plant and Wildlife.
- Pro: Increased Water Flow.
- Con: Loss of Recreation Land.
- Pro: Increased Farmland.
Table of Contents
What is selective cutting pros and cons?
Some of the disadvantages are that some species may not regenerate quickly, and thinning the forest may lead to increased damage from ice, storms or fires. One of the biggest advantages of selective cutting is that the overall ecological impact on the forest is reduced.
What is selective logging and how is it beneficial?
Logging and replanting – selective logging of mature trees ensures that the rainforest canopy is preserved. This method allows the forest to recover because the younger trees gain more space and sunlight to grow. Planned and controlled logging ensures that for every tree logged another is planted.
Does selective cutting increase biodiversity?
Selective logging reduces biodiversity, disrupts Amazon ecosystems: study. Reduced-impact logging, also called selective logging, which gained popularity in the 1990s, aims to balance biodiversity impacts with global demand for timber by extracting fewer trees.
What is an example of selective cutting?
The best example of selective cutting is. loggers cut small groups of intermediate or mature trees, resulting in less erosion and loss of nutrients on the hillside.
What are the disadvantages of clear cutting?
Clearcutting cons:
- They look bad. Until the newly planted trees “green up” a hillside, a clearcut is not considered appealing to the general public.
- Habitat disturbance. Clearcutting alters the habitat where trees once stood, and forest wildlife is displaced into new areas.
- Increased stream flow.
What does clear cutting cause?
Clearcutting can destroy an area’s ecological integrity in a number of ways, including: the destruction of buffer zones which reduce the severity of flooding by absorbing and holding water; the immediate removal of forest canopy, which destroys the habitat for many rainforest-dependent insects and bacteria; the removal …
Why do environmentalists prefer the process of selective cutting to clear cutting?
Selective Cutting Harvest Method
This process allows for better yield and productivity over several decades. Each year provides trees for harvest, rather than having to wait a minimum of sixty years after a clear cut.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of clear cutting and selective harvesting?
Clear-cutting is usually quicker and cheaper than selective cutting. It may also be safer for the loggers. Clear-cutting can damage the environment and the soil where the trees were cut. The soil is exposed to wind and rain.
What is mean by selective harvesting?
selective harvesting means a silvicultural system used to harvest and regenerate particular forest types. Trees are harvested either singly or in small groups at intervals indefinitely. Regeneration is established continually in the gaps produced and an uneven-aged stand is maintained.
Why is selective logging good for the environment?
Selective logging and replanting,
Selective logging is more sustainable than clear-cutting because other trees and plants do survive in the logging process and over time can allow the forest to recover. … This is because a felled tree can damage other trees as it falls to the ground once felled.
How does selective cutting promote biodiversity?
Selective cutting reduces crowding, encourages growth of younger trees, maintains an uneven-aged stand of tress of different species, and allows natural regeneration from surrounding trees.
What is a problem related to clear cutting?
Clearcutting can destroy an area’s ecological integrity in a number of ways, including: the destruction of buffer zones which reduce the severity of flooding by absorbing and holding water; the immediate removal of forest canopy, which destroys the habitat for many rainforest-dependent insects and bacteria; the removal …
In what situations would Selective cutting be used?
Selection silviculture is especially adept at regenerating shade-tolerant species of trees (those able to function under conditions of low solar energy, both cooler and less light), but can also be modified to suit the regeneration and growth of intolerant and mid-tolerant species.
How does clear cutting affect human health?
But deforestation is having another worrisome effect: an increase in the spread of life-threatening diseases such as malaria and dengue fever. For a host of ecological reasons, the loss of forest can act as an incubator for insect-borne and other infectious diseases that afflict humans.
Is clear cutting beneficial?
Clearcuts can be beneficial to wildlife.
Clearcutting increases the biological diversity of the forest, which enhances the habitat for a variety of wildlife. Some species of wildlife actually thrive better in brushy thickets of seedlings and small saplings.
How does clear cutting affect animals?
Wild animals, insects and plants are killed by large clear cuts. After the trees are gone, groundcover plants wither in the sun and parched soils. … Soil animals, bacteria and fungi, vital to tree growth and health, overheat, shrivel and die.
Do trees grow back after clear cutting?
Redwoods Regrow After Fires
In the past 70 to 80 years, most fires in California’s coast redwood forests were prevented or suppressed.
What is happening with clear cutting?
Clearcutting disturbs soils, wetlands, and peatlands, releasing their vast carbon stores, and diminishes the boreal forest’s ability to sequester carbon from the atmosphere.
What causes clear cutting?
Soil erosion is caused by poorly laid out road systems, whether or not the forest is clearcut or only partially cut. Clearcutting can be done without significant erosion or sedimentation if roads are pre-planned and built correctly by using accepted Best Management Practices to protect streams.
Discussion about this post