By: Nick Kalogeras

HUMANS AND THE RAINFOREST

• Deforestation by Humans• Habitation and Life• Pollution of the Environment• Hunting/Poaching Scarce Animals• Positive Economic Effects• Pharmaceutical Benefits

OVERVIEW

• Strong economic force for humans• Includes oil extraction, logging, mining, fires, pollution,

agriculture, hunting, etc.• Allows humans to continue growth, but completely

destroys all of the forest in an area• Major problem in Asia, Africa, and South America• Government actually makes it profitable by tax breaks;

not a profitable plan

DEFORESTATION BY HUMANS

DEFORESTATION- EFFECTS

• Many indigenous people live in the rainforests and use it as their home and hunting ground

• They are conscious of how many animals/organisms they can take to keep balance

• Invasive species have altered the wildlife in many areas like Guam and Hawaii

• Guam- Bird populations drastically decreased, finally realized due to a new snake species

• Hawaii- foreign weed and plant species have choked out a majority of the native species

WHO INHABITS THIS AREA???

THESE POOR CREATURES

• Oil spills have degraded many of the rainforests• Air pollution is causing major problems in many of the

rainforests, like in areas like South America• This causes many of the resources to be trashed and not

available for use • Fertilizers used in agriculture near these areas affect the

area as a whole by getting into animals that continue plant growth

• Aquatic species are affected by the runoff and chemicals that go with it

HUMAN POLLUTION OF THE RAINFOREST

CLEAR ADVERSE EFFECTS

• Removal of key species that keep the ecosystem functioning

• South America- major mammal and bird hunting every year makes many species endangered

• Africa- tiger populations are dramatically decreasing to a very low and unstable number

• Sometimes the people hunt for food, but most often it’s for profit

• Humans are creating this problem by being greedy and taking what they don’t need

HUNTING SCARCE ANIMALS

FROM THE HUNTER TO THE HUNTED

• Tourism provides more money into the economies of these poor, developing countries

• However, tourism also brings in conflict between people in these countries vying and competing for the small amount of money coming in

• This tourism allows resources like the hardwoods to be bought, and makes a better market for these goods

• Urbanization also changed rainforest populations in the fact that people quickly move when towns were established

• Gold and diamond deposits encouraged loads of people to move quickly, but then they disappeared just as fast

ECONOMIC BENEFITS??

EFFECTS OF ECONOMIC CHANGES

Positive or Negative Benefits?You Decide.

• There are many different drugs that are harvested through tropical plants and animals that help cure diseases and problems in every society

• • Quinine- a part of the malaria cure come from the bark of

the cinchona tree• Rosy Periwinkle- Comes from Madagascar and has two

important anti-tumor agents in it• Scientists are using plants to see how cancers are

growing and are working on developing treatments for it• ****Major potential in the building blocks of some plants

to find a cure for AIDS

MEDICAL BENEFITS

LIFE-SAVERS FROM LIVELY PLACES

TRUE VIDEO OF THE RAINFOREST

http://youtu.be/OBFRZbN0p7U

• Explain some of the additional effects of deforestation• Discuss the types of problems that arise from human

involvement in the rainforest• Discuss some solutions to the problem of human

destruction of our rainforests

EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES

• http://www.adventure-life.com/articles/rainforest-medicine-78/

• http://rainforests.mongabay.com/0813.htm • http://rainforests.mongabay.com/0803.htm • http://www.eoearth.org/article/Borneo_lowland_rain_fore

sts?topic=49597

• http://www.eoearth.org/article/Rainforests_of_the_Atsinanana,_Madagascar?topic=49597

• http://fye2011.blogspot.com/

WORK CITED