Tropical Rain Forest Soils of La Selva Essay - 1696 Words

Tropical Rain Forest Soils of La Selva Tropical rain forests across the globe are currently threatened by massive deforestation for logging, grazing, and cultivation (Otzen 1993). Such land-use practices alter temperature regimes (Fernandes and Sanford 1995) as well as ground, soil, and surface water, flora, fauna, and microorganisms (Otzen 1993). These changes may result in a loss of soil organic matter, a decrease in soil fertility (Garcia-Oliva et al. 1994, Tissen et al. 1994), severe soil erosion (Otzen 1993), and changes in soil structure and chemistry (Fernandes and Sanford 1995, Sollins et al. 1995, Montgagnini and Sancho 1994.) The response of tropical rain forest soils to deforestation depends upon the specific properties†¦show more content†¦1995), since the climate is relatively uniform over the entire reserve. The effects of biota have not been studied, although emergents, which often persist for centuries, may well create distinctive soil conditions beneath themselves (Sollins et al. 1994). The Entisols are young mineral soils with no subsoil diagnostic horizons. The Inceptisols are young soils with minimal development and undistinguished B horizons, and the Ultisols are well-weathered, leached soils with an accumulation of clay in the B horizon (Singer and Munns 1996). Because La Selva soils are derived from very similar parent material, soils at similar levels of development have similar mineralogy (Sollins et al. 1996). In a 1994 study, Borchers and Baham of Oregon State University detected presence of kaolinite, halloysite, and gibbsite at the one upper terrace studied to date (unpublished data, as cited by Sollins et al. 1994). Based on the scant knowledge of volcanic soils in other places, weathering should produce abundant allophane at early stages, converting later to halloysite, then to kaolinite, and lastly to gibbsite. In addition, the relatively high levels of potassium chloride-exchangeable aluminum indicate the presence of at least a small amount of 2:1 layer-silicate clays even in the most weathered soils (Sollins et al. 1994). Importantly, most of these minerals are predominantly variable-charge, meaning that the cation and anion exchange capacity are affectedShow MoreRelated Deforestation as a Major Problem Essay3194 Words   |   13 Pagesper year (Urquhart 2014). Climate change and global warming are just a few of the problems associated with the degradation of our forests. Scientists themselves are just beginning to understand the serious problems caused by deforestation. Deforestation occurs all over the world by all types of people. Peasant farmers even add to the problem because in most tropical countries the farmers are very poor only making between eight hundred and fifty four hundred dollars annually (NASA Facts). ThereforeRead MoreMachu Picchu4302 Words   |  18 Pages 32,592 ha ALTITUDE Ranges from 1,850m to 4,600m. The ruins lie at 2,430 ha. PHYSICAL FEATURES Machu Picchu lies between the selva alta and yunga zones of the Andean plateau in the steep and highly dissected topography of the eastern high Andes, rising from a deep gorge to glacier-bearing mountains. The ruins rise just above cloud forest on the flattened top of a narrow steep-sided ridge which rises within but some 650m above a meander of the Rio Urubamba (Rio Vilcanoto) canyonRead MoreThe Social Impact of Drug Abuse24406 Words   |  98 Pagespressures, shifting cultivation patterns and the extraction of resources from the earth. In developing countries in the tropics, damage is also inflicted on rain forests, which are cleared for new farms, roads, ranches, dams, factories and other buildings. Environmental damage related to drugs can be caused in essentially three ways: clearing of forests or land, growth and cultivation of plants and processing of harvested plants into drugs. The type of environmental damage found in any country will depend