Page 82 - Science Class 08
P. 82

Floods                                                regenerate  the  forests.  In  many  parts  of  our

              Deforesta on  also  causes  a  sharp  decrease  in    country, trees like teak, sal, etc. are being grown
              the  water  holding  capacity  of  the  soil.  The    on  a  large  scale.  Selec ve  cu ng  of  trees  in
              movement of water from the soil surface into          these planta on inserts the wood requirement
              the ground (in filtera on rate) is reduced. This       and keeps the forest cover in fact as well.
              leads to floods.                                       Protec on from Fire

                                                                    Forest  fire  is  an  important  factor  of  defor-
                                                                    esta on.  The  main  causes  of  forest  fire  are
               1. What do you mean by fauna?                        careless  a tude  of  people  and  natural
                                                                    ac vi es. People generally, throw the butts of
               2. What is biodiversity?
                                                                    cigare e in the forests or leans bonfire burning,
               3. What are the causes of soil erosion?
                                                                    which some me leads to forest fire. Lightning
               4. Name any five raw materials that we get
                                                                    or  fric on  between  stems  and  branches  of
                  from the forests.
                                                                    trees are some natural causes of forest fire.
               5. What are the causes of deforesta on?
               6. What  does  happen  when  animals  lose           Forest  fire  can  be  controlled  by  spraying  fire
                  their habitat?                                    ex nguishing  solu on  from  aircra   or  by

               7. How do forests control floods?                     changing  the  direc on  of  the  wind  by  using
                                                                    strong blowers.
                       CONSERVATION OF FORESTS                      Protec on from Overgrazing

              You  have  studied  about  the  importance  of        Overgrazing  by  ca le,  horses,  sheep,  etc.  is
              forest,  causes  of  deforesta on  and  conseq-       another  important  factor  responsible  for
              uences  of  deforesta on.  Now,  you  will  study     deforesta on.  These  animals  eat  up  small
              about  the  ways  through  which  forests  can  be    plants  and  some  new  plants  are  killed  by
              conserved.                                            trampling.  Besides,  animals  also  eat  up  lower

              Planned Harves ng                                     leaves  of  the  trees  and  harm  the  roots  and
              We should not cut all the trees from a certain        trunks of the trees. It is, therefore, overgrazing
                                                                    should be stopped to save forests.
              area  of  the  forests  because  this  will  result  in
              the erosion of fer le soil. Thus, the trees from      Protec on from Insects and Pests
              that part will be lost forever. The best way to       Forest  trees  are  also  a ached  by  disease
              meet  the  wood  requirement  is  to  cut  a  few     spreading insects and pests. Infected plants can
              trees in an area. The uncut trees will prevent        also spread diseases to other plants. Therefore,
              erosion  and  produce  seeds  so  that  new  trees    insec cides should be sprayed on infected trees
              can grow.                                             to save them. Highly infected trees can also be
              Afforesta on                                           removed from the forest.

              Growing  plants  on  the  deforested  land  or                            WILDLIFE
              renewing a forest by growing plants is referred       Wildlife is a term that refers to animals that are
              to  as  afforesta on.  A er  facing  the  consequ-     not  normally  domes cated.  They  are  a  living
              ences of deforesta on our government as well          resource that will die and be replaced by others

              as private organisa ons have come forward to          of their kind. Wildlife plays an important role in

               82                                                                                           Science-8
   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87