What is an old growth forest?
The old growth forest is a forest that was allowed to grow with minimal interference for at least 100 years. The exact definition of the old growth forest varies depending on the region and the type of trees discussed. Several characteristics remain common to all old growth forests, no matter what definition it is used. The identification and protection of the old growth forest is a problem for many environmental activists and scientists. The forest includes living trees standing dead trees known as a hitch, fallen trees and large layers of undergrowth, marked with occasional openings in a forest canopy caused by fallen trees. Topography in the old growth forest is usually very irregular, with huge holes where the roots of the bee trees torn along with the hills of the soil. The thick layer of decaying organic material covers the forest floor and creates a layer of dense, rich ground that supports a wide range of plants and animals.
Since the old growth forest has been subjected to less intervention, it is often more biologically than other forests. Usually it contains a wide range of plants and animals, and if the large area of the old growth forest is left untouched, it can support very large animals that require to wander. Since some trees last for several centuries, while others grow rapidly, the forest may feel like an old growth forest after just 150 years, or it can be thousands of years old.
Many visitors to old growth forests say that the forest feels very dense and peaceful. Some alternative names for old growth forests reflect its uniqueness; In different parts of the world, the old growth les May is called primary, ancient, virgin or prehistoric. Some people also call old growth "first growth" to distinguish it from "second growth", a forest that once burned or recorded in the last human memory.
Some people mistakenly believe that to be the peopleé considered an old growth forest, people must never be influenced by a section of trees. This is not the case; For example, many generations of early people have shaped large sections of world forests, even those that are considered virgin. In addition, people have contributed to increasing greenhouse gases and to the general shrinkage of animal and plant habitats that affected old growth forests. We constantly influence the forests around us, even if we do not do so directly through logging.
Many people consider the old growth forest environmentally valuable because it can protect the species of plants and animals that are not successful in the second growth or more often recorded soil. The old growth of the fozers also contributes to the sequencing of carbon and help control the world climate. They may also contain previously unidentified plant and animal species, some of which could provide new sources of food, medicine or general scientific interest. Because the value of an old growth forest is difficult to calculate, some nations subneIkly steps to protect your old growth forest. However, protection is truly effective only for large forests, because insulated tree stands are too strongly influenced by neighboring human activity to behave like real old growth forests.