Tropical forests are being cleared for agriculture and other uses at alarming rates.
Tropical forests are being cleared for agriculture and other uses at alarming rates.
While scientists say it is essential to protect old-growth forests and stop further deforestation, studies by an international team of tropical ecologists — including Clemson University professor Saara DeWalt — showed that naturally regrowing forests recover surprisingly fast and can play a role in climate change mitigation.
“Nature will take care of it if we let it,” said DeWalt, chair of the College of Science’s Department of Biological Sciences. “Restoration of tropical forests should rely on natural regeneration. It’s the most efficient way to do it. It’s the most ecologically efficient. It’s the most economically efficient.”
“The services that tropical forests provide are important not just to the people who live around them, but to the globe,” DeWalt continued. “We’re trying to keep the climate from changing, and one of the key ways we can do that is making sure that we’re taking up carbon dioxide and storing it rather than releasing it into the atmosphere.”
Tropical rainforests play a crucial role in the global ecosystem because they absorb carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that traps heat in our atmosphere. The more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the more pronounced the greenhouse effect and climate change could become.
Read more at: Clemson University
Patches of secondary forest in Panama that regrow after agricultural use has been abandoned 70 to 100 years ago. (Photo Credit: Clemson University)
