In terms of nutrient cycling, why does timber harvesting in a temperate forest cause less ecological devastation than timber harvesting in tropical rain forests?
A) Trees are generally less numerous in temperate forests, so fewer nutrients will be removed from the temperate forest ecosystem during a harvest.
B) Temperate forest tree species require fewer nutrients to survive than their tropical counterpart species, so a harvest removes fewer nutrients from the temperate ecosystem.
C) The warmer temperatures in the tropics influence rain forest species to assimilate nutrients more slowly, so tropical nutrient absorption is much slower than in temperate forests.
D) There are far fewer decomposers in tropical rain forests, so turning organic matter into usable nutrients is a slower process than in temperate forest ecosystems.
E) Typical harvests remove up to 75% of the nutrients in the woody trunks of tropical rain forest trees, leaving nutrient-impoverished soils behind.
Tropical rain forest in Borneo. Within the three-dimensional framework of tropical rain forests live
Forest fragments left by clear-cutting forest from the surrounding landscape have very different phy
Timber in storage for later processing at a sawmill.
Frequently Used Computer Terms
Canada's forest regions
Productivity in Temperate Oceans – Northern Hemisphere